Andy Beta - Cosmic Music: The Life, Art and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane
This is a pre-order item and is expected 19th March 2026.
Musician, wife, mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, collaborator, guru, iconoclast:
Alice Coltrane is one of the most forward-looking yet misunderstood artists of the
last fifty years.
For most of her life - and even in the decades since her passing - she was seen
merely as the widow of the late John Coltrane, one of jazz's 'great men' who has
long been worshipped with an almost religious fervour and devotion. Yet ever so
slowly, that level of love and appreciation is also being bestowed upon Alice. Her
influence can be felt on new generations of musicians, especially women, people of
colour and artists who seek to combine jazz with other musical forms. In Coltrane's
music, we can observe the transformation of Black American music in microcosm:
the gospel roots giving rise to jazz and bebop, then intermingling with soul and
R&B, then onto rock, modern classical, psychedelia and new age.
Cosmic Music is both the first full-length biography of Alice and a long-overdue
corrective to the historical and critical record. Based on extensive research and
scores of new interviews by acclaimed music journalist Andy Beta, it is the definitive
account of a visionary whose influence is only just beginning to be appreciated in
full.
PRODUCT DETAILS
Author: Andy Beta
Publisher: White Rabbit Books
Format: Hardback
Released: 19th March 2026
This is available for in-store purchase or Click and Collect. If you would like mail order please contact us here.
This is a pre-order item and is expected 19th March 2026.
Musician, wife, mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, collaborator, guru, iconoclast:
Alice Coltrane is one of the most forward-looking yet misunderstood artists of the
last fifty years.
For most of her life - and even in the decades since her passing - she was seen
merely as the widow of the late John Coltrane, one of jazz's 'great men' who has
long been worshipped with an almost religious fervour and devotion. Yet ever so
slowly, that level of love and appreciation is also being bestowed upon Alice. Her
influence can be felt on new generations of musicians, especially women, people of
colour and artists who seek to combine jazz with other musical forms. In Coltrane's
music, we can observe the transformation of Black American music in microcosm:
the gospel roots giving rise to jazz and bebop, then intermingling with soul and
R&B, then onto rock, modern classical, psychedelia and new age.
Cosmic Music is both the first full-length biography of Alice and a long-overdue
corrective to the historical and critical record. Based on extensive research and
scores of new interviews by acclaimed music journalist Andy Beta, it is the definitive
account of a visionary whose influence is only just beginning to be appreciated in
full.
PRODUCT DETAILS
Author: Andy Beta
Publisher: White Rabbit Books
Format: Hardback
Released: 19th March 2026
This is available for in-store purchase or Click and Collect. If you would like mail order please contact us here.