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A Love Supreme

October 25, 2023

For other uses, see A Love Supreme (disambiguation).

A Love Supreme is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones.

A Love Supreme
Studio album by
John Coltrane
ReleasedJanuary 1965 (1965-01)
RecordedDecember 9, 1964
StudioVan Gelder (Englewood Cliffs)
Genre
Length32:47
LabelImpulse!
ProducerBob Thiele
John Coltrane chronology
Crescent
(1964) 		A Love Supreme
(1965) 		The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
(1965)

A Love Supreme was released by Impulse! Records in January 1965. It ranks among Coltrane's best-selling albums and is widely considered as his masterpiece.

Composition Edit

 
Elvin Jones (pictured in 1976)

A Love Supreme is a through-composed[2] suite in four parts: "Acknowledgement" (which includes the oral chant that gives the album its name), "Resolution", "Pursuance", and "Psalm". Coltrane plays tenor saxophone on all parts. One critic has written that the album was intended to represent a struggle for purity, an expression of gratitude, and an acknowledgement that the musician's talent comes from a higher power.[3] Coltrane's home in Dix Hills, Long Island, may have inspired the album.[3] Another influence may have been Ahmadiyya Islam.[4]

The album begins with the bang of a gong (tam-tam) and cymbal washes on the first track, "Acknowledgement". Jimmy Garrison enters on double bass with the four-note motif that lays the foundation of the movement. Coltrane begins a solo. He plays variations on the motif until he repeats the four notes thirty-six times. The motif becomes the vocal chant "a love supreme", sung by Coltrane accompanying himself through overdubs nineteen times.[5] According to Rolling Stone, this movement's four-note theme is "the humble foundation of the suite".[6]

In the fourth and final movement, "Psalm", Coltrane performs what he calls a "musical narration". Lewis Porter calls it a "wordless recitation".[7] The devotional is included in the liner notes. Coltrane "plays" the words of the poem on saxophone but doesn't speak them. Some scholars have suggested that this performance is an homage to the sermons of African-American preachers.[8] The poem (and, in his own way, Coltrane's solo) ends with the cry, "Elation. Elegance. Exaltation. All from God. Thank you God. Amen."[9]

A Love Supreme was categorized by Rockdelux as modal jazz, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, hard bop, and post-bop.[10]

Other performances Edit

An alternative version of "Acknowledgement" was recorded the next day on December 10 with tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp and a second bassist, Art Davis. This version omitted Coltrane chanting "a love supreme"; he preferred the quartet version with the chant, placing that on the issued album. There are two known live recordings of the "Love Supreme" suite. For years the only known live recording of the "Love Supreme" suite was of a performance at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes in Juan-les-Pins, France, on July 26, 1965. On October 29, 2002, the album was reissued as a remastered deluxe edition by Impulse! Records with this live performance and the alternate takes on a bonus disc.[11] A further iteration with more studio breakdowns and overdubs was issued as a three-disc complete masters edition released by Impulse! on November 20, 2015.[12] The other known live recording of the suite was recorded October 2, 1965, at The Penthouse in Seattle. The set was recorded by saxophonist Joe Brazil. This live performance was released on October 22, 2021, by Impulse! as A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle.[13]

Reception and legacy Edit

Contemporary professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Down Beat     [14]
Record Mirror     [15]

Released in January 1965 by Impulse! Records,[16] A Love Supreme became one of the most acclaimed jazz records,[17] and contemporary critics hailed it as one of the important albums of post-war jazz.[18] By 1970, it had sold about 500,000 copies, far exceeding Coltrane's usual sales of 30,000,[19] although it never charted on the Billboard 200.[2] It has since been regarded as Coltrane's masterpiece[20] and is "without question Coltrane's most beloved album", according to Robert Christgau, who adds that it "cemented 'Trane's divine status in Japan".[2]

A Love Supreme was widely recognized as a work of deep spirituality and analyzed with religious subtext, although cultural studies scholars Richard W. Santana and Gregory Erickson argued that the "avant-garde jazz suite" could be interpreted otherwise.[30] According to music professor Ingrid Monson of Harvard University, the album was an exemplary recording of modal jazz.[31] Nick Dedina wrote on the Rhapsody web site that the music ranged from free jazz and hard bop to sui generis gospel music in "an epic aural poem to man's place in God's plan".[32] Calling it a "legendary album-long hymn of praise", Rolling Stone said that "Coltrane's majestic, often violent blowing (famously described as 'sheets of sound') is never self-aggrandizing" and that he is "aloft with his classic quartet", "soar[ing] with nothing but gratitude and joy" on a compelling journey for listeners.[6] The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985) said that "each man performs with eloquence and economy", while calling the album "the masterpiece from the quartet's studio work", "the first comprehensive statement of Coltrane's spiritual concerns", and "the cornerstone of many Coltrane collections".[33] On the other hand, jazz critic Tom Hull said that he has not much considered the album "spiritual" but rather "the most perfectly plotted single piece of jazz ever recorded".[29]

