A Love Supreme [Deluxe Edition]

All the tracks have been re-mastered by Rudy Van Gelder, who's currently immersed in a restoration programme for much of his old engineering work. This disc is taken from a flawless 1965 master discovered in EMI's London vaults, without the compression or equalisation found on previous CD releases.

Disc two's showpiece is a recording of the only time the suite was performed live in its entirety, at the sixth Antibes Jazz Festival in 1965, where Coltrane was the crowning act. Although previously available in bootlegged form, this is its first authorised release. It might be heretical to say this, but the live entity poses a serious challenge to the studio original. The recording quality is surprisingly immediate, and the extended work-out is like a fresh draught of a favourite potion. It might not be as studied and refined as the studio version, but Coltrane's blowing has a fearsome, brutal edge, particularly once the tenor-drum battle with Elvin Jones erupts during "Pursuance", the leader's controlled howling scraping out his horn's smooth throat-lining.

From Coltrane's own reference tapes, there are also two alternative takes each of "Resolution" and "Acknowledgement", the latter featuring bassist Art Davis and tenor man Archie Shepp, with the latter's contributions sounding somewhat scrappy and hesitant. It's plain to see why these takes weren't used, but they still provide a fascinating insight, tape drop-outs and all. --Martin Longley

The music on the album itself is powerful not just for Coltrane's playing itself but also for the fanatical interplay of the quartet. 'Acknowledgement' opens with Garrison's passionate bass line, leading into Coltrane's dynamic and ingenious playing, the quartet's spirited performance like a fervant, untamed emotion that has gripped them all. 'Resolution' blazes from the record with Tyler burnishing the track with some brilliant playing of his own. Jones's frantic drumming comes to the fore on the opening of 'Pursuance', a track where the meaning of 'Chasin' The Trane' becomes self-evident as Garrison, Tyler and Jones follow in hot pursuit of their leader's furious joy. Tyler's playing is again compelling as the quartet trade notes with such alarming velocity before Garrison's bass tip-toes and leads us like the pied-piper to the concluding 'Psalm'.

It's refreshing in this day and age to hear an artist whose sincerity and integrity shines through his work.


Ian go back to sleep   March 12, 2004
 4 out of 15 found this review helpful

Not many words are needed for this piece of work. "Life changing" would sum up the listening experience. Ian go back to sleep my freind


A controversial view...   March 7, 2004
 21 out of 27 found this review helpful

I came to this album after listening to jazz for over twenty years during a period when I sought to add some classic albums to my collection that I felt were missing. Whilst I had been introduced to Coltrane as a teenager via an album of his famous quartet and through Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", most of my collection consisted of contemporary recordings. This added to my perception that this group sounded old-fashioned , particularly as a consequence of McCoy Tyner's continued use of added forths in his harmonic variations. There seemed to be little variation in the pianist's playing and I could not buy into the spiritual aspect of Coltrane's music. Added to this, modern players such as Mike Brecker, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano,Steve Coleman and, until the 1990's atleast, Jan Garbarek had moved the music on.Furthermore, Wayne Shorter, when at the top of his game, was found to be a harmonically and linearly more adventurous player.
Eventually, I acquired this disc and was initially blown away by the saxophonist's playing. Two of his greatest solo's can be found on "Resolution" and "Persuance", yet the album ends on a total anti-climax, the closing movement of the suite being (whisper this only) little more than an extended cadenza. What is particularly interesting is that in the same year, Coltrane also recorded a lesser known and more orthodox disc called "Crescent" and I would contest that this represents the apogee of his work. Whilst "A love supreme" ends in an annoying fashion, "Cresent" leaves this listener wanting more. In my opnion, it should be "Crescent" that takes the kudos. I would also like to point out that some of the less-valued discs such as the meeting with Duke Ellington similarly do not receive the credit that they are due. Certainly, it is "A love supreme" that makes the most infrequent appearances on my CD player.
Never-the-less, the first three movements on this album show Coltrane in magnificant form and this record rightfully deserves to be in any collection. However, the listener should be encouraged to search out other albums by this group as well as lesser known earlier discs such as Sonny Clark's "Sonny's Crib" where stellar Coltrane can also be found.


The only version to get.   September 6, 2003
 36 out of 36 found this review helpful

To those of you who perhaps bought this album on Vinyl in the 60s as I did, and have been so disappointed with all the CD re-issues to date, then finally your patience has been rewarded.

All previous CD reissues have had a nasty tinny quality to Elvin Jones's cymbal sound, and Coltrane's tenor sounded hard and ugly. Even the Impulse 24 bit remaster was horrible.

This re-issue is gorgeous -- even if you own this recording, unless it is on anything other than pristine vinyl :-), it is well worth a re-purchase.

The bonus is that the live French recording (the only time Love Supreme was played as a suite live) is both sufficiently different and exciting to sometimes make the choice of which version to listen to a problem.