A Love Supreme is a 1965 Jazz long-play record written by legendary saxophonist John Coltrane and recorded with his equally mythical quartet featuring Coltrane, bassist Jimmy Garrison, pianist McCoy Tyner, and one of my favorite drummers: Elvin Jones. Since its release, A Love Supreme has become a Jazz standard, as well as one of the most acclaimed and successful Jazz albums of all time. When I first discovered this masterpiece of music, it was almost instantly one of my favorite pieces ever, and sits even higher on my list of Jazz favorites.
So why is A Love Supreme so good? Well it's hard to say what makes any music good. Classic chord progression and song structure is constantly being manipulated to create new genres that are arguably better then their predecessors. Just look at Hip-Hop, Funk, and even Jazz itself. All these came from creative manipulation; by combining different old genres and rhythms with new ideas. A Love Supreme does this as well, occasionally using of Afro-Cuban rhythms and note structures that at times almost remind me of classical compositions.
Another part of A Love Supreme that stands out as exceptional as its ability to let the amazing instrumentalists who worked one it shine like only a quartet can. Don't get me wrong, my personal preference swings in favor of the big band route, but in big bands solos are kept short, sweet, and there are usually a lot of them. That, or the big band is only to back one big player, where that one person is almost always featured, think something like the Count Basie Orchestra (Please note I'm not hating on the Count Basie Orchestra, I am a huge fanboy when it comes to them). A Love Supreme can't and doesn't do this. It has multiple solos from each of the quartet members, each lasting several minutes. This allows the musicality of each musician to shine, and combines several rhythmic and difficult licks into the pieces; and all the solos on the record are impressive and beautiful by themselves. Me being both a percussionist and bass player makes the inclusion and focused moments of Jones and Garrison stand out even more.
In summary, A Love Supreme is an epic and beautiful Jazz composition, that combines many rhythmic varieties and chord structures, as well as allowing several outstanding members of the team that recorded it to solo and play at an extreme and professional level. All of this is why I find it so enjoyable to listen to. Plus of course my personal preference and whatever science makes our brains listen to music at all.
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