A Love Supreme has appeared frequently on professional listings of the greatest albums.[34] In 2003, it was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time;[6] maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list,[35] re-ranking at number 66 in a 2020 reboot of the list.[36] NME ranked it number 188 on a similar list ten years later.[37] The manuscript for the album was included in the National Museum of American History's "Treasures of American History" collection at the Smithsonian Institution.[38] In 2015, the album was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry due to its "cultural, historic, or artistic significance."[39] It is Coltrane's second album to be included after Giant Steps in 2005.[40] It was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[41] It was voted number 85 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[42] Based on such rankings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists it as the 61st most acclaimed album in history.[34]

 
Carlos Santana (1978), one of many rock musicians to have been deeply influenced by the album

According to Joachim-Ernst Berendt, the album's hymn-like quality permeated modern jazz and rock music.[43] As Christgau explains, the record was "adored by American hippies from the Byrds and Carlos Santana on down, and served as theme music to Lester Bangs's wake at CBGB".[2] Musicians such as Joshua Redman[44] and U2,[45] who mention the album in their song "Angel of Harlem",[46] have mentioned the influence of the album on their own work. Both Santana and fellow guitarist John McLaughlin have called the album one of their biggest early influences and recorded Love Devotion Surrender in 1973 as a tribute.[47] "Every so often this ceases to be a jazz record and is more avant-garde contemporary classical," said Neil Hannon of the band The Divine Comedy. "I love the combination of abstract piano that's all sort of 'clang', and weird chords with wailing saxophone over the top."[48]

In The Penguin Guide to Jazz, Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave A Love Supreme a rare "crown" rating but asked whether it was "the greatest jazz album of the modern period..or the most overrated?" Miles Davis, Coltrane's former bandleader, said the record "reached out and influenced those people who were into peace. Hippies and people like that". Jazz critic Martin Gayford later elucidated Davis' comments: If a listener is "in the mood", he wrote, "it's majestic and compelling; if you're not, it's interminable and pretentious." In Gayford's own appraisal for The Daily Telegraph, he argued that it "marked the point at which jazz—for good or ill—ceased for a while to be hip and cool, becoming instead mystical and messianic".[20] Christgau, writing in 2020, said, "it's meditative rather than freewheeling, with each member of his classic quartet instructed to embark on his own harmonically mapped excursion and the title set to a chanted four-note melody you could hum in your sleep. I'm on my fourth consecutive play with no signs of tune fatigue as I write, plus my wife loves it. All true, all remarkable. But how much you value it, I expect, depends on how much faith you place in your own spirituality." He concluded that the next time he will listen to the album "may well depend on who dies when".[2]

Track listing Edit

All tracks composed by John Coltrane and published by Jowcol Music (BMI)

Original LP Edit

Side one
No. Recorded Take number Title Length
1. December 9, 1964 90243 Part 1: "Acknowledgement" 7:47
2. December 9, 1964 90244‒7 Part 2: "Resolution" 7:22
Side two
No. Recorded Take number Title Length
1. December 9, 1964 90245‒1 Part 3: "Pursuance"/Part 4: "Psalm" 17:53

2002 deluxe edition Edit

Disc one
No. Recorded Take number Title Length
1. December 9, 1964 90243 Part 1: "Acknowledgement" 7:43
2. December 9, 1964 90244‒7 Part 2: "Resolution" 7:20
3. December 9, 1964 90245‒1 Part 3: "Pursuance" 10:42
4. December 9, 1964 90245‒1 Part 4: "Psalm" 7:05
Disc two
No. Recorded Take number Title Length
1. July 26, 1965 n/a Introduction by André Francis 1:13
2. July 26, 1965 n/a "Acknowledgement" (Live) 6:11
3. July 26, 1965 n/a "Resolution" (Live) 11:36
4. July 26, 1965 n/a "Pursuance" (Live) 21:30
5. July 26, 1965 n/a "Psalm" (Live) 8:49
6. December 9, 1964 90244‒4 "Resolution" (Alternate take) 7:25
7. December 9, 1964 90244‒6 "Resolution" (Breakdown) 2:13
8. December 10, 1964 90246‒1 "Acknowledgement" (Alternate take) 9:09
9. December 10, 1964 90246‒2 "Acknowledgement" (Alternate take) 9:22

