SJU
Spiritual JazzUniverse
Deep Listens

One record. The whole story.

Long-form pieces on the albums that built spiritual jazz. The true story behind the record, the track to press play on, and where it leads next.

Deep Listen No. 7

The record Billy Harper made for himself

Years of carrying the tenor for Blakey, Elvin, and Max Roach - then one record of his own, every note his, on Strata-East. Eleven minutes of tenor as sermon.

Deep Listen No. 6

The record that grew out of Karma

Lonnie Liston Smith played the piano on Karma, found a Fender Rhodes in the corner of a studio, and built the Cosmic Echoes to expand the consciousness of humanity.

Deep Listen No. 5

The record Mary Lou Williams made for a saint

She walked away from the piano at the peak of her powers, found God, and came back writing sacred jazz - a hymn for a Peruvian saint, first played in a Manhattan church.

Deep Listen No. 4

The record the man from Saturn made in Chicago

Sun Ra said he was from Saturn, and he papered Chicago with the cosmos to prove it. Twenty-one minutes of chant, robes, and rocket ships - plus our film on his Chicago years.

Deep Listen No. 3

The record John Coltrane prayed in four parts

One December evening in 1964, Coltrane and his quartet recorded a suite in four parts in a single session: a prayer, a chant, and a poem played on the tenor. The record every record here answers to.

Deep Listen No. 2

The record Pharoah Sanders made after Trane

After John Coltrane died, his second tenor player answered with Karma: a thirty-three minute chant that snuck onto FM radio. The true story, and the track to press play on first.

Deep Listen No. 1

The record Alice Coltrane made at home

In November 1970, three years after John Coltrane died, Alice recorded most of Journey in Satchidananda in her own home studio. How it happened, where to start inside it, and what came after: the ashram tapes, with our film on those years at the end.

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