Ptah, the El Daoud

Ptah, the El Daoud
Studio album by Alice Coltrane
Released	1970
Recorded	26 January 1970
Genre	Jazz
Length	46:03
Label	Impulse! Records
Producer	Ed Michel
Alice Coltrane chronology
Huntington Ashram Monastery (1969) Ptah, the El Daoud (1970) Journey in Satchidananda (1970)

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Allmusic	[1]

Ptah, the El Daoud [1970] is the third solo album by Alice Coltrane.

This was Coltrane's first album with horns (aside from one track on A Monastic Trio [1968], on which Pharoah Sanders played bass clarinet). Sanders is recorded on the right channel and Joe Henderson on the left channel throughout.

All the compositions were written by Coltrane. The title track is named for the Egyptian god Ptah, "the El Daoud" meaning "the beloved". "Turiya", according to the liner notes, "was defined by Alice as 'a state of consciousness — the high state of Nirvana, the goal of human life", while "Ramakrishna" was a 19th-century Bengali religious figure; this track omits the horns. The origin of the title of "Blue Nile" is self-explanatory and, in it, Coltrane switches from piano to harp, and Sanders and Henderson from tenor saxophones to alto flutes. "Mantra" returns to piano and saxes. Album cover design was by Jim Evans.

Track listing

1. "Ptah, the El Daoud" – 13:58
2. "Turiya and Ramakrishna" – 8:19
3. "Blue Nile" – 6:58
4. "Mantra" – 16:33

All tracks recorded at the Coltrane home studio in Dix Hills, New York on 26 January 1970.

Personnel

• Alice Coltrane — harp, piano
• Joe Henderson — alto flute, tenor saxophone
• Pharoah Sanders — alto flute, tenor saxophone, bells
• Ron Carter — bass
• Ben Riley — drums

External links

• Ptah, the El Daoud — Impulse! page

References