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
Jazz Wunderkind Samara Joy Is Primed for Greatness
W Magazine | February 2, 2023
by Shannon J. Effinger
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Ornette Coleman
New York Times | November 2, 2022
Mal Waldron, sideman to jazz greats, gets a solo retrospective
The Washington Post | September 30, 2022
By Shannon J. Effinger
Somi pays tribute to Miriam Makeba, on album and on stage
The Washington Post | May 19, 2022
By Shannon J. Effinger
Melanie Charles knows the impact Black women have had on jazz
The Washington Post | November 12, 2021
by Shannon J. Effinger
‘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.