Illuminations cover
Released

Carlos Santana was a devotee of Indian guru Sri Chinmoy for a decade, and that spiritual journey was a deep influence on his most abstruse, jazz-fusion-oriented albums, including this 1974 collaboration with Alice Coltrane. Chinmoy even delivers an invocation at the beginning. The music is otherwise entirely instrumental, performed by a group that includes Coltrane on piano, harp, and Wurlitzer electric organ (she also wrote string arrangements, and conducted the players), Jules Broussard on flute and soprano sax, Tom Coster on keyboards, Dave Holland on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and Armando Peraza on congas. Santana’s playing is extremely restrained, with almost no shredding of the type heard on contemporaneous albums like Welcome, Love Devotion Surrender, and the live Lotus; he holds long sustained notes often, and leaves plenty of room for the others to create a kind of gently swelling atmosphere that’s ultimately an extremely meditative take on fusion.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Jazz Is Dead 05: Doug Carn cover

Jazz Is Dead 05: Doug Carn

Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Doug Carn, Adrian Younge
Amaryllis cover

Amaryllis

Mary Halvorson
In the Spirit of Ntu cover

In the Spirit of Ntu

Nduduzo Makhathini
Moon Rappin' cover

Moon Rappin'

Jack McDuff
Universal Beings cover

Universal Beings

Makaya McCraven
Polyhymnia cover

Polyhymnia

Yazz Ahmed
Dialectic Soul cover

Dialectic Soul

Asher Gamedze
The Sea II cover

The Sea II

David Darling, Jon Christensen, Terje Rypdal, Ketil Bjørnstad
Spirit Groove cover

Spirit Groove

David Murray, Kahil El'Zabar