The Complete Masters (2015) Edit

Disc 1 – The Original Stereo Album, Impulse! AS-77
  1. "Acknowledgement" – 7:42
  2. "Resolution" – 7:20
  3. "Pursuance" – 10:41
  4. "Psalm" – 7:05
 – Original Mono Reference Masters
  1. "Pursuance" – 10:42
  2. "Psalm" – 7:02
Disc 2 – Quartet Session, December 9, 1964
  1. "Acknowledgement" (vocal overdub 2) – 2:00
  2. "Acknowledgement" (vocal overdub 3) – 2:05
  3. "Resolution" (take 4/ alternate) – 7:25
  4. "Resolution" (take 6/ breakdown) – 2:13
  5. "Psalm" (undubbed version) – 6:59
 – Sextet Session, December 10, 1964
  1. "Acknowledgement" (Take 1 / alternate) – 9:24
  2. "Acknowledgement" (Take 2 / alternate) – 9:47
  3. "Acknowledgement" (Take 3 / breakdown with studio dialogue) – 1:26
  4. "Acknowledgement" (Take 4 / alternate) – 9:04
  5. "Acknowledgement" (Take 5 / false start) – 0:34
  6. "Acknowledgement" (Take 6 / alternate) – 12:33
Disc 3 – Live at Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes, July 26, 1965
  1. Introduction by André Francis and John Coltrane – 1:13
  2. "Acknowledgement (Live)" – 6:12
  3. "Resolution (Live)" – 11:37
  4. "Pursuance (Live)" – 21:30
  5. "Psalm (Live)" – 8:49

Disc 3 is included only with the "Super Deluxe Edition" version of this release.

Personnel Edit

 
McCoy Tyner played piano throughout both sessions for A Love Supreme

The John Coltrane Quartet Edit

Additional personnel Edit

Reissues Edit

  • Erick Labson – digital remastering (CD reissue)
  • Kevin Reeves – mastering (SACD)
  • Michael Cuscuna – liner notes, production, and remastering (deluxe edition)
  • Joe Alper – photography (CD reissue)
  • Jason Claiborne – graphics (CD reissue)
  • Hollis King – art direction (CD reissue)
  • Lee Tanner – photography (CD reissue)
  • Ken Druker – production (deluxe edition)
  • Esmond Edwards – photography (deluxe edition)
  • Ashley Kahn – liner notes and production (deluxe edition)
  • Peter Keepnews – notes editing (deluxe edition)
  • Hollis King – art direction (deluxe edition)
  • Bryan Koniarz – production (deluxe edition)
  • Edward O'Dowd – design (deluxe edition)
  • Mark Smith – production assistance (deluxe edition)
  • Sherniece Smith – art coordination and production (deluxe edition)
  • Chuck Stewart – photography (deluxe edition)
  • Bill Levenson – reissue supervisor (SACD)
  • Cameron Mizell – production coordination (SACD)
  • Ron Warwell – design (SACD)
  • Isabelle Wong – package design (SACD)

Certifications Edit

Sales certifications for A Love Supreme
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[51] Gold 25,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[52] Gold 100,000‡
United States (RIAA)[53] Platinum 1,000,000‡

