10 Spiritual Jazz Albums to Start With

Spiritual jazz is jazz with a spiritual search at its center. Most of the classic records came out in the 1960s and 70s, and new players keep adding to it. You do not need to know any theory. Each entry gives you one album, a few true facts, and one track to press play on. Go in order or jump around. If you like a record, the people on it lead to the next one: Karma leads to Expansions, A Love Supreme leads to Sahara, Journey in Satchidananda leads to The Epic.

Want the take-anywhere version? Get the free PDF. New here? Read What is spiritual jazz? first.

1. A Love Supreme

John Coltrane · 1965 · Impulse! Records

John Coltrane, 1963. Photo by Hugo van Gelderen / Anefo, Dutch National Archives. CC0 (public domain).

• Coltrane recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
• His quartet: McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, Elvin Jones on drums.
• It is a suite in four parts: Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance, Psalm.
• In the first part, he sings the chant "a love supreme" himself, layered with overdubs.

The full story: Deep Listen.

2. Karma

Pharoah Sanders · 1969 · Impulse! Records

Pharoah Sanders, 1981. Photo by Wojciech Soporek. CC BY 3.0.

• The main piece, "The Creator Has a Master Plan," runs about 32 minutes. Sanders wrote it with singer Leon Thomas.
• Lonnie Liston Smith plays piano on it. He has his own album later in this guide.
• French horn, flute, lots of percussion, and Leon Thomas's yodeling give it a wide, unusual sound.
• Pitchfork ranked Karma number 53 on its list of the best albums of the 1960s.

The full story: Deep Listen.

3. Journey in Satchidananda

Alice Coltrane · 1971 · Impulse! Records

Alice Coltrane, 1972. Publicity photo, photographer unknown. Public domain (Wikimedia Commons).

• Most of it was recorded at her home studio in Dix Hills, New York, in November 1970.
• "Isis and Osiris" was recorded live at the Village Gate in July 1970.
• Pharoah Sanders, Cecil McBee, Charlie Haden and Rashied Ali play on it, with a tanpura, an Indian drone instrument, underneath.
• The title honors Swami Satchidananda, a yoga teacher she studied under.
• Rolling Stone ranked it number 446 on its 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums.

The full story: Deep Listen.

4. Space Is the Place

Sun Ra · 1973 · Blue Thumb Records

Sun Ra, 1992. Photo by Pandelis Karayorgis. CC BY-SA 3.0.

• Recorded October 19 and 20, 1972, in Chicago.
• The title track runs 21 minutes. Singer June Tyson and the Arkestra are on it.
• Impulse! Records reissued it in 1998.
• AllMusic called it an excellent introduction to Sun Ra's huge catalog.

The full story: Deep Listen.

5. Spiritual Unity

Albert Ayler · 1965 · ESP-Disk

Albert Ayler, about 1967-68. ABC/Impulse! publicity photo, photographer uncredited. Public domain (Wikimedia Commons).

• Ayler, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray recorded it on July 10, 1964, in Manhattan.
• It was the first album recorded for Bernard Stollman's new label, ESP-Disk. Stollman offered Ayler a $500 advance.
• The whole record runs just over 29 minutes.

The full story: Deep Listen.

6. Expansions

Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes · 1975 · Flying Dutchman

Album cover shown to identify the record. Copyright remains with Flying Dutchman Records.

• Recorded November 25 and 26, 1974, in New York City.
• Bob Thiele and Smith produced it.
• Smith was the pianist on Pharoah Sanders's Karma.
• AllMusic called it "timeless soul-jazz, perfect in every era."

7. Capra Black

Billy Harper · 1974 · Strata-East

Billy Harper at the Jazz Standard, 2007. Photo by Dmitry Scherbie. CC BY-SA 2.0.

• Billy Harper's first album as a leader. He recorded it in 1973 and produced it himself.
• It came out on the Strata-East label in June 1974.
• AllMusic called it "one of the seminal recordings of jazz's black consciousness movement."

The full story: Deep Listen.

8. Sahara

McCoy Tyner · 1972 · Milestone Records

McCoy Tyner, 1973. Photo by Gisle Hannemyr. CC BY-SA 2.5.

• Tyner was the pianist on A Love Supreme. This is his own record, from January 1972.
• Everyone in the band plays more than one instrument. Tyner also plays koto, flute and percussion.
• With Sonny Fortune, Calvin Hill and Alphonse Mouzon.
• It sold over 100,000 copies and was nominated for two Grammys.

The full story: Deep Listen.

9. Black Christ of the Andes

Mary Lou Williams · Recorded 1963

Mary Lou Williams, about 1946. Photo by William P. Gottlieb, Library of Congress. Public domain (Wikimedia Commons).

• Williams stepped away from performing in 1954 and converted to Catholicism.
• She wrote this piece around a hymn honoring Saint Martin de Porres, a Peruvian saint.
• It was first performed in November 1962 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan. She recorded it in October 1963.

The full story: Deep Listen.

10. The Epic

Kamasi Washington · 2015 · Brainfeeder

Kamasi Washington, Coachella, 2016. Photo by Fred von Lohmann. CC0 (public domain).

• It runs nearly three hours (173 minutes). Released May 5, 2015.
• He recorded it with his friends from Los Angeles in a month-long session at Kingsize Soundlabs in December 2011.
• It came out on Brainfeeder, the label of Flying Lotus, who is Alice Coltrane's grandnephew.

Facts come from Wikipedia articles on each record and artist, and the reviews quoted on those pages. Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, with credits on each and on the photo credits page.

Next: The Rarest Spiritual Jazz Records.