Thoughts on 'A Love Supreme' Turning 60

And a baker's dozen interpretations over the decades of John Coltrane's masterwork

It was a little over 60 years ago, in January of 1965, that John Coltrane’s masterwork, A Love Supreme, was released on Impulse! Records. Recorded in just one evening session between 7 pm and midnight on December 9, 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey — there was no written music prepared for the session and no spoken directions from the leader — the quartet of Coltrane, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones collectively carved out the 33-minute four-part suite by improvising together. And the reverberations from what those four giants created in the studio together are still being felt to this day.

Long regarded as being at the apex of Coltrane’s massive oeuvre as well as among his best-selling albums (over one million copies to date), A Love Supreme received a five-star review in the April 8, 1965 issue of Downbeat. “This record is thoroughly a work of art,” wrote Don DeMichael. “This is a significant album, because Coltrane has brought together the promising but underdeveloped aspects of his previous work; has shorn, compressed, extended, and tamed them; and has emerged a greater artist for it.”

This powerful devotional work has also served as a fertile jumping off point for countless explorations of its four separate themes — “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” “Psalm.” Here are a baker’s dozen interpretations of Coltrane’s masterwork.

1. Alice Coltrane with Strings, World Galaxy (Impulse!, 1972)

A 10-minute version of "A Love Supreme" concludes this five-track album featuring Peter Max's psychedelic cover art. After a spacey, tamboura-fueled drone intro with narration by Swami Satchidananda, drummer Ben Riley goes into a funky kind of boogaloo beat that Alice wails over on her signature-sounding Wulitzer organ. Leroy Jenkins follows with an audacious, edgy violin solo before Alice returns on harp, accompanied by strings. She then plays the Wurlitzer on outro with the Swami chanting om chanti. (Reissued in 2011).

2. Elvin Jones Special Quartet, Tribute to John Coltrane (Columbia, 1994)

Wynton Marsalis is special guest on this live 1992 recording from Tokyo’s Pit Inn. The quartet, including pianist Marcus Roberts and bassist Reginald veal, covers the first three-moments from A Love Supreme in a little over 47 minutes, featuring lots of blazing extended soloing from the firebrand trumpeter, who was 31 at the time of this recording.

3. Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, A Love Supreme (Palmetto, 2004)

Artistic director Wynton Marsalis put a painterly touch on his ambitious arrangements to all four movements, adding new colors, textures, intricate counterpoint and frantic call-and-response while introducing new thematic content to the monumental suite. At times alluding to the fuller palette of latter day Ellington. Marsalis is the primary soloist on “Acknowledgement” while alto saxophonist Wes “Warmdaddy” Anderson and pianist Eric Lewis stretch on the swinging “Resolution,” then Marsalis and Anderson (on soprano sax) deliver some heated solos on the burning uptempo “Pursuance." A dynamic offering.

4. Various Artists, A Love Supreme Electric: A Salvo Inspired by John Coltrane (Cuneiform, 2020)

This West Coast band of renegades, including guitarist Henry Kaiser, tenor saxophonist Vinny Golia, organist Wayne Peet, Minutemen bassist Mike Watt and drummer John Hanrahan, tackles all four movements of Coltrane’s masterwork with uncommon intensity in this kaleidoscopic interpretation. The 2CD set includes their take on Meditations, which Coltrane intended to be a spiritual sequel to his A Love Supreme suite.

5. David Murray, Octet Plays Trane (Justin Time Records, 1999)

The powerful tenor taxman unleashes with unparalleled passion on a 15-minute version of “Acknowledgement,” with trumpeters Rasul Siddik, Hugh Ragin and Ravi Best, trombonist Craig Harris, alto saxophonist James Spaulding, pianist D. D. Jackson, bassist Jaribu Shahid and drummer Mark Johnson.

6. Conrad Herwig, The Latin Side of John Coltrane (Astor Place Recordings, 1996)

Trombonist Herwig, a member of Eddie Palmieri’s La Perfecta II band of the early 2000s and longtime member of the Mings Big Band, puts a clave-fueled spin on “Acknowledgement” with his 13-piece big band. The chant in Spanish at the end of the piece is by bassist John Benitez, supported by a choir of percussionists Milton Cardona, José “Cochi” Claussell and Richie Flores and trumpeter Ray Vega.

