Synopses & Reviews
Bringing the same fresh and engaging approach to music that characterized his critically acclaimed
Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, Ashley Kahn has written an even more illuminating celebration of saxophone legend John Coltrane's 1964 spiritual opus and masterwork.
A Love Supreme is a passionate and revealing portrait of a timelessly resonant musical statement, artfully balancing biography, analysis, and a palpable enthusiasm that anyone from the casual listener to the avid fan will enjoy.
A Love Supreme was written with the full cooperation of Coltrane's family and features the voices of more than a hundred musicians, producers, and witnesses, including the surviving participants in the album: Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner, and engineer Rudy Van Gelder. With unpublished interviews with Coltrane and bassist Jimmy Garrison and scores of never-before-seen photographs, A Love Supreme weaves a rich historical backdrop to the 1964 recording and examines the questions and myths surrounding the album.
Review
Ashley Kahn (Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece) covers how the album was made, where it was made, why it is so important and how it reached such a broad audience (it is one of the top-selling jazz albums of all time). Music fans and historians will devour the book
Publishers Weekly
Review
...Kahn does for A Love Supreme what he did in Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece (2000)
and because A Love Supreme was pivotal in Coltrane's career he became the fountainhead of free jazz almost immediately after recording it Kahn winds up writing the great saxophonist's biography again, more lucidly, if in less detail, than anyone has before. Booklist
About the Author
Ashley Kahn is the author of Kind of Blue: The Making of The Miles Davis Masterpiece. As a journalist and editor, he has contributed articles to the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Mojo, and many other publications. He also served as primary editor of Rolling Stone: The Seventies and primary contributor to Rolling Stones Jazz & Blues Album.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments v
Foreword
"Always a Spiritual Experience"/ix
Introduction
"The First Time I Have Everything Ready"/xiii
Chapter 1
Miles Ahead, Miles Behind/1
Chapter 2
The Classic Quartet/41 Impulse: Creed's Vision/52
Chapter 3
December 9, 1964: Creating A Love Supreme/83 Rudy Van Gelder/88
Chapter 4
December 10, 1964: A Second Try, a Year of Triumph/ 129 Poetry and Prayer/144 Suite by the Sea/166
Chapter 5
Avant-Garde, a Force for Good/175
Chapter 6
The Unbroken Arc of A Love Supreme/195 Persistence of a Label/214
Epilogue
"Opening the Doors"/219
Notes 225
Bibliography 245
Discography 251
Index 253