A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle
Tenor sax giant John Coltrane altered the course of jazz in December 1964 when he recorded *A Love Supreme*, a four-movement suite showcasing his classic quartet (with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones) at its peak. *A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle* joins *Blue World* and *Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album* among the belated additions to Coltrane’s posthumous Impulse! discography (another being *Live in Seattle*, from 1971, which documented an earlier night of the same club stint). Coltrane seldom performed *A Love Supreme* live, although the 2002 *ALS* reissue includes a quality recording from Antibes in late July of 1965, heretofore the only known documented instance. The Seattle performance, captured live at The Penthouse on October 2 of the same year, is a revelation of its own. Recorded by the late saxophonist Joe Brazil and discovered in 2013 by saxophonist Steve Griggs, the tape is more than clear enough to convey the band’s raw chemistry and tonal nuance in full detail. The result is a complete and beautifully realized performance from the classic quartet in its waning days, augmented by saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Carlos Ward and second bassist Donald Rafael Garrett. This reflects Coltrane’s growing interest in expanded ensembles and an ever freer, more heated approach to improvisation. Still, the melodic themes and governing structures of the canonical *A Love Supreme* are thrillingly present.
A previously unknown recording from a small Seattle club in 1965 documents one of the saxophonist’s signature works—spiritual, searching, unstoppable—as never heard before.
On a newly unearthed live 'A Love Supreme,' John Coltrane treats the famed suite as a work in progress rather than a fixed masterpiece.
Recorded at the Penthouse Club on October 2, 1965, A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle sat in the archive of musician/educator Joe Brazil (he played flute on John Coltrane's OM, recorded the day before) for 55 years.
One of jazz’s great unprecedented recordings, John Coltrane’s 1965 masterwork A Love Supreme has garnered widespread recognition as both a classic and, more importantly, jazz age miracle, marking a triumphant turning point in musical thought and affecting an entire spectrum of listeners. The recently unearthed A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle possesses a wealth of sonic complexity and freewheeling creative expression, casting the game-changing saxophonist in a fresh light. This release, much like the studio album, stands as a genre landmark, reminding the listener of what is wholly right and truly good in modern music.
This amateur 1965 recording from a Seattle club shows Coltrane and his ensemble, expanded to include saxist Pharoah Sanders, at a pivotal moment
This exuberant jazz club performance reveals the great saxophonist's 1965 masterpiece in a new light