Whe I first heard the opening bars of "A Love Supreme" on a TV show I quickly grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the name of the track and the artist. So began my love affair with this man's work, and, if there is a pinnacle to his extraordinary career, this is it.
First conceived in ... Read review
A Love Supremeis a suite about redemption, a work of pure spirit and song, that ... more
encapsulates all the struggles and aspirations of the 1960s. Following hard on the heels of the lyrical, swingingCrescent,A Love Supremeheralded Coltrane's search for spiri...
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A Love Supreme is a suite about redemption, a work of pure spirit and song, that ... more
encapsulates all the struggles and aspirations of the 1960s. Following hard on the heels of the lyrical, swinging Crescent, A Love Supreme heralded Coltrane's search for s...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Sharing space on the archetypal coffee table with Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, A Love ... more
Supreme is one of the classic recordings, reaching far beyond its natural jazz audience. This handsomely packaged fold-out set has the rightfully fêted original 1964 recording on disc one, and is bolstered (as if any bolstering were needed) by the tantalising extras on disc two. All the tracks have been re-mastered by Rudy Van Gelder, who's currently immersed in a restoration programme for much of his old engineering work. This disc is taken from a flawless 1965 master discovered in EMI's London vaults, without the compression or equalisation found on previous CD releases. Disc two's showpiece is a recording of the only time the suite was performed live in its entirety, at the sixth Antibes Jazz Festival in 1965, where Coltrane was the crowning act. Although previously available in bootlegged form, this is its first authorised release. It might be heretical to say this, but the live entity poses a serious challenge to the studio original. The recording quality is surprisingly immediate, and the extended work-out is like a fresh draught of a favourite potion. It might not be as studied and refined as the studio version, but Coltrane's blowing has a fearsome, brutal edge, particularly once the tenor-drum battle with Elvin Jones erupts during "Pursuance", the leader's controlled howling scraping out his horn's smooth throat-lining. From Coltrane's own reference tapes, there are also two alternative takes each of "Resolution" and "Acknowledgement", the latter featuring bassist Art Davis and tenor man Archie Shepp, with the latter's contributions sounding somewhat scrappy and hesitant. It's plain to see why these takes weren't used, but they still provide a fascinating insight, tape drop-outs and all. -Martin Longley
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Advantages: In a word.....Genius Disadvantages: Might just stop you from getting anything done
...the opening bars of "A Love Supreme" on a TV show I quickly grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the name of the track and the artist. So began my love affair with this man's work, and, if there is a pinnacle to his extraordinary career, this is it.
First conceived in late summer of 1964, this is John's gift to God based on his earlier struggles and final release from various addictions. He wrote the whole suite mainly ... ...Island house, simply "receiving" the music directly into his soul, whilst his wife Alice tended to the children downstairs. He spent several days on the music and as Alice later recalled when he would appear after working "It was like Moses coming down from the mountain, it was so beautiful. He walked down and there was that joy, that peace in his face". The album does indeed have a very spiritual theme running through it and ... more
Whe I first heard the opening bars of "A Love Supreme" on a TV show I quickly grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the name of the track and the artist. So began my love affair with this man's work, and, if there is a pinnacle to his extraordinary career, this is it.
First conceived in late summer of 1964, this is John's gift to God based on his earlier struggles and final release from various addictions. He wrote the whole suite mainly without his instrument in an upstairs room at his Long Island house, simply "receiving" the music directly into his soul, whilst his wife Alice tended to the children downstairs. He spent several days on the music and as Alice later recalled when he would appear after working "It was like Moses coming down from the mountain, it was so beautiful. He walked down and there was that joy, that peace in his face". The album does indeed have a very spiritual theme running through it and you can feel all the conflicts and beauty of a life in progress.
Later Coltrane (tenor sax) took band mates McCoy Turner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (Bass) and Elvin Jones (Drums) into Van Gelder recording studio in New Jersey USA on December 9th 1964 and laid down what has become a landmark in Jazz.
Opening with "Acknowledgement", a three note bass riff that Coltrane weaves his improvisatory lines over in free time, extending his ideas as he goes whilst cymbals crash in the background, this leads into what for me is the best track of the four as the drums pick up the beat and he goes on a solo masterclass that never sounds like just technique. It is "true" music, straight from his heart to the horn.
"Resolution" is a more up-tempo number, with an almost Arabic sounding riff that is powerful yet sensitive and seductive as Coltrane once again flies along a spiritual wave.
