A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album

A love letter to the seminal jazz recording of the 1960s, which I first picked up in college. The author describes the characters of all the important contributors to the December 9, 1964 session in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, along with quotes describing its influence, speculations about Coltrane's thinking before, during, and after the period, insider views of the recording industry, and a breakdown of what happens in each of the four movements of the piece. Besides the music, he delves also into the spiritual aspects stemming from Coltrane's recovery from addiction and return to a place familiar to him from his early childhood. Though the music is among the great accomplishments of the century, I think this book does not add to it anything show more really essential except maybe for a non-fan who wants to know what the fuss about the album was about. show less

This book lacks the fascination of Kahn's story of the making of the Miles Davis masterpiece, Kind of Blue, but perhaps that is more related to the music itself than to anything under Kahn's control. Kind of Blue has an elegant, immediate simplicity that lulls the listener into a special place. A Love Supreme is much more challenging, reflecting Coltrane's deep spirituality near the end of his life, and I suspect it will take a few more listens before I really begin to appreciate it. It is a far cry from his more accessible work of the late 50s and early 60s.

As some of the previous commentators put it, go and buy the album and read the CD notes. The few witnesses interviewed for this book don't bring much light to the subject, they don't seem to remember much about the recording session. At the end of the book it's still not known if Coltrane's voice was dubbed singing or it's just somebody else's voice singing at the same time... :-) Nice photos, but that is all...

A Love Supreme is one of the most important and influential jazz albums of all times, and, certainly, one of Coltrane's most praised records. This book is a kind of biography of that record, presenting, in Chapters 3 and 4, the history of the recording sessions of December 1964 (with recollections of, among others, Elvin Jones) and also describing the surrounding context (musical and otherwise): the early play of Coltrane, including his work with Miles, the formation of his Quartet with Tyner, Garrison and Jones, and the contract with Impulse, and the aftershocks of the album release, describing the influences the album had in the avant-garde jazz scene at the time and in the larger world afterwards. This is a excellent book and a fit show more tribute to a unique jazz masterpiece. show less