Illuminations (Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana album)


Illuminations is a 1974 collaboration between Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana. Jazz musicians Jules Broussard, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland also contributed to the record, on saxophone, flute, drums and bass.
Alice Coltrane performs on harp, piano, and Wurlitzer organ and arranged and conducted the string section. Carlos Santana plays electric guitar in a minimal style, using feedback, long notes and simple melodies and lending much space to the other instruments. The album is conceived as an instrumental jazz album, with lengthy solos on guitar, saxophone and keyboards.
The introduction to "Angel of Air", with its violins, has been sampled by the Cinematic Orchestra. It is his first of three solo albums to be released under his temporary Sanskrit name Devadip Carlos Santana, given to him by Sri Chinmoy.
In addition, the usual 2 channel stereo version of the album was also released in 1974 by Columbia Records in a 4 channel quadraphonic version.

Later releases

Remix

In 2001, Bill Laswell, responsible for remixes of albums by Bob Marley and Miles Davis, mixed and remixed excerpts of Santana's Illuminations and Love Devotion Surrender, on an album called Divine Light.
In 2017, a reissue of the album was released by Dutton Vocalion in the UK on the Super Audio CD format containing both the stereo and quadraphonic mixes.

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Guru Sri Chinmoy Aphorism" - 1:11
  2. "Angel of Air / Angel of Water" - 9:55
  3. "Bliss: the Eternal Now" - 5:33

    Side two

  4. "Angel of Sunlight" - 14:43
  5. "Illuminations" - 4:18

    Personnel