Samenvatting

By the second half of the 20th century, the "New Age" phenomenon had completely permeated American culture, with astrology as the main character, gaining broader consumer popularity in the United States. This interest was shared by many African Americans at that time, and would come to be of increasing importance in the ‘60s and ‘70s. References to astrology, the zodiac, planetary configurations, and cosmology found their way into black music genres, resulting in several astrology-related song and album releases. Although very numerous, these works have never received the attention of scholars in this regard. This paper investigates the specific cases of Mary Lou Williams, John Coltrane, and Wayne Shorter. Through the articulation of principles and concepts of modern astrology (Jungian approach) and collected information about these composers and their works, an astro-musicological analysis is carried out, trying to answer how do they incorporated astrology into their musical results.