The 50th Anniversary of A Love Supreme, curated by Ravi Coltrane, closed out last night with 2014 MacArthur Fellow Steve Coleman & Five Elements. For those craving even more Coltrane after this past week's celebration, below are three albums you should definitely check out.
A glimpse of what's to come... John Coltrane's Quartet recorded Crescent in 1964, months before A Love Supreme. The Quartet's sound on both albums is strikingly similar, employing similar melodic and modal concepts, and the use of rubato. Selections off Crescent ("Lonnie's Lament," "Crescent," "Wise One") were performed throughout the 50th Anniversary week. Listeners might also find Crescent more immediately accessible than A Love Supreme.
Joshua Redman remarked at the A Love Supreme Symposium: "Check out Transition after you've mastered A Love Supreme." Redman was speaking specifically about the use of harmonic and rhythmic tension and release in Coltrane's Quartet. Transition (1965) was recorded just months after A Love Supreme, and took tension and release even further. A fitting album title, as well.
Unlike Crescent and Transition, Offering (1966) was recorded nearly two years after A Love Supreme. It was released posthumously by John Coltrane on Resonance Records (2014), and features an entirely different group than the Classic Quartet (the group's core included Rashied Ali on drums, Alice Coltrane on piano, Sonny Johnson on bass and Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone and piccolo). If Crescent previews A Love Supreme, and Transition takes the sound even further, Offering is a snapshot of where Coltrane was heading right before his untimely death in 1967.
For a recap of the 50th Anniversary of A Love Supreme, search #ALoveSupreme50 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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