John Coltrane
A Love Supreme (1964)

review by: Matthew Scrivner
Date: 7/31/01

I learned the other day that there is a Church of John Coltrane. I am not at all surprised.

There is something intensely spiritual here, some deep well that Coltrane draws every note from, and his sax hits these cracking highs that make me ache. Nowhere else have I found the gap between language and music so close you can leap across. Coltrane is using his instrument to sing language to us here. Proof of that is on the first track, Acknowledgement, where the theme at the end disolves and trails off and Coltrane's human voice picks immediately up and repeats and repeats to us, singing, "A love supreme. A love supreme. A love supreme."

This album transcends the jazz genre and becomes something unique. This is one of those rare cases where the language of a music review feels ill equipped to convey the essence of the music. But this is because it's all there for us allready, in every note, every soft tick of the cymbal, every chord on the piano, every cry from the saxaphone.

Buy it and listen to it today. You will be filled by the warmth of this composition and feel yourself glow at the seams.