In a cultural moment where calm can be hard to come by, the late Alice Coltrane’s music feels more present than ever. The legendary harpist, composer (and widow and collaborator of John), is being celebrated more widely than ever in recent years, through major live retrospectives and a litany of vinyl reissues of catalog highlights and rarities. Most recently, Luaka Bop dropped a collection, The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, that compiles transcendent, meditative pieces Coltrane composed in her later years at the Southern California ashram she helped to found. Among her many musical disciples is Oakland-based harpist and vocalist Destiny Muhammad, whose ensemble, the Destiny Muhammad Project, will headline a tribute to Coltrane this Sunday, in the gorgeous concert hall at Oakland’s Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts. Muhammad, who describes her range as running the gamut from “Celtic to Coltrane,” is a natural choice to lead the effort, having already honored Coltrane’s legendary 1971 album, Journey in Satchidananda, with a tribute at SFJAZZ last year.
Sunday, August 13, 3pm, $20, 1428 Alice St, Oakland, DestinyMuhammadProject.com
