Coltrane. With the possible exceptions of Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker or Duke Ellington, no one jazzman has been so revered. For sheer virtuosity and relentless innovation, few can match his spirit, his drive.
A Love Supreme is one of his many masterpieces and like any masterpiece is hard to discuss, as work of this power exists on a spiritual level beyond mere language's ability to define. And that's precisely the point. A Love Supreme is one man's holy quest, as Coltrane explains in the liner notes: "ELATION - ELEGANCE - EXALTATION - All from God."
The album is a four-part hymn, a difficult and uplifting work. Coltrane had been exploring cool jazz and hard bop, but A Love Supreme marks a defining moment in his singular vision. In earlier works his "sheets of sound" technique was wildly energetic to the point of exhaustion and can leave a listener frustrated, but here his musical searching and emotional catharsis fuse perfectly.
This album leans the listener over the proverbial Abyss without a net. There is no easy resolution of harmony or satisfactory closure to the album, as it simply trails off into the ether. Coltrane's endless variations on A Love Supreme's four-note theme are his way of ever reaching for perfection, for expressing the ineffable. His supple and empathetic sidemen help him attain these dizzying and vulnerable heights. This is not music for the casual listener, nor is it soothing by any means.
A Love Supreme is Coltrane's aural soul laid bare, and its frenzied passion requires and rewards careful attention. Almost painful in its tense, terrible beauty, this tour de force is indeed a force to be reckoned with. The most persuasive ontological argument I've ever heard, A Love Supreme is a divine work of American art.
- Jared O'Connor
endless variations