Illuminations (Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana album)

Illuminations
Studio album by
Santana & Coltrane
ReleasedSeptember 1974
GenreFree jazz
Length35:40
LabelColumbia
ProducerTuriya Alice Coltrane, Devadip Carlos Santana, Tom Coster
Carlos Santana chronology
Santana's Greatest Hits
(1974) 		Illuminations
(1974) 		Borboletta
(1974)
Alice Coltrane chronology
Lord of Lords
(1972) 		Illuminations
(1974) 		Eternity
(1976)

Illuminations is a 1974 collaboration between Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana (under their Indian names "Turiya" and "Devadip", respectively). Saxophonist/flautist Jules Broussard, keyboardist Tom Coster, drummer Jack DeJohnette, percussionist Armando Peraza and bassist Dave Holland also contributed to the album.[1]

Alice Coltrane performs on harp, piano, and Wurlitzer electric organ and arranged and conducted the string section. Carlos Santana plays his electric guitar in a more minimal style than usual, utilizing feedback, sustain and simple melodic statements to create atmosphere and lend space to the other instruments. The album is all instrumental, with lengthy solos from most of the participants.[2][3][4]

The string section introduction to "Angel of Air" was sampled by the Cinematic Orchestra for use on the track "All That You Give", which appeared on their 2002 album Every Day.[5][6] This is the first of three Santana albums (the others being Oneness and The Swing of Delight) to be released under his Sanskrit name Devadip, given to him by guru Sri Chinmoy.[7]

The usual 2 channel stereo version of the album was also released in 1974 in a 4 channel quadraphonic version.[8] In 2017, Illuminations was reissued by the Dutton Vocalion label in the UK in Super Audio CD format containing both the stereo and quadraphonic mixes.[9][10]

Santana biographer Marc Shapiro stated that the guitarist was "once again the child" during the recording session, plying Coltrane with requests for stories about her late husband.[11] Santana later recalled: "the music really took me farther away from that classic Santana sound than almost any other recording—farther away but closer to where my heart was."[12]

  1. ^ "Turiya Alice Coltrane and Devadip Carlos Santana - Illuminations". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference allmusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Weinstein, Norman (2009). Carlos Santana: A Biography. Greenwood. pp. 54–55.
  4. ^ Berkman, Franya J. (2010). Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane. Wesleyan University Press. p. 90.
  5. ^ Shea, Matt (October 5, 2010). "Ninja Tune Week: Cinematic Orchestra's 'Every Day'". Passion of the Weiss. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  6. ^ "The Cinematic Orchestra: All That You Give". Who Sampled Who. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  7. ^ Caldwell, Rob (August 15, 2015). "Carlos Santana: Light Of The Supreme: Carlos Santana's Devadip Trilogy". All About Jazz. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  8. ^ "Music that goes around comes around". Overgrown Path. November 3, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  9. ^ Smotroff, Mark (February 18, 2021). "Santana / Coltrane Collaboration Shines On Quadraphonic SACD". Audiophile Review. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  10. ^ "Turiya Alice Coltrane & Devadip Carlos Santana - Illuminations". Dutton Vocalion. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  11. ^ Shapiro, Marc (2000). Carlos Santana: Back on Top. St. Martin's Press.
  12. ^ Santana, Carlos (2014). The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light. Little, Brown.