A Love Supreme

about this album

A Love Supreme is an album by jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane, recorded in a single session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The album was released by Impulse! Records in January 1965 (A-77). Often described as Coltrane’s „definitive tone poem“, A Love Supreme has become one of his best-selling recordings and is widely regarded as a landmark in jazz, celebrated for its spiritual depth, compositional innovation, and lasting influence on the genre. Composition: A Love Supreme is a four-part suite: ‚Acknowledgement‘, ‚Resolution‘, ‚Pursuance‘, and ‚Psalm‘, with Coltrane on tenor saxophone throughout. The opening track, ‚Acknowledgement‘, begins with a gong and cymbal washes, followed by Jimmy Garrison on double bass introducing the four-note motif that underpins the movement. Coltrane develops this motif in solo, eventually repeating it thirty-six times before transforming it into the vocal chant “a love supreme,” overdubbed nineteen times. The final movement, ‚Psalm‘, features what Coltrane termed a „musical narration,” or wordless recitation, in which he „plays” the text of a devotional poem on his saxophone without speaking. Scholars have interpreted this as an homage to African-American preaching traditions. The piece concludes with the poem’s final lines: „Elation. Elegance. Exaltation. All from God. Thank you God. Amen.” Reception and legacy: Released in January 1965 by Impulse! Records, A Love Supreme was immediat

tracks

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