A Love Supreme
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| A Love Supreme | |||||
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| Studio album by John Coltrane | |||||
| Released | February 1965 | ||||
| Recorded | December 9, 1964, Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, United States | ||||
| Genre | Modal Jazz | ||||
| Length | 33:02 | ||||
| Language | Instrumental | ||||
| Label | Impulse! | ||||
| Producer | Bob Thiele | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| John Coltrane chronology | |||||
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A Love Supreme is a jazz studio 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.
Contents |
[edit] 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, and expresses the artist's deep gratitude as he admits to his talent and instrument as being owned not by him but by a spiritual higher power.[1]
The album begins with the bang of a gong, followed by cymbal washes. 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 in different modulations. After many repetitions, the motif becomes the vocal chant “A Love Supreme,” sung by Coltrane (accompanying himself via overdubs).[2]
In the final movement, Coltrane performs what he calls a "musical narration" (Lewis Porter describes it as a "wordless 'recitation'")[3] 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.[4] The poem (and, in his own way, Coltrane’s solo) ends with the cry “Elation. Elegance. Exaltation. All from God. Thank you God. Amen.” [5]
Coltrane's home in the Dix Hills neighborhood of Huntington, New York has been suggested as the site of inspiration for A Love Supreme. [1]
[edit] 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. Guitarists John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana have each credited the album as one of their greatest early influences.[16]
[edit] 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]
[edit] Cover versions
Doug Carn and wife Jean Carn did a cover of "Acknowledgement" featuring vocals by Jean. This was featured on the album Infant Eyes in 1972.
John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana recorded a guitar version of "Acknowledgement," which they titled as "A Love Supreme," on their 1973 collaboration Love Devotion Surrender. 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 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]
Turtle Island String Quartet released their album A Love Supreme in 2007, and the album features a cover version of the suite, along with other covers of various Coltrane charts.
Jose James re-recorded two tracks in 2007 from A Love Supreme as a double A-Side limited-edition 10" for Brownswood Records which was available at concerts and by mail order. "Equinox" and "Resolution" where the tracks in question. James, previously a young rapper, added vocals to the tracks in a style reminiscent to some of Gil Scott Heron.
[edit] Track listing
All tracks composed by John Coltrane.
- Part 1: "Acknowledgement" – 7:47
- Part 2: "Resolution" – 7:22
- Part 3: "Pursuance"/Part 4: "Psalm" - 17:53
[edit] 2002 Deluxe Edition
- Disc one
- Part 1: "Acknowledgement" – 7:42
- Part 2: "Resolution" – 7:19
- Part 3: "Pursuance" – 10:42
- Part 4: "Psalm" – 7:02
- Disc two
- Introduction by Andre Francis – 1:13
- Part 1: "Acknowledgement" [Live] – 6:11
- Part 2: "Resolution" [Live] – 11:36
- Part 3: "Pursuance" [Live] – 21:30
- Part 4: "Psalm" [Live] – 8:49
- Part 2: "Resolution" [Alternate take] – 7:24
- Part 2: "Resolution" [Breakdown] – 2:13
- Part 1: "Acknowledgement" [Alternate take] – 9:09
- Part 1: "Acknowledgement" [Alternate take] – 9:22
[edit] Personnel
- John Coltrane – tenor saxophone, bandleader
- Jimmy Garrison – double bass
- Elvin Jones – drums
- McCoy Tyner – piano
- Additional musicians
- Art Davis – double bass on alternate takes of "Acknowledgment"
- Archie Shepp – tenor saxophone on alternate takes of "Acknowledgment"
- Production
- Michael Cuscuna – reissue production
- Bob Thiele – production
[edit] See also
- The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
- Variations on A Love Supreme.
- Man in the Air – album by jazz vocalist Kurt Elling which adds lyrics to "Resolution."
- Love Devotion Surrender – album by Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin containing a jazz-rock tribute to the suite.
- A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane – album by the Turtle Island String Quartet which received the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Kahn 2002
- ^ Porter, 231-249. (citation for entire paragraph)
- ^ Porter, 244. (citation for both Coltrane and Porter's quotes)
- ^ Porter, 246-247.
- ^ Porter, 248.
- ^ Channel4 - 100 Greatest Albums
- ^ Top Albums of All-time list
- ^ Q magazine (4/99, p.129) - Included in Q's list of "The Best Jazz Albums of All Time."
- ^ Vibe magazine (12/99, p.160) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century.
- ^ NME magazine (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #36 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
- ^ {{subst:RS500|47}}
- ^ Porter, 232.
- ^ "A Love Supreme". National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/small_exhibition.cfm?key=1267&exkey=143&pagekey=222. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
- ^ Jazz/Jerry Jazz Musician/Saxophonist Joshua Redman discusses John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" on Jerry Jazz Musician
- ^ Kahn, xxii.
- ^ Carlos Santana Sees The Light
- ^ Porter, 249.
- ^ A Love Supreme - Wynton Marsalis official web site
- ^ allmusic ((( Octet Plays Trane > Overview )))
- ^ allmusic ((( Rude System > Overview )))
- ^ allmusic ((( Big Band Trane > Overview )))
[edit] References
- Kahn, Ashley (2003). A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album. Elvin Jones. Penguin Books. ISBN 0142003522.
- Porter, Lewis (1999). John Coltrane: His Life and Music. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 047208643X.
[edit] Further reading
- Porter, Lewis (1985). "John Coltrane's A Love Supreme: Jazz Improvisation as Composition". Journal of the American Musicological Society (University of California Press) 38: 593–621. doi:.