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ "10 Essential Spiritual Jazz Albums". Treble Zine. April 13, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Christgau, Robert (April 8, 2020). "Consumer Guide: April, 2020". And It Don't Stop. Substack. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Kahn 2002
  4. ^ Hammer, Juliane; Safi, Omid (August 12, 2013). The Cambridge Companion to American Islam. Cambridge University Press. pp. 285–. ISBN 978-1-107-00241-8. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  5. ^ Porter, 231–249.
  6. ^ a b c Staff. RS 500: 47) A Love Supreme November 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  7. ^ Porter, 244.
  8. ^ Porter, 246–247.
  9. ^ Porter, 248.
  10. ^ Casas, Quim (December 23, 2015). "A Love Supreme". Rockdelux (in Spanish). Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  11. ^ A Love Supreme Deluxe Edition. 1997; Impulse! Records 314 589 945-2, back cover notes.
  12. ^ Porter, 249.
  13. ^ Russonello, Giovanni (October 19, 2021). "What a Rare, Live 'A Love Supreme' Reveals About John Coltrane". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  14. ^ DeMicheal, Don (April 8, 1965). "Spotlight Review: John Coltrane- A Love Supreme". Down Beat. p. 27.
  15. ^ Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (July 3, 1965). (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 225. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  16. ^ Anon. (2007). "A Love Supreme". In Irvin, Jim; McLear, Colin (eds.). The Mojo Collection (4th ed.). Canongate Books. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-84767-643-6.
  17. ^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. "John Coltrane". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th. ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 273–4. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
  18. ^ Anon. (1982). "John Coltrane". Black Music & Jazz Review. Vol. 5. p. 25.
  19. ^ Porter, 232.
  20. ^ a b Gayford, Martin (November 9, 2002). "Sublime - if you're in the mood". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  21. ^ Spencer, Robert (1997). "John Coltrane: A Love Supreme". All About Jazz. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  22. ^ Samuelson, Sam. "A Love Supreme Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
  23. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "John Coltrane". Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  24. ^ Holtje, Steve; Lee, Nancy Ann, eds. (1998). "John Coltrane". MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide. Music Sales Corporation. ISBN 0-8256-7253-8.
  25. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  26. ^ Richardson, Mark (November 25, 2015). "A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters". Pitchfork. from the original on June 5, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  27. ^ "A Love Supreme". Q. October 1995. p. 136.
  28. ^ Wolk, Douglas, "John Coltrane" in Hoard, Christian and Nathan Brackett, eds (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Fireside Books, pp. 182–185.
  29. ^ a b Hull, Tom (April 13, 2020). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  30. ^ Santana, Richard W.; Erickson, Gregory (2008). Religion and Popular Culture: Rescripting the Sacred. McFarland & Company. pp. 78–81. ISBN 978-0786435531.
  31. ^ Monson, Ingrid (2008). "Jazz: From Birth to the 1970s". In Koskoff, Ellen (ed.). The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Routledge. p. 359. ISBN 978-0415994033.
  32. ^ "A Love Supreme (Bonus Tracks) by John Coltrane". Rhapsody. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  33. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 47. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  34. ^ a b "John Coltrane – A Love Supreme". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  35. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  36. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  37. ^ Kaye, Ben (October 25, 2013). "The Top 500 Albums of All Time, according to NME". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  38. ^ "A Love Supreme". National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  39. ^ "National Recording Registry Recognizes 'Mack the Knife,' Motown and Mahler". Library of Congress. March 23, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  40. ^ Law, Janee (March 31, 2016). "John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, Composed in Dix Hills, Added to National Registry". Long Islander News.
  41. ^ Dimery, Robert, ed. (2010). 1001 albums you must hear before you die (Rev. and updated ed.). New York, New York: Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
  42. ^ Colin Larkin (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 70. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  43. ^ Berendt, Joachim-Ernst (2009). The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to the 21st Century. Chicago Review Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-1613746042.
  44. ^ "The A Love Supreme Interviews" (Joshua Redman discusses John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"), on Jerry Jazz Musician Archived January 26, 2013, at archive.today
  45. ^ Palmer, Robert, "A Tribute to John Coltrane's Spirit", The New York Times, September 25, 1987.
  46. ^ Kahn, xxii.
  47. ^ Stump, Paul (2000). Go Ahead John: The Music of John McLaughlin. SAF. p. 65. ISBN 9780946719242.
  48. ^ Thornton, Anthony (November 1998). "Neil Hannon's Record Collection". Q (146): 67.
  49. ^ "Saint John Coltrane: Fifty Years of 'A Love Supreme'". religiondispatches.org. December 8, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  50. ^ Jarenwattananon, Patrick (March 28, 2014). "A Love Supreme Comes Alive in Unearthed Photos". NPR.
  51. ^ "Italian album certifications – John Coltrane – A Love Supreme" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved December 10, 2018. Select "2017" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "A Love Supreme" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
  52. ^ "British album certifications – John Coltrane – A Love Supreme". British Phonographic Industry.
  53. ^ "American album certifications – John Coltrane – A Love Supreme". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 10, 2021.

Bibliography Edit

Further reading Edit

  • Richardson, Mark (November 25, 2015). "John Coltrane: A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  • Whyton, Tony (2013) Beyond A Love Supreme: John Coltrane and the Legacy of an Album. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199733236

