Alice Coltrane, the wife of legendary saxophonist John Coltrane and an acclaimed jazz musician in her own right, died late Friday of respiratory failure near Los Angeles. She was 69.

Coltrane passed away at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in West Hills, a Los Angeles suburb, her sister, Marilyn McLeod, told the Associated Press.

Born Alice McLeod on August 27, 1937, in Detroit, Michigan, Coltrane was trained as a classical musician and as an organist, harpist, and pianist. She gained notoriety playing in the band of jazz vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, who has taken credit over the years for introducing the Coltranes.

The couple met at famed New York City jazz club Birdland in 1963.

"He saw something in her that was beautiful," Gibbs told the Los Angeles Times. "They were both very shy in a way. It was beautiful to see them fall in love," he told the paper, adding that she was "the nicest person I ever worked with. She was a real lady."

Alice Coltrane eventually left Gibbs' band to join her husband's as the pair ventured into bolder, more spiritual music. Some critics blamed Coltrane for her husband's decision to break up his traditional John Coltrane Quartet and venture into avant-garde sonic terrain.

She rejected that claim, telling Essence magazine last September, "I didn't have to inspire John toward the avant-garde; he did not need anything from me. That is why it's so interesting that critics decided to dislike me. At some point the members of the quartet felt it was time for a change and left on their own.

"When John said that he wanted me to play with him on piano, I told him that there were many others who were qualified. He said, 'I want you there because you can do it.'"

When John Coltrane died of liver disease in 1967 at age 40, Alice Coltrane raised the couple's children, continued playing, and expanded upon his music.

Her albums A Monastic Trio in 1968 and Ptah, the El Daoud in 1970 both received critical praise. Her final recording, Translinear Light, came out in 2004. She briefly toured with her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, in late 2006.

Coltrane also converted to Hinduism, became a guru, developed her own spiritual commune called the Vedantic Center, and adopted the Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda.