This week’s selection honors the late, great John Coltrane on what would have been his 100th birthday (September 23, 1926). There simply aren’t enough superlatives I can use to describe ‘A Love Supreme’. For me, it is easily Coltrane’s defining album and one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century. It remains one of the most influential and beautiful recordings ever made, but what makes it so extraordinary is the deeply personal story behind it. To understand A Love Supreme, you really have to understand John Coltrane’s trajectory from 1957 to 1964. While his family had religious roots, it wasn’t until 1957 when his relationship with Christ was truly found. Coltrane had developed a serious heroin and alcohol dependency during the preceding years of ‘A Love Supreme’. His addiction ultimately contributed to his dismissal from Miles Davis’s group in 1957. It was this downward spiral that subsequently led to what he had described as a profound, spiritual awakening. The seven years between this awakening and ‘A Love Supreme’ are arguably the most important period of artistic development in modern jazz. This period Coltrane not only played various styles of jazz and with other great jazz legends, but he also began using music as a vehicle for spiritual inquiry. In September 1964 Coltrane secluded himself for several days and emerged with the composition that became known now as ‘A Love Supreme’. ‘A Love Supreme’ was a unified, four-part work rather than as four unrelated jazz tunes. These four works Coltrane conceived were seen as a spiritual process towards finding and accepting Christ/religion, and from the opening notes on “Pt. 1: Acknowledgement” it’s clear Coltrane’s message is building, not fully fleshed out to the listener. But as the track unfolds there’s a hint of structure, while the rapport with the personnel provides a sort of improvisation between them that works amazingly. It builds into the magnificent chanting apex “A love supreme” shortly after the 6:00 mark. It’s an absolutely beautiful piece and one of the best opening tracks for any album. The piano work McCoy Tyner displays on “Pt. 2: Resolution” hands down some of the most incredible piano work put on a jazz record, and it fully compliments and allows for Coltrane to lead the quartet the rest of the way, creating a magnificent closeout of the song. Elvin Jones’s starts “Pt. 3: Pursuance”, and the work is just extraordinary. That first 90-ish seconds of solo drum work sets the tone, and as the rest of the personnel follows in, it fully sets the tone for the final, climatic work of “Pt. 4: Psalm”. That final track opens with everyone collectively but Coltrane’s saxophone clearly leading throughout. The closing track is a beautiful closing song, and with the title itself being called psalm the song unfolds and justifiably lives up to this title. It feels like a prayer, like an appreciation and love for Christ/religion, and closes the arching theme of the album in recognizing, appreciating and remaining committed to Christ. It’s such a powerful, transcendent song that reaches listeners in such a beautifully profound way (or at least me). ‘A Love Supreme’ was not simply a great jazz album that happened to have religious lyrics. It was Coltrane’s deliberately conceived musical statement of gratitude and spiritual transformation, arriving at a remarkable point in his artistic development. The extraordinary thing is that the record combines an extremely specific conceptual framework with an almost entirely intuitive performance by a quartet that had developed an unusually deep musical vocabulary together. What further impresses with this monumental record was how it was recorded in a single night (December 9,1964) at legendary Rudy Van Gelder’s infamous jazz studio with jazz great Bob Thiele producing and Rudy Van Gelder engineering the recording. Among the many things I’ve enjoyed about ‘A Love Supreme’ is it isn’t simply an album about Coltrane’s faith. It sounds like an album in which the act of playing itself has become an expression of faith. That’s, to me, one of the reasons the record can profoundly affect listeners who don’t share Coltrane’s particular religious beliefs. And it’s that passion, that expression that makes this album so powerful, so moving, so beautifully crafted. Those elements are what truly make a love supreme. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, reading and hopefully providing some thoughts on this magnificent album. Take care, be safe and have a great week!