External links Edit

October 25, 2023
love, supreme, other, uses, disambiguation, album, american, jazz, saxophonist, john, coltrane, recorded, session, december, 1964, gelder, studio, englewood, cliffs, jersey, leading, quartet, featuring, pianist, mccoy, tyner, bassist, jimmy, garrison, drummer,. For other uses see A Love Supreme disambiguation A Love Supreme is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane He recorded it in one session on December 9 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs New Jersey leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones A Love SupremeStudio album by John ColtraneReleasedJanuary 1965 1965 01 RecordedDecember 9 1964StudioVan Gelder Englewood Cliffs GenreModal jazzpost bopspiritual jazz 1 Length32 47LabelImpulse ProducerBob ThieleJohn Coltrane chronologyCrescent 1964 A Love Supreme 1965 The John Coltrane Quartet Plays 1965 A Love Supreme was released by Impulse Records in January 1965 It ranks among Coltrane s best selling albums and is widely considered as his masterpiece Contents 1 Composition 2 Other performances 3 Reception and legacy 4 Track listing 4 1 Original LP 4 2 2002 deluxe edition 4 3 The Complete Masters 2015 5 Personnel 5 1 The John Coltrane Quartet 5 2 Additional personnel 5 3 Reissues 6 Certifications 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 Further reading 11 External linksComposition Edit nbsp Elvin Jones pictured in 1976 A Love Supreme is a through composed 2 suite in four parts Acknowledgement which includes the oral chant that gives the album its name Resolution Pursuance and Psalm Coltrane plays tenor saxophone on all parts One critic has written that the album was intended to represent a struggle for purity an expression of gratitude and an acknowledgement that the musician s talent comes from a higher power 3 Coltrane s home in Dix Hills Long Island may have inspired the album 3 Another influence may have been Ahmadiyya Islam 4 The album begins with the bang of a gong tam tam and cymbal washes on the first track Acknowledgement Jimmy Garrison enters on double bass with the four note motif that lays the foundation of the movement Coltrane begins a solo He plays variations on the motif until he repeats the four notes thirty six times The motif becomes the vocal chant a love supreme sung by Coltrane accompanying himself through overdubs nineteen times 5 According to Rolling Stone this movement s four note theme is the humble foundation of the suite 6 In the fourth and final movement Psalm Coltrane performs what he calls a musical narration Lewis Porter calls it a wordless recitation 7 The devotional is included in the liner notes Coltrane plays the words of the poem on saxophone but doesn t speak them Some scholars have suggested that this performance is an homage to the sermons of African American preachers 8 The poem and in his own way Coltrane s solo ends with the cry Elation Elegance Exaltation All from God Thank you God Amen 9 A Love Supreme was categorized by Rockdelux as modal jazz avant garde jazz free jazz hard bop and post bop 10 Other performances EditAn alternative version of Acknowledgement was recorded the next day on December 10 with tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp and a second bassist Art Davis This version omitted Coltrane chanting a love supreme he preferred the quartet version with the chant placing that on the issued album There are two known live recordings of the Love Supreme suite For years the only known live recording of the Love Supreme suite was of a performance at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes in Juan les Pins France on July 26 1965 On October 29 2002 the album was reissued as a remastered deluxe edition by Impulse Records with this live performance and the alternate takes on a bonus disc 11 A further iteration with more studio breakdowns and overdubs was issued as a three disc complete masters edition released by Impulse on November 20 2015 12 The other known live recording of the suite was recorded October 2 1965 at The Penthouse in Seattle The set was recorded by saxophonist Joe Brazil This live performance was released on October 22 2021 by Impulse as A Love Supreme Live in Seattle 13 Reception and legacy EditContemporary professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingDown Beat nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 14 Record Mirror nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 15 Released in January 1965 by Impulse Records 16 A Love Supreme became one of the most acclaimed jazz records 17 and contemporary critics hailed it as one of the important albums of post war jazz 18 By 1970 it had sold about 500 000 copies far exceeding Coltrane s usual sales of 30 000 19 although it never charted on the Billboard 200 2 It has since been regarded as Coltrane s masterpiece 20 and is without question Coltrane s most beloved album according to Robert Christgau who adds that it cemented Trane s divine status in Japan 2 Retrospective professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAll About Jazz nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 21 AllMusic nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 