John Coltrane - Love Supreme
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Music CD Cover
Artist: John ColtraneEdition: Music CD
Format: Super Audio CD - DSD
CD Release Date: 2002-12-10
Music Label: Umvd Labels
Free Music Notes for Love Supreme
Free Music Review: Astounding in every respect
Hit: 5 Stars
This is not a good album. It is not a great album. It is not a fantastic, magnificent, or wonderful album. I don't think those words are enough for it. I listen to this album quite often, but I don't have to. It's playing in my head all the time. I don't even know if "album" is the proper terminology here - despite my staunch agnostic beliefs, I consider it more of a spiritual experience. A Love Supreme is Coltrane's masterwork, a stunning three-part suite devoted to God. Over the course of his illustrious, all-too-brief career, Coltrane made many superlative albums, be it the "sheets of sound" blues on Giant Steps, the traditionalist triumph My Favorite Things, the introspective Coltrane's Sound, or the mind-blowing free jazz experiments found on The Major Works of John Coltrane. But this album outstrips all of them. Simply put, it's an uncomparable work of art.
This marks the end of an era for Coltrane. From the time he captured the imaginations of jazz fans worldwide via his stunning work with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, as well as the many classic albums of his early career (see Blue Train, Lush Life and Soultrane), he was arguably the most respected saxophone of his generation. This would be his last album to receive universal acclaim, the last to be widely recognized as a classic even today. Shortly after this album came out, Coltrane would take his music into a new, controversial direction: free jazz. Albums like Meditations and the powerful pieces collected on The Major Works of John Coltrane were less than conventional, making art and beauty out of chaos to convey the unrest of the late '60s. However, not everybody understood these albums for what they were, and they remain begging for reexamination.
However, most agree that A Love Supreme as the peak. Whether he would go off the deep end immediately afterwords or continue making fantastic music is a matter of personal preference and is irrelevant to this review.
The album begins with a cascade of notes coming from Coltrane's sax, followed by a simple four-note bass theme that is repeated throughout the album. Coltrane solos over this theme, and his playing reflects the full specturm of human emotions, from joy to rage and everywhere in between. He often dances around the theme himself, adding embellishments wherever he deems appropriate. When the solo ends, he switches to chanting the title. This is followed by a brief bass solo.
This solo leads into the second part, "Resolution," the most fiery track on the album. A vaguely Eastern melody is established, then destroyed as Coltrane shoots fireworks out of his saxophone, dredging his demons through music. But perhaps the best part of the entire record is McCoy Tyner's piano solo, where he upstages Coltrane - a hard task, considering the quality of Trane's solo. But hey, it's McCoy Tyner, you know?
After "Resolution" comes a lengthy but captivating drum solo, which ushers in "Pursuance." Once again, Coltrane is incorporating elements of world music into his melodies. This time the sound is European. The song closes with a long, but once again fascinating and lyrical, bass solo with shades of Charles Mingus in it. On vinyl pressings of this album, "Pursuance" flows directly into "Psalm" as if the two were one song. "Psalm" ends the album on an appropriately dramatic note - as it comes to a close, drummer Elvin Jones incorporates tympani and cymbal rolls. It is also the album's most experimental piece. Coltrane's melody here is the meter of a poem he wrote, dedicated to God, and included in the album's liner notes. Since the poem is set to an atypical meter, one could almost see this as a direct predecessor to free jazz. It creates the illusion of Coltrane reading the poem passionately through his saxophone, and it is a beautiful way to end a beautiful album.
I've written about seven hundred words about this album already, and I could probably write seven hundred more before I even scratched the surface of this true work of art. Words really aren't enough. The music speaks for itself. It's one of those rare things that can honestly inspire a sense of reverence in me. Nothing is sacred to me. Nothing, except for A Love Supreme.
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