Alice Coltrane’s Transcendent Journey into Late-Night Television
In the singular mid-1980s TV show Eternity’s Pillar, the jazz iconoclast gives viewers a chance to experience the healing powers of her music—and the intense spiritual practice that fuels it.
About Shannon
Shannon Ali (Shannon J. Effinger) has been a freelance arts journalist and cultural critic for over a decade. Her writing on all things jazz and music regularly appears in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR Music, Pitchfork, Bandcamp, EBONY, Jazziz, Jazzwise, and Downbeat, among others.
Writing by Shannon
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Roy Hargrove
The New York Times
August 11, 2025
The Best Concert in New York Is in a Harlem Apartment
Afar
June 25, 2025
The Amazing Musical Journey of Kahil El’Zaba
Spin
March 13, 2024
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Herbie Hancock
The New York Times
May 3, 2023
Jazz Wunderkind Samara Joy Is Primed for Greatness
W Magazine
February 2, 2023
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Ornette Coleman
The New York Times
November 2, 2022
Mal Waldron, sideman to jazz greats, gets a solo retrospective
The Washington Post
September 30, 2022
Somi pays tribute to Miriam Makeba, on album and on stage
The Washington Post
May 19, 2022
Reflecting on the wisdom of our jazz elders
NPR
December 21, 2021
‘A man cannot learn without discipline’: jazz guru Marshall Allen on life with Sun Ra – and turning 100
From fighting in a second world war cavalry unit to sharing in a vision for an interstellar Black utopia, the multi-instrumentalist – in a rare audience at his astonishing practice space – has had a musical journey like no other
More by Shannon
Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached, 1957-1965 was released in 2023 New Land Records. This remarkable collection, which includes impassioned and deeply researched liner notes by journalist Shannon J. Effinger, provide historical context to Dorothy’s life, offering the most in-depth piece of writing ever committed to print on Dorothy, as well as interviews with those who knew her best.