John Coltrane Quartet:
John Coltrane - tenor saxophone
Jimmy Garrison - bass
McCoy Tyner - piano
Elvin Jones - drums
As far as jazz groups go, there are few lineups that match the classic John Coltrane Quartet. Jimmy Garrison has a very solid foundation set with his bass guitar attempting to ground the music when he is not improvising himself. McCoy Tyner has a depth and an edge never really heard before in jazz piano. It is undoubtedly a characteristic unique to this group. Elvin Jones when not accompanying the journeyman saxophonist brilliantly plays around his whole kit and plays it, arguably, more soulfully than any other drummer regardless of genre and past or present. He also has an earth-shattering solo to open the third track, "Pursuance" which would define drumming in free jazz and inspire drummers of all walks of life in years to come.
When people think of jazz, they generally stereotype the music as swing or bebop-influenced, where the songs are played at constantly fast tempos and every musician in the group plays a solo after the main theme is introduced in the first minute or so. This stereotype holds true to most albums released from the late-1940s until the dawn of the 1960s. Some of John Coltrane's music, such as Blue Train and Giant Steps, with the exception of a few ballads, would also fit this category.
This masterpiece, A Love Supreme, is quite the exception to this stereotype and is the album that many would consider the beginning of avant-garde jazz. Listening to Coltrane's albums in chronological order you can hear how his music and his musical subconscious progressed from his early years with greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and (most famously) Miles Davis, up until this point in time. John and Miles had been experimenting with modal tunes over the past five or so years, modal meaning that there are very few chord changes and solos are based on scales and modes rather than the chord changes themselves. This method of playing music would be used by John Coltrane starting on Davis' Milestones and Kind of Blue, but A Love Supreme is perhaps the best argument that the modal tunes give the freedom of expression to the artist and do not tie them down to the "constraints" of chord progressions.
It should also be noted that the entire four-part suite was recorded in one late-night session beginning at 7PM on December 9, 1964 in the privately owned studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. This was also the first time that John Coltrane was recording an album of his own in which everything was premeditated and for the most part the classic tracks you hear from this album were done in only one or two takes. This was highly irregular because Coltrane would record tracks over and over again until he reached what he perceived to be perfection, so you would have to know that this album would be something extraordinary given his change in recording habits.
This album is also, what I and thousands believe, to be the most soulful sounds to ever come through a human being by way of a musical medium. It is an undeniably moving experience and a spiritual journey as Coltrane and his quartet play his offering to God as saying 'thank you' for helping him overcome his drug and alcohol addictions to purify his soul. Because of the depth of the suite's themes as well as its musical depth, I would have to say that this ultimately John Coltrane's best album.
Now onto the track-by-track analysis:
Part 1: Acknowledgement -
If the opening track of an album could ever be classified as an epic, this would be it. This track opens the album in a truly epic fashion with very delicate percussion flourishes by Elvin Jones and an almost ominous statement by John Coltrane. The purpose of this song, in the whole plot of the four-part suite, is to show that he "acknowledges" the existence of God and asks for His strength and guidance to overcome the addictions which had plagued him through most of his musical career. After the first thirty seconds, Jimmy Garrison begins the main theme of "A Love Supreme" on bass as Elvin Jones moves the song into a new grooving and foot-tapping direction. Next, Coltrane reenters with a soulful solo which will later incorporate the main theme played in several different concert keys ascending a major second or third from time to time. While Coltrane solos, Tyner and Jones provide a soundscape that takes you to the spiritual place that I would imagine that Coltrane himself was mentally in at the time of the recording. About six minutes into the song Coltrane's voice enters chanting the four note theme "A Love Supreme" several times, proclaiming that his new-found love of God is in fact "A Love Supreme" that can be matched by no other love. The track slows down towards the end and Jimmy Garrison's bass fades out with the track, acting as a segway to the next track.
