John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1995 reissue.

Generally regarded as "one of the most important records ever made" (AllMusic), I find myself listening to this iconic disc repeatedly as I try to understand what Coltrane was doing in this four part sermon/suite. In 1957, Coltrane had what he describes as a "spiritual awakening" that helped him battle his addictions to alcohol and heroin. This is a response to God, praising him and thanking him for His love, a love like no other, A Love Supreme. Try as I might, I don't think I currently have the acuity and capacity to understand this music. But I'll keep trying...

Coltrane - tenor saxophone
McCoy Tyner - piano
Jimmy Garrison - bass
Elvin Jones - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "Coltrane, with God, plays excellent jazz"
• Downbeat (★★★★★): "thoroughly a work of art"
• Stereo Review: "a good record, one of the better ones Coltrane has made for Impulse."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★★♛

Update: In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked A Love Supreme at #66 and in 2017, it was ranked at #3 on Pitchfork's list of the 200 Best Albums of the 1960s.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:  Probably my favorite part of the album is McCoy Tyner's piano work on Part 2: Resolution.

Also recommended:  Ashley Kahn's 2002 book, A Love Supreme: The Creation of John Coltrane's Classic Album. There's also a Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco. I definitely need to visit that place.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  I'm reminded of the album's use in the Spike Lee movie, Mo' Better Blues. Rumor has it that Coltrane's widow, Alice, denied Spike Lee the use of the title "A Love Supreme" as that's what Lee wanted to call that movie.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Coltrane Plays The Blues (1962)