22 And It Don t StopA 2 Encyclopedia of Popular Music nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 23 MusicHound Jazz5 5 24 The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 25 Pitchfork10 10 26 Q nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 27 The Rolling Stone Album Guide nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 28 Tom Hull on the WebA 29 A Love Supreme was widely recognized as a work of deep spirituality and analyzed with religious subtext although cultural studies scholars Richard W Santana and Gregory Erickson argued that the avant garde jazz suite could be interpreted otherwise 30 According to music professor Ingrid Monson of Harvard University the album was an exemplary recording of modal jazz 31 Nick Dedina wrote on the Rhapsody web site that the music ranged from free jazz and hard bop to sui generis gospel music in an epic aural poem to man s place in God s plan 32 Calling it a legendary album long hymn of praise Rolling Stone said that Coltrane s majestic often violent blowing famously described as sheets of sound is never self aggrandizing and that he is aloft with his classic quartet soar ing with nothing but gratitude and joy on a compelling journey for listeners 6 The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide 1985 said that each man performs with eloquence and economy while calling the album the masterpiece from the quartet s studio work the first comprehensive statement of Coltrane s spiritual concerns and the cornerstone of many Coltrane collections 33 On the other hand jazz critic Tom Hull said that he has not much considered the album spiritual but rather the most perfectly plotted single piece of jazz ever recorded 29 A Love Supreme has appeared frequently on professional listings of the greatest albums 34 In 2003 it was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time 6 maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list 35 re ranking at number 66 in a 2020 reboot of the list 36 NME ranked it number 188 on a similar list ten years later 37 The manuscript for the album was included in the National Museum of American History s Treasures of American History collection at the Smithsonian Institution 38 In 2015 the album was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry due to its cultural historic or artistic significance 39 It is Coltrane s second album to be included after Giant Steps in 2005 40 It was included in Robert Dimery s 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 41 It was voted number 85 in the third edition of Colin Larkin s All Time Top 1000 Albums 2000 42 Based on such rankings the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists it as the 61st most acclaimed album in history 34 nbsp Carlos Santana 1978 one of many rock musicians to have been deeply influenced by the albumAccording to Joachim Ernst Berendt the album s hymn like quality permeated modern jazz and rock music 43 As Christgau explains the record was adored by American hippies from the Byrds and Carlos Santana on down and served as theme music to Lester Bangs s wake at CBGB 2 Musicians such as Joshua Redman 44 and U2 45 who mention the album in their song Angel of Harlem 46 have mentioned the influence of the album on their own work Both Santana and fellow guitarist John McLaughlin have called the album one of their biggest early influences and recorded Love Devotion Surrender in 1973 as a tribute 47 Every so often this ceases to be a jazz record and is more avant garde contemporary classical said Neil Hannon of the band The Divine Comedy I love the combination of abstract piano that s all sort of clang and weird chords with wailing saxophone over the top 48 In The Penguin Guide to Jazz Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave A Love Supreme a rare crown rating but asked whether it was the greatest jazz album of the modern period or the most overrated Miles Davis Coltrane s former bandleader said the record reached out and influenced those people who were into peace Hippies and people like that Jazz critic Martin Gayford later elucidated Davis comments If a listener is in the mood he wrote it s majestic and compelling if you re not it s interminable and pretentious In Gayford s own appraisal for The Daily Telegraph he argued that it marked the point at which jazz for good or ill ceased for a while to be hip and cool becoming instead mystical and messianic 20 Christgau writing in 2020 said it s meditative rather than freewheeling with each member of his classic quartet instructed to embark on his own harmonically mapped excursion and the title set to a chanted four note melody you could hum in your sleep I m on my fourth consecutive play with no signs of tune fatigue as I write plus my wife loves it All true all remarkable But how much you value it I expect depends on how much faith you place in your own spirituality He concluded that the next time he will listen to the album may well depend on who dies when 2 Track listing EditAll tracks composed by John Coltrane and published by Jowcol Music BMI Original LP Edit Side oneNo Recorded Take number Title Length1 December 9 1964 90243 Part 1 