If I had to chose, I’d suggest that Live in Seattle is even more essential than A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle, especially for the extraordinary blowing from Coltrane and Tyner on “Body and Soul” and “Out of This World.” Together, Coltrane and Tyner had reimagined the Great American Songbook in their own image, and this is the final document of that astounding journey. Even Tyner forgets that “Pursuance” is a blues form and blows a fierce uptempo solo in the “one key” style of ‘65 - although to be fair, maybe the pianist thought that trying to delineate dominant to tonic with two basses working against him was just too hard a job. Still, nobody but Coltrane and Elvin Jones knows the music. There are plenty of other highlights, including fervent solos by Sanders and Ward. Garrison and Garrett wander around together after the opening fanfare, offer no less than 12 minutes of solo and duet interludes in the middle, and keep playing after the suite is over. Yeah: If you like extended avant-garde bass, the Seattle music has you covered, especially during A Love Supreme. It’s easy to understand why Tyner left shortly after.

All the while, the bassists don’t let up, they just stay in the land of “noise bass on the open strings.” It actually kind of works, but it’s also pretty damn nuts. Tyner gently plays an octave E-flat for a while, trying to get them to find the right key, before giving up and grimly settling into E-flat dorian to support Trane’s impassioned preach of the old Harold Arlen tune. When Coltrane calls “Out of this World,” the bassists immediately strum low E together. Garrett and Garrison are totally in their own zone, it’s almost as if they aren’t even listening to anyone else. Not only did McCoy track an album of Ellington covers, but Coltrane and Ellington made a classic album together eventually Elvin’s first gig after Trane was with Duke.Ī Love Supreme: Live in Seattle is “Volume Two” of Live in Seattle, first released as a 2-LP set in the ’70s, then expanded with more tracks on compact disc in the ‘90s.Īll the music recorded that week has a similar shape, especially thanks to a new chaos demon in the form of Donald Garrett on second bass. There’s a somewhat surprising amount of Coltrane/Ellington back and forth. It’s a bit unfair to bring up Plays Duke Ellington, for this LP might have simply been the record label’s idea: producer Bob Thiele had recently signed Ellington to Impulse! and probably this was an attempt at some kind of cross-pollination. The final section, “Psalm,” where Coltrane performs his poem (at 26 minutes) is particularly exciting, for Gal-Oz makes the relationship of text to tone completely obvious. Omree Gal-Oz has created a score-scrolling video of A Love Supreme for YouTube. In addition to dry technical details, the work is grounded by a vibrant emotional rhythm: Love of life and of God.

A Love Supreme by Ashley Kahn