The final two tracks, "Pursuance" and "Psalm" run as one on the CD and whilst the former follows the same feel as "Resolution", "Psalm" is almost a prayer, Coltranes luscious, yearning sax lines playing over a beatless background, phrasing directly to a poem he had written as a gift to God. You can actually read the poem and follow the words in the music. There is no virtuoso display of technique here. This is musicianship of the highest order, where phrasing and touch and tone are everything.
Clocking in at only just half an hour, this is a CD to be savoured in one sitting, no track skipping is either necessary or even sensible. This is a work as a whole, to be enjoyed as a whole and whilst "Acknowledgement" is my favourite of the four, I never find myself stopping the CD after it has finished.
There are standout solo moments from the other band members too, especially from McCoy, but it is John Coltrane who resonates long after the music has finished.
If you think you don't like Jazz, you really should try this album and if you think you do, this is absolutely essential listening. Along with Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", this a jazz album that reached a far wider audience than the genre, simply because it is THAT good.
Advantages: The pinnacle of Coltrane's immense contribution to jazz. Disadvantages: Inaccessible without perseverance.
...the musical elements of 'A Love Supreme' are subordinate to the profound sense of spirituality. I'm not a religious person myself, but when listening to this album, I couldn't help but be awe-inspired by Coltrane's apparent subservience to God. He states himself that the album is a gift to God, and an expression of gratitude for the incredible talent with which he's been blessed. Coltrane uses his regular quartet on this album (the most staunch member ... ...from beginning to end. As I've already stated, one shouldn't listen to 'A Love Supreme' attempting to break down the musical elements, but should concentrate more broadly on the general feel of the music. This will ensure greater emotional fulfilment.
This album is superb. Coltrane rules OK. ...
lauracallaghan83 25.07.2004
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Advantages: A seminal work Disadvantages: grown up jazz for grown ups
A LoveSupreme is universally acknowledged as the absolute zenith of Coltrane?s career ? it bears an intensity and frankness which forty years on people still find uncomfortable and intimidating, yet somehow entrancing.
I can?t confess to having been a Coltrane fan for the greater part of my life.
I can?t even claim to have a deep-seated love and understanding of modern jazz as a jaunre.
I bought this particular album a month or so ago for two distinct reasons; I heard a documentary on it on the radio, - my local record shop had a ?special edition? two CD copy of the album at around £30 ? not being entirely convinced I?d even like it, I opted to buy a SACD copy off the intrenet.
Let?s get the CD format over and done with, if you don?t like technospeak, skip a few paragraphs!
The Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard ...
Advantages: Some cracking tracks by big names. Disadvantages: Couple of tracks that do not belong.
LoveSupreme) - JohnColtrane
Disc: 2
1. Mad About the Boy - Dinah Washington
2. Good Life - Tony Bennett
3. Someone to Watch Over Me - Frank Sinatra
4. Misty - Sarah Vaughan (with Quincy Jones Orchestra)
5. Lady Sings the Blues - Billie Holiday
6. Summertime - Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
7. Tell Me All About It - Natalie Cole
8. The Girl From Ipanema - Astrud Gilberto
9. Love and Affection - Courtney Pine (feat Kele Le Roc)
10. In the Mood - Glenn Miller
11. 'Round Midnight - Miles Davis
12. Just the Way You Are - Cleo Laine
13. Giblet Gravy - George Benson
14. Take the "A" Train - Duke Ellington and his Orchestra
15. April in Paris - Count Basie & his Orchestra
16. Desafinado - Stan Getz
17. Just Friends - Charlie Parker
18. Everything Happens to Me - Chet Baker
Also posted on Dooyoo by me ...
Advantages: original, engaging, interesting, brilliant ambience, eclectic influences, excellent compositions. Disadvantages: repetitive, not for everyone.
of the freeform modal avant-jazz and cool post-bebop 50s and 60s; Influences from masterworks such as JohnColtrane's 'A LoveSupreme' and Miles Davis' 'Birth of the Cool' are pretty prevalent from the beginning of Black Earth, with its slow, sustained saxophone, downtuned double-bass, understated, echoing high-hats, bass drums and snares all coming together to create one long, unique, eerie, smoky, film-noir atmosphere to ring throughout the entire album, all driven by the deafeningly slow, smooth piano. - The kind of thing you'd expect to hear in a darkened beatnik dive bar in the seventh circle of Hell, thick smoke-rings circling the slowly decomposing clientele.
Such meticulous attention to an epic sense of foreboding and dread has only ever really been successfully explored in circles of Black Metal and Funeral Doom. Something which is ...
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