Acknowledgement 7 472 December 9 1964 90244 7 Part 2 Resolution 7 22Side twoNo Recorded Take number Title Length1 December 9 1964 90245 1 Part 3 Pursuance Part 4 Psalm 17 532002 deluxe edition Edit Disc oneNo Recorded Take number Title Length1 December 9 1964 90243 Part 1 Acknowledgement 7 432 December 9 1964 90244 7 Part 2 Resolution 7 203 December 9 1964 90245 1 Part 3 Pursuance 10 424 December 9 1964 90245 1 Part 4 Psalm 7 05Disc twoNo Recorded Take number Title Length1 July 26 1965 n a Introduction by Andre Francis 1 132 July 26 1965 n a Acknowledgement Live 6 113 July 26 1965 n a Resolution Live 11 364 July 26 1965 n a Pursuance Live 21 305 July 26 1965 n a Psalm Live 8 496 December 9 1964 90244 4 Resolution Alternate take 7 257 December 9 1964 90244 6 Resolution Breakdown 2 138 December 10 1964 90246 1 Acknowledgement Alternate take 9 099 December 10 1964 90246 2 Acknowledgement Alternate take 9 22The Complete Masters 2015 Edit Disc 1 The Original Stereo Album Impulse AS 77 Acknowledgement 7 42 Resolution 7 20 Pursuance 10 41 Psalm 7 05 Original Mono Reference Masters Pursuance 10 42 Psalm 7 02Disc 2 Quartet Session December 9 1964 Acknowledgement vocal overdub 2 2 00 Acknowledgement vocal overdub 3 2 05 Resolution take 4 alternate 7 25 Resolution take 6 breakdown 2 13 Psalm undubbed version 6 59 Sextet Session December 10 1964 Acknowledgement Take 1 alternate 9 24 Acknowledgement Take 2 alternate 9 47 Acknowledgement Take 3 breakdown with studio dialogue 1 26 Acknowledgement Take 4 alternate 9 04 Acknowledgement Take 5 false start 0 34 Acknowledgement Take 6 alternate 12 33Disc 3 Live at Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes July 26 1965Introduction by Andre Francis and John Coltrane 1 13 Acknowledgement Live 6 12 Resolution Live 11 37 Pursuance Live 21 30 Psalm Live 8 49Disc 3 is included only with the Super Deluxe Edition version of this release Personnel Edit nbsp McCoy Tyner played piano throughout both sessions for A Love SupremeThe John Coltrane Quartet Edit John Coltrane bandleader liner notes vocals tenor saxophone 49 Jimmy Garrison double bass Elvin Jones drums gong timpani McCoy Tyner pianoAdditional personnel Edit Archie Shepp tenor saxophone on alternate takes of Acknowledgement Art Davis double bass on alternate takes of Acknowledgement Rudy Van Gelder engineering and mastering Bob Thiele production and cover photo 50 George Gray Viceroy cover design Victor Kalin gatefold illustration Joe Lebow liner designReissues Edit Erick Labson digital remastering CD reissue Kevin Reeves mastering SACD Michael Cuscuna liner notes production and remastering deluxe edition Joe Alper photography CD reissue Jason Claiborne graphics CD reissue Hollis King art direction CD reissue Lee Tanner photography CD reissue Ken Druker production deluxe edition Esmond Edwards photography deluxe edition Ashley Kahn liner notes and production deluxe edition Peter Keepnews notes editing deluxe edition Hollis King art direction deluxe edition Bryan Koniarz production deluxe edition Edward O Dowd design deluxe edition Mark Smith production assistance deluxe edition Sherniece Smith art coordination and production deluxe edition Chuck Stewart photography deluxe edition Bill Levenson reissue supervisor SACD Cameron Mizell production coordination SACD Ron Warwell design SACD Isabelle Wong package design SACD Certifications EditSales certifications for A Love Supreme Region Certification Certified units salesItaly FIMI 51 Gold 25 000 United Kingdom BPI 52 Gold 100 000 United States RIAA 53 Platinum 1 000 000 Sales figures based on certification alone Sales streaming figures based on certification alone See also Edit nbsp Jazz portal nbsp Religion portal1965 in jazz Angel of Harlem a 1989 U2 song referencing the album A Love Surreal an album by Bilal Blue World an album recorded between Crescent and A Love Supreme released in 2019 Concept album Love of GodReferences Edit 10 Essential Spiritual Jazz Albums Treble Zine April 13 2017 Retrieved April 21 2023 a b c d e f Christgau Robert April 8 2020 Consumer Guide April 2020 And It Don t Stop Substack Retrieved April 28 2020 a b Kahn 2002 Hammer Juliane Safi Omid August 12 2013 The Cambridge Companion to American Islam Cambridge University Press pp 285 ISBN 978 1 107 00241 8 Retrieved December 15 2014 Porter 231 249 a b c Staff RS 500 47 A Love Supreme Archived November 26 2010 at the Wayback Machine Rolling Stone Retrieved October 5 2010 Porter 244 Porter 246 247 Porter 248 Casas Quim December 23 2015 A Love Supreme Rockdelux in Spanish Retrieved August 3 2018 A Love Supreme Deluxe Edition 1997 Impulse Records 314 589 945 2 back cover notes Porter 249 Russonello Giovanni October 19 2021 What a Rare Live A Love Supreme Reveals About John Coltrane The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 22 2021 DeMicheal Don April 8 1965 Spotlight Review John Coltrane A Love Supreme Down Beat p 27 Jones Peter Jopling Norman July 3 1965 John Coltrane A Love Supreme PDF Record Mirror No 225 p 8 Archived from the original PDF on April 1 2022 Retrieved August 18 2022 Anon 2007 A Love Supreme In Irvin Jim McLear Colin eds The Mojo Collection 4th ed Canongate Books p 48 ISBN 978 