A Love Supreme is John Coltrane's four part devotional suite and the album most often named as his masterpiece. This is the Impulse! reissue released on 5 August 2022 by Impulse!, Verve Records and UMe under catalogue number 00011105015516, and it keeps the original gatefold presentation.
The Album
Coltrane recorded the suite in a single session on 9 December 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with the classic quartet of McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on double bass and Elvin Jones on drums. Bob Thiele produced and Rudy Van Gelder engineered the recording. Impulse! released the album in January 1965. Coltrane plays tenor saxophone throughout the four parts: Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance and Psalm.
"Acknowledgement" opens with a struck gong and cymbal washes before Garrison states the four note bass motif. Coltrane works variations on it, repeats the four notes thirty six times, then turns the motif into the sung chant "a love supreme", accompanying himself through nineteen vocal overdubs. The closing "Psalm" is a wordless recitation: Coltrane plays, rather than speaks, the devotional poem printed inside the gatefold. All four parts are Coltrane compositions.
The album had sold around 500,000 copies by 1970, far beyond the 30,000 typical of Coltrane's releases, and it was nominated for the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. In 2015 it was selected for the National Recording Registry for its cultural, historic or artistic significance.
This Pressing
One stereo LP cut at 33 1/3 RPM, pressed by Optimal Media GmbH and made in the EU. The gatefold credits LP mastering to Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. The sleeve is a gatefold: the cover carries Bob Thiele's photograph of Coltrane and the catalogue number A-77, while the record labels read AS-77. Inside, the left panel prints Coltrane's "Dear Listener" address alongside Victor Kalin's painting and the right panel prints the "A Love Supreme" poem. Cover design is credited to George Gray at Viceroy, with liner design by Joe Lebow.
Tracklist
Side 1
- Part I: Acknowledgement (7:39)
- Part II: Resolution (7:15)
Side 2
- Part III: Pursuance
- Part IV: Psalm
The record label lists Side 2 as a single item covering both closing parts, with a combined playing time of 17:40.