5/5
Part 2: Resolution
As stated earlier, the second of the four-part suite begins as a continuation of Jimmy Garrison's bass solo. His double-stops and swing feel provide the listener with a familiar structure defined by the constant melodic theme of "A Love Supreme". About twenty seconds into the track Coltrane's sax enters at an explosively emotional peak. Coltrane himself said that "when I go from a calm moment to a moment of extreme tension, the only factors that push me are emotional factors, to the exclusion of all musical considerations" and I could not think of a better example than this one. His opening solo is drenched with pure emotions and audacity that only he could deliver in a single musical statement. The minor-key piano vamp continues and strongly supports Coltrane until Tyner enters for his solo. One of the great things about McCoy Tyner’s soloing, like Miles Davis on trumpet, is that he uses an economy of notes and does not use any superfluous notes just because he can. The statements made in his solos are clear and concise and could not have better suited an album more than this one. As Coltrane re-enters for his second solo, another recurring theme becomes obvious. He uses distorted tones by blowing harder and farther up on his mouthpiece to create sounds similar to a person in pain, possibly the symbolism of how he himself was once in pain before he rediscovered God. His solo revisits the theme addressed in the beginning of the song and ends as expected for such an emotional journey. Continuing the overall spiritual concept of the album, this track shows that after acknowledging the omnipresence of “the Almighty”, Coltrane makes a resolution with God that he will forever be in debt to Him for helping him to purify himself and distance himself from his addictions to drugs and alcohol. 5/5
Part 3: Pursuance
As I have mentioned before, the third part of the suite begins with the thunderous drum solo played by the incomparable Elvin Jones. This part of the album, relating to its concept, is John Coltrane saying that “I will pursue purification through the strength and wisdom of the Lord” or something along those lines. Jones makes good use of his snare drum throughout the solo and the overall feeling from his solo is sort of determination and devotion which goes along with the process of “pursuance”, as Coltrane follows along this path for most of the album as well. Most of the solo involves double stops referring back to the tempo set by Jimmy Garrison in the beginning of the previous track. At the end of the minute and a half drum solo Jones almost stops completely before cueing Coltrane’s entrance. Tyner enters with his own explosive solo with cadenzas running up and down the piano completely effortless, yet much deeper than the effortlessness we can hear the expression and the message that he is “saying” through his piano until he forcefully plays the chords leading into Coltrane’s next solo. In this three minute solo Coltrane reintroduces the six-note theme of this track several times along with the pure human emotions of his subconsciously chosen notes as well as the distorted tones which I discussed earlier. Coltrane and Jones rap up the structured section of the solo as the second half begins with another magnificent bass solo by Jimmy Garrison reminiscent of his solo in “Acknowledgement” at times with the three-note “A Love Supreme” theme repeated, but the latter solo shows more direction musically and logically. His solo ranges from swing to the freeness of the album to just “pure human release”, or pure improvisation. Also reminiscent of his “Acknowledgement” solo is that the solo is a calm before the ‘eye of the storm’ so to speak and is almost meant to keep the heightened emotions to come unexpected to make the listening experience that much more spiritual. 5/5
Part 4: Psalm
As far as the album’s concept goes, “Psalm” is the establishment, in this case in written form, of the devotion of Coltrane to God. This track is without a doubt the most moving of the four-part suite. Coltrane’s playing throughout is a musical narration, a “reading” of his poem with the title of this album. The shape and flow of the song can be derived directly from the words in Coltrane’s poem included in the album’s liner notes. The occasional rhyming patterns and the often-repeated “Thank you God” constitutes that this song be comparable to the psalms of the Bible. Elvin Jones surprisingly moves to the tympani drum to generate an incredibly compelling atmosphere as Coltrane figuratively reads and follows the cadences of the text from his poem. The effect that this track is very private and the reflective nature of it stands as one of Coltrane’s most heart-wrenching performances; once again, hard to believe that “Pursuance” and “Psalm” together as one recorded track was recorded in one single majestic, astonishing, and awe-inspiring take.
5/5
Conclusion:
It is hard to believe that such an album could have been synthesized in such a short time and a limited number of recorded attempts. There have been many albums made before and after A Love Supreme that have been emotionally charged, but none have been equivalent to the raw emotions and spirituality from this 34-minute suite. When John Coltrane entered the studio on December 9, 1964 with all of the material arranged for immediate recording, the world would know that a transcendent, timeless masterpiece was being made. From the ebullience of the swing tempos to the depth of the epics, this is the supreme album that it was intended to be. Throughout the whole album the four musicians seem to be listening to each other intently and knowing exactly what to play and when to play it. The solos are superb and the suite as a whole is paramount.
In the words of John Coltrane, “God is; He always was. He always will be. The fact that we do exist is acknowledgment of Thee O Lord. To whom all praise is due…praise God. Blessed is He. I have seen God – I have seen ungodly – none can be greater – none can compare to God. ELATION – ELEGANCE – EXALTION – All from God. Thank you God. Amen.” - John Coltrane, December 1964
For the complete lyrics to the poem “A Love Supreme”, click on this link to a blog from my Myspace profile: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=19525291&b logID=56584108&Mytoken=3072fb27-8897-469b-a1db-ed9e481d53d3. If you have not yet heard this album, you are truly missing out on one of the most magnificent, beautiful, and moving albums ever recorded. I encourage everyone to listen to this album and seek the spiritual path that John Coltrane sought himself. As for my review, I proudly give this album 5 out of 5 stars and, in my opinion, this is the second greatest musical achievement of any genre of any time period.
If you have not purchased this album yet, I suggest that you buy the Deluxe Edition. The first disc is the original album and the second disc includes the only live performances of the four-part suite. It is well worth the extra money as well as the additional liner notes and photographs accompanying it.
If you are not familiar with John Coltrane's other works, I suggest you listen to "Blue Train" and "Giant Steps" first. The first of which, I have posted a review on also. The latter shows the direction that he was moving in that would bring him to the making of "A Love Supreme" four years later, although the songs on "Giant Steps" are much more structured.
