This feature comes from KNKX's show Tree of Jazz, taking you through the eras, from the roots to the new budding leaves, with a weekly deep dive into iconic artists, albums, and instruments.
In 1964, John Coltrane was working on something big. His wife, fellow musician Alice Coltrane, recalled to Coltrane biographer Ashley Kahn that he spent long days sequestered alone in their home in Long Island, New York. He was “thinking;” not necessarily playing his horn, but looking inward.
The saxophonist, who first rose to prominence in 1955 as a part of trumpeter Miles Davis’ first great quintet, was no stranger to sonic exploration and study. Musically, Coltrane was always exploring, even developing his own harmonic progression on his composition “Giant Steps.” He also studied Indian classical music, African rhythms and ventured into collective improvisation and open song forms.
"He was constantly pushing forward. He never rested on his laurels, he was always looking for what's next,” Coltrane’s longtime pianist McCoy Tyner said. “He was always searching, like a scientist in a lab, looking for something new, a different direction.”
After many days, Coltrane emerged with a sense of joy, peace and accomplishment. According to the documentary Chasing Trane, Alice said “it was like Moses coming down from the mountain.”
He’d finished A Love Supreme, his opus and direct communication to God. The studio version was recorded Dec. 9, 1964, and released in January 1965. That same year, he also performed a rare version of the composition in the Pacific Northwest.
A Spiritual Offering
In the liner notes of A Love Supreme, Coltrane explains his spiritual endeavor.
“This album is a humble offering to Him, an attempt to say ‘THANK YOU’ through our works, even as we do in our hearts and with our tongues. May he help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor,” he wrote.
By 1970, A Love Supreme was his best-selling record, selling a half a million copies. The intensity and magnitude of its purpose inspired people all over the world, including a group of people in San Francisco, California, who started The Saint John Coltrane Church after hearing the record.
Following the release of A Love Supreme, Coltrane continued searching in the sonic and spiritual world, but rarely performed this spiritual offering. However, in 1965, on the final night of performances at The Penthouse, a jazz club in Seattle at the time, Coltrane played his opus. Recordings from the rare evening were released in 2021 as A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle.
On the original studio version, featuring Coltrane’s classic quartet — pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmie Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones — the four movements of A Love Supreme run about 30 minutes.
During the Seattle performance, the classic quartet is joined by Pharoah Sanders and Carlos Ward on saxophones, and a second bassist, Donald Garrett. This performance is also more than double the length of the studio version — and notably more intense.
More Coltrane in Seattle
The day before the performance of A Love Supreme at The Penthouse, Coltrane and his band also recorded the sprawling open composition Om at the Lynnwood, Washington recording studio of Jan Kurtis.
Om begins and ends with spoken passages from the sacred Hindu scripture, Bhagavad Gita, where the name of the album comes from.
Kurtis, the recording engineer from that session, was also hired by Coltrane to document another one of his performances at The Penthouse. Those recordings were released in 1971 as Live In Seattle.
Former KNKX host Jim Wilke broadcast part of that night on Seattle’s KING FM. That night, Coltrane and his band played for more than two hours straight — longer than Wilke’s radio show — and most of the music is available on the expanded CD version of Live in Seattle.
Decades after his untimely death in 1967, Coltrane’s music is still studied and celebrated. Seattle was a key place his influential story unfolded. These Seattle recordings not only capture Coltrane’s opus A Love Supreme, but also the expansion of his sound and continuation of his spiritual quest.
Listen to the past two weeks of Tree of Jazz On-Demand and hear deep dives like this each week on the Tree of Jazz, on air and online every Sunday from 3-6 p.m. PT.