7. Marc Johnson, Bass Desires (ECM, 1986)

On this initial outing of the ‘80s supergroup, bassist Johnson anchors a swinging romp through “Resolution” that is powered by drummer Peter Erskine and features some wild stretching by the guitar tandem of John Scofield and Bill Frisell, the latter delivering some outrageous soloing on guitar synthesizer. A spirit of abandon and experimentation permeates this eccentric and inspired take on Trane.

8. Wallace Roney, No Room for Argument (Stretch Records, 2000)

Trumpeter Roney combines Coltrane’s droning/chanting motif from “Acknowledgement” with Miles Davis’ “Files De Kilimanjaro” in this clever/ethereal mash-up, featuring drummer Lenny White, bassist Buster Williams, keyboardist Adam Holzman and brother Antoine Roney on tenor sax.

9. Brad Goode, Toy Trumpet (SteepleChase, 2000)

The Chicago-based trumpeter (who has since relocated to Denver) is joined by Ira Sullivan on soprano sax along with pianist Jodie Christian, bassist Larry Kohl and drummer Dana Hall on a searing, swinging rendition of “Resolution” that peaks with a trumpet-drums breakdown midway through. Sparks fly on this rendition of Trane recorded in 1994.

10. Bob Mintzer, Big Band Trane (DMP, 1995)

The tenor saxophonist leads a 14-piece big on his well-orchestrated arrangement of “Acknowledgement,” with features some unbridled tenor blowing from Bob Malach and pianist Phil Markowitz.

11. Turtle Island String Quartet, A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane (Telarc, 2007)

Violinist-arranger-founder David Balakrishnan joins violinist Evan Price, violist Mads Tolling and cellist Mark Summer on a recreation of all four movements from Coltrane’s timeless suite, along with other Trane tunes like “Moments Notice,” “Naima” and “Countdown.”

12 and 12A. Carlos Santana/John McLaughlin, Love Devotion Surrender (Columbia, 1973; Santana & McLaughlin, Live at Montreux, 2011: Invitation to Illumination (Eagle Records, 2015)

In some thoroughbred horse races like the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and Belmont Stakes, two horses may be labeled #3 and #3A if they have the same owner and trainer. In that spirit, I am lumping these two records together as 12 and 12A. Recorded 38 years apart, they reveal different aspects in the respective arsenals of these two ‘70s guitar heroes. Though by the time they got to Montreux for a reunion, when Carlos was 64 and John 69, their fabled chops were still very much intact. Their first encounter in 1973 featured organist Larry Young, bassist Doug Rauch and a battery of drummers including Billy Cobham, Michael Shrieve, Don Alias, and Jan Hammer (eshwing his usual keyboards for the kit). This very potent material was later re-imagined in the studio by bassist-producer Bill Laswell as the 2002 offering, Divine Light: Reconstruction & Mix Translation). John and Carlos reunited at Montreux, Switzerland in 2011 for the annual summer jazz festival on the banks of Lake Geneva with the Swiss alps providing a scenic backdrop. They were accompanied by bassist Etienne Mbappe and a formidable drumming tandem of Dennis Chambers and Carlos’ wife, Cindy Blackman-Santana.

13. The Dave Wilson Quartet, Stretching Supreme (Dave Wilson Music)

Performed live at Philadelphia’s Chris’ Jazz Café, powerhouse tenor player Wilson is joined by his colleagues Kirk Reese on piano, Tony Marino on bass, Alex Ritz and Dan Monaghan drums on exhilarating renditions of the “Acknowledgement” and “Resolution” sections of Trane’s masterwork.

BONUS TRACK

Dissidenten, The Jungle Book (Triloka Records, 1993)

This trance/tribal synth-pop group from Berlin famously covered “Acknowledgement” in their Indian flavored club mix version of Trane’s masterwork, complete with tablas and konnokol vocals.

There was also this powerful montage that concluded Spike Lee’s 1990 film, Mo’ Better Blues, set to the “Acknowledgement” section of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme:

For further insight into the spiritual depth of A Love Supreme, check out this Jazz Night in America documentary (narrated by Christian McBride) about the Coltrane Church in San Francisco: