John Coltrane's A Love Supreme

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52 years ago, this album marked the pinnacle of John Coltrane’s music career. A Love Supreme is the genesis of Spiritual Jazz —not only did it celebrate Coltrane’s liberation from his past troubles with heroine and alcohol addiction, for Coltrane’s followers, A Love Supreme was also a revelation of God’s redemption. Since its release, an African Orthodox Church has been named after him where Coltrane’s music is worshipped, musicians such as U2, Santana and ____. too referenced his music to advocate for equality. Amidst the African-American civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, the birth of A Love Supreme became highly associated with peace and freedom. Nevertheless, Coltrane specifically writes about his personal spiritual quest on …show more content…

Records, this four-part suite symbolizes his four phases of faith.:1. Acknowledgement – 7:42/ 2. Resolution – 7:20/ 3. Pursuance – 10:41/ 4. Psalm – 7:05. With Coltrane’s quartet, which features drummer Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner and bassist Jimmy Garrison, these four movements were recorded in only two days. Coltrane, as a bandleader and saxophonist, has stretched the limits of Jazz and brought new expressions to music. Compared to his other works, A Love Supreme stands out on its own as a fusion of post-bop and modal jazz. In Coltrane’s earlier career, he mainly focused on hard bop compositions such as “Giant Steps” which he developed the “sheets of sound” style (XXXX) and . Interrupted by drug abuse and ___ from Davis’s Xtet , he later rediscovered his direction with Thelonious Monk and evolved to
Perhaps after the turning point of his life in 1957,
slowly paving way to avant-garde jazz that’s later to be seen in Ascension (11 musicians , freer ) free jazz, avant-garde
unique —he studied bebop - walking away from the norm
more complicated harmonic sequences.

FIRST IMPRESSION, FIRST IMPRESSION, STYLE
What everyone seems to say about the album, is that “ A love supreme is god’s love.” The first time I listened to it, I didn't get it— erratic , dissonant , cacophonous — 4 ppl playing on their own…
ineffable harmony. 4 of them are driven by something else, something deeper higher. connected spiritually. structure is improvised , there are no clear directions where they’re going

———— breathing
Consistent intensity , abstract changing rhythms , free improv,

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