1 84767 643 6 Cook Richard Brian Morton 2006 1992 John Coltrane The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings The Penguin Guide to Jazz 8th ed New York Penguin pp 273 4 ISBN 0 14 102327 9 Anon 1982 John Coltrane Black Music amp Jazz Review Vol 5 p 25 Porter 232 a b Gayford Martin November 9 2002 Sublime if you re in the mood The Daily Telegraph Retrieved July 2 2016 Spencer Robert 1997 John Coltrane A Love Supreme All About Jazz Retrieved July 2 2016 Samuelson Sam A Love Supreme Overview AllMusic Retrieved October 17 2009 Larkin Colin 2011 John Coltrane Encyclopedia of Popular Music 5th ed Omnibus Press ISBN 978 0 85712 595 8 Holtje Steve Lee Nancy Ann eds 1998 John Coltrane MusicHound Jazz The Essential Album Guide Music Sales Corporation ISBN 0 8256 7253 8 Cook Richard Morton Brian 2008 The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings 9th ed Penguin p 167 ISBN 978 0 141 03401 0 Richardson Mark November 25 2015 A Love Supreme The Complete Masters Pitchfork Archived from the original on June 5 2022 Retrieved August 18 2022 A Love Supreme Q October 1995 p 136 Wolk Douglas John Coltrane in Hoard Christian and Nathan Brackett eds 2004 The Rolling Stone Album Guide Fireside Books pp 182 185 a b Hull Tom April 13 2020 Music Week Tom Hull on the Web Retrieved July 17 2020 Santana Richard W Erickson Gregory 2008 Religion and Popular Culture Rescripting the Sacred McFarland amp Company pp 78 81 ISBN 978 0786435531 Monson Ingrid 2008 Jazz From Birth to the 1970s In Koskoff Ellen ed The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Routledge p 359 ISBN 978 0415994033 A Love Supreme Bonus Tracks by John Coltrane Rhapsody Retrieved July 2 2016 Swenson J ed 1985 The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide USA Random House Rolling Stone p 47 ISBN 0 394 72643 X a b John Coltrane A Love Supreme Acclaimed Music Retrieved July 17 2020 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone s definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time Rolling Stone 2012 Retrieved September 23 2019 The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone September 22 2020 Retrieved October 9 2021 Kaye Ben October 25 2013 The Top 500 Albums of All Time according to NME Consequence of Sound Retrieved July 2 2016 A Love Supreme National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution Retrieved May 28 2008 National Recording Registry Recognizes Mack the Knife Motown and Mahler Library of Congress March 23 2016 Retrieved February 18 2017 Law Janee March 31 2016 John Coltrane s A Love Supreme Composed in Dix Hills Added to National Registry Long Islander News Dimery Robert ed 2010 1001 albums you must hear before you die Rev and updated ed New York New York Universe ISBN 978 0 7893 2074 2 Colin Larkin 2006 All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd ed Virgin Books p 70 ISBN 0 7535 0493 6 Berendt Joachim Ernst 2009 The Jazz Book From Ragtime to the 21st Century Chicago Review Press p 152 ISBN 978 1613746042 The A Love Supreme Interviews Joshua Redman discusses John Coltrane s A Love Supreme on Jerry Jazz Musician Archived January 26 2013 at archive today Palmer Robert A Tribute to John Coltrane s Spirit The New York Times September 25 1987 Kahn xxii Stump Paul 2000 Go Ahead John The Music of John McLaughlin SAF p 65 ISBN 9780946719242 Thornton Anthony November 1998 Neil Hannon s Record Collection Q 146 67 Saint John Coltrane Fifty Years of A Love Supreme religiondispatches org December 8 2014 Retrieved February 18 2017 Jarenwattananon Patrick March 28 2014 A Love Supreme Comes Alive in Unearthed Photos NPR Italian album certifications John Coltrane A Love Supreme in Italian Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana Retrieved December 10 2018 Select 2017 in the Anno drop down menu Select A Love Supreme in the Filtra field Select Album e Compilation under Sezione British album certifications John Coltrane A Love Supreme British Phonographic Industry American album certifications John Coltrane A Love Supreme Recording Industry Association of America Retrieved November 10 2021 Bibliography EditKahn Ashley 2003 A Love Supreme The Story of John Coltrane s Signature Album Elvin Jones Penguin Books ISBN 0 14 200352 2 Porter Lewis 1999 John Coltrane His Life and Music University of Michigan Press ISBN 0 472 08643 X Porter Lewis 1985 John Coltrane s A Love Supreme Jazz Improvisation as Composition PDF Journal of the American Musicological Society University of California Press 38 3 593 621 doi 10 1525 jams 1985 38 3 03a00060 Further reading EditRichardson Mark November 25 2015 John Coltrane A Love Supreme The Complete Masters Pitchfork Retrieved July 29 2021 Whyton Tony 2013 Beyond A Love Supreme John Coltrane and the Legacy of an Album Oxford University Press ISBN 0199733236External links EditA Love Supreme at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Media from Commons nbsp Data from Wikidata A Love Supreme at Discogs list of releases A Love Supreme a list of accolades at Acclaimed Music Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title A Love Supreme amp oldid 1174978028, wikipedia, 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