Aloft with his classic quartet., Coltrane soars with nothing but gratitude and joy. But Coltrane's majestic, often violent blowing (famously described as 'sheets of sound') is never self-aggrandizing.

Rolling Stone called it a 'legendary album-long hymn of praise' and stated: 'the indelible four-note theme of the first movement, 'Acknowledgement,' is the humble foundation of the suite. According to Harvard music scholar Ingrid Monson, the album was an exemplary recording of modal jazz, while Nick Dedina wrote in Rhapsody that the music ranged from free jazz and hard bop to sui generis gospel music in 'an epic aural poem to man's place in God's plan'. Colin Larkin hailed it as his greatest album and 'one of the most profoundly moving records in all of jazz'. It was also quite popular for a jazz record, selling about 500,000 copies by 1970, a number far exceeding Coltrane's typical Impulse! sales of around 30,000. Released in January 1965 by Impulse! Records, A Love Supreme became one of the most acclaimed jazz albums of all time and has been widely regarded as Coltrane's masterpiece. Amen.' Reception and legacy Professional ratings Review scores The poem (and, in his own way, Coltrane's solo) ends with the cry 'Elation. Some scholars have suggested that this performance is a homage to the sermons of African-American preachers. That is, Coltrane 'plays' the words of the poem on saxophone, but does not actually speak them. In the final movement, Coltrane performs what he calls a 'musical narration' ( Lewis Porter describes it as a 'wordless 'recitation'') of a devotional poem he included in the liner notes. After many repetitions, the motif becomes the vocal chant 'A Love Supreme', sung by Coltrane (accompanying himself via overdubs). Besides soloing upon variations of the motif, at one point Coltrane repeats the four notes over and over in different transpositions. Jimmy Garrison follows on bass with the four-note motif which structures the entire movement. The album begins with the bang of a gong ( tam-tam), followed by cymbal washes.

Coltrane plays exclusively tenor on all parts. His exposure to Ahmadiyya Islam has also been suggested as a source of influence. Coltrane's home in Dix Hills, Long Island, has been suggested as the site of inspiration for A Love Supreme. It is intended to be a spiritual album, broadly representative of a personal struggle for purity, and expresses the artist's deep gratitude as he admits to his talent and instrument as being owned not by him but by a spiritual higher power. A Love Supreme is a four-part suite, broken up into tracks: 'Acknowledgement' (which contains the mantra that gave the suite its name), 'Resolution', 'Pursuance', and 'Psalm'.

A Love Supreme by Ashley Kahn