Jazz, Counterculture, and the Sacred

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Jazz, Counterculture, and the Sacred seeks to explore the works and lives of the Black jazz composers Sun Ra, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Don Cherry, Alice Coltrane, Anthony Braxton, and Nicole Mitchell in relation to their fascination with a variety of spiritual traditions. The purpose of the book is to compare the ways these musicians employed Buddhism, Hinduism, Kabbalah, mysticism, and ancient Egyptian traditions as well as Indigenous beliefs to the ways the counterculture was pursuing the same themes. Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Diane di Prima, Hettie Jones, William S. Burroughs, and other countercultural figures were fascinated by jazz, included references to these musicians in their works, and also were pursuing many of the same spiritual traditions.</jats:p>