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A Love Supreme

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A Love Supreme is a jazz album released by John Coltrane's quartet in 1965. It is generally considered to be among Coltrane's greatest works, as it coalesced the hard bop sensibilities of his early career with the free jazz style he adopted later in his life.

Recording

The quartet recorded the album in one session on December 9 1964 at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The album is a four-part suite, broken up into tracks: "Acknowledgement" (which contains the famous mantra that gave the suite its name), "Resolution", "Pursuance", and "Psalm". It is intended to be a spiritual album, broadly representative of a personal struggle for purity.

The album begins with the bang of a gong, followed by a brief fanfare. Garrison follows on bass with the four-note motif which structures the entire movement. Coltrane’s solo follows. Besides soloing upon variations of the motif, at one point Coltrane repeats the four notes over and over. After many repetitions, the motif becomes the chant “A Love Supreme,” performed by Coltrane (accompanying himself via overdubs). [1]

In the final movement, Coltrane performs what he calls a "musical narration" (Lewis Porter describes it as a "wordless 'recitation'")[2] of a devotional poem he included in the liner notes. That is, Coltrane “plays” the words of the poem, but does not actually speak them. Some scholars have suggested that this performance is a homage to the sermons of African-American preachers. [3] The poem (and, in his own way, Coltrane’s solo) ends with the cry “Elation. Elegance. Exaltation. All from God. Thank you God. Amen.” [4]

Coltrane's home in in the Dix Hills neighborhood of Huntington, New York has been suggested as the site of inspiration for A Love Supreme. [5]

Reception and influence

A Love Supreme is usually listed amongst the greatest jazz albums of all time.[6][7][8][9][10][11] It was also quite popular for a jazz album, selling about 500,000 copies by 1970, a number far exceeding Coltrane’s typical Impulse! sales of around 30,000.[12] As further testimony to A Love Supreme’s historic significance, the manuscript for the album is one of the National Museum of American History's "Treasures of American History," part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.[13]

The elements of harmonic freedom heard on this album indicated the changes to come in Coltrane's music. [citation needed]

The album’s influence has been extensive and diverse. Musicians ranging from tenor Joshua Redman[14] to the rockstar Bono of U2 [15] have singled out the influence of the album on their own work. Guitarist Carlos Santana credits the album as one of his greatest early influences.[16]

Other performances

An alternative version of "Acknowledgement" was recorded the next day on December 10. This version, which included tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp and bassist Art Davis, did not feature Coltrane chanting “a love supreme,” one reason he chose to issue the quartet version.[17]

The only known live performance of the Love Supreme suite, from a July 26, 1965 performance at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, France, was also remastered and released in a 2002 2-CD set by Impulse! Records with the original album and additional studio outtakes. This performance was considerably more dissonant than the studio version, and features an extended drum solo preceding “Pursuance’s” bass solo.[citation needed]

Cover versions

John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana recorded a guitar version of "A Love Supreme" on a collaborative album titled "Love, Devotion and Surrender" in 1973. At the time, both were devotees of guru Sri Chinmoy.

Will Downing released an R&B cover version of the main theme, with the co-operation of John's widow Alice Coltrane, which reached number fourteen in the UK singles chart in 1988.

Gumball (band) Recorded a rock/alternative/jazz version of A Love Supreme and was a bonus track on the Japanese release of the 1994 release Revolution On Ice

The suite also forms four tracks on the 2002 Branford Marsalis Quartet album entitled Footsteps of our Fathers, and another Marsalis version is on a DVD "A Love Supreme Live in Amsterdam". Branford's brother Wynton recorded the suite in 2003 with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra[18].

Sections of the suite have been performed by the David Murray Octet,[19] the Ballistic Brothers,[20], and the Bob Mintzer Big Band.[21]

Track listing

All tracks composed by John Coltrane.

  1. Part 1: "Acknowledgement" – 7:47
  2. Part 2: "Resolution" – 7:22
  3. Part 3: "Pursuance/Part 4: "Psalm" - 17:53

2002 Deluxe edition

Disc 1

  1. Part 1: "Acknowledgement" – 7:42
  2. Part 2: "Resolution" – 7:19
  3. Part 3: "Pursuance" - 10:42
  4. Part 4: "Psalm" – 7:02

Disc 2

  1. Introduction by Andre Francis – 1:13
  2. Part 1: "Acknowledgement" [Live] – 6:11
  3. Part 2: "Resolution" [Live] – 11:36
  4. Part 3: "Pursuance" [Live] – 21:30
  5. Part 4: "Psalm" [Live] – 8:49
  6. Part 2: "Resolution" [Alternate take] –7:24
  7. Part 2: "Resolution" [Breakdown] – 2:13
  8. Part 1: "Acknowledgement" [Alternate take] – 9:09
  9. Part 1: "Acknowledgement" [Alternate take] – 9:22

Personnel

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Porter, 231-249. (citation for entire paragraph)
  2. ^ Porter, 244. (citation for both Coltrane and Porter's quotes)
  3. ^ Porter, 246-247.
  4. ^ Porter, 248.
  5. ^ Kahn 2002
  6. ^ Channel4 - 100 Greatest Albums
  7. ^ http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/all-time Top Albums of All-time list
  8. ^ Q magazine (4/99, p.129) - Included in Q's list of "The Best Jazz Albums of All Time."
  9. ^ Vibe magazine (12/99, p.160) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century.
  10. ^ NME magazine (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #36 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
  11. ^ Template:RS500
  12. ^ Porter, 232.
  13. ^ "A Love Supreme". National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
  14. ^ Jazz/Jerry Jazz Musician/Saxophonist Joshua Redman discusses John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" on Jerry Jazz Musician
  15. ^ Kahn, xxii.
  16. ^ Carlos Santana Sees The Light
  17. ^ Porter, 249.
  18. ^ A Love Supreme - Wynton Marsalis official web site
  19. ^ allmusic ((( Octet Plays Trane > Overview )))
  20. ^ allmusic ((( Rude System > Overview )))
  21. ^ allmusic ((( Big Band Trane > Overview )))

References

  • Kahn, Ashley (2003). A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album. Elvin Jones. Penguin Books. ISBN 0142003522. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |origdate= ignored (|orig-date= suggested) (help)
  • Porter, Lewis (1999). John Coltrane: His Life and Music. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 047208643X.

Further reading

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