John Coltrane
A Love Supreme
Impulse Records

Hailed as a Jazz classic, Coltrane's A Love Supreme if anything, is a fanatical work in complete devotion to God. In fact, if you read the liner notes in the cd cover, Coltrane confirms God as the primary inspiration for A Love Supreme. In the wake of his recouperation from Heroine addiction, like so many other recovering addicts, Coltrane found religion as a source of salvation and his music as a source of escape. With this you can hear the ventings of both salvation and escape, hand in hand in jazz glory. Imagine if you will the frailty and sincerity of the Chili Pepper's "Under the Bridge" placed over a improvisational marvel. Coltrane searches through tones on his tenor saxiphone far more than he did with Miles Davis. In fact, the talent Coltrane awakens on Supreme make his work on Kind of Blue seem significantly much more conservative, to the point of obsolete.

Here, you see a definitive raw experimentation that doesn't quite reach the lengths of acid jazz of Herbie Hancock or Davis' Bitches Brew. Here it's more focused, completely straight edge and without hinderance. For all you Who fans who are convinced Kieth Moon is god's gift to drums I urge you to gander at the drum solo on track 3. It completely embodies Coltrane's intentions for this record- an experimental improvisational achievement in complete devotion to God.

Copyright © 2004 Matthew DeMello