For John Coltrane’s 100th birthday, I thought I’d share an email that I sent to friends roughly five years ago up listening to A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle, the rediscovered live performance of Coltrane’s masterpiece.
This morning, I decided to walk with the dog up the mountain while listening to the new live version of A Love Supreme. A full moon to start and a big bold sunrise to end. Just about at the top of the mountain while listening to that band playing “Resolution” we saw a bear. I locked eyes with him before he turned around and ran away. Coltrane would have loved it.
Other stray thoughts:
- That band is a motherfucker!
- How many arms and hands does Elvin Jones have? Is he a many-armed Hindi god? Is he Dylan’s John Wesley Harding traveling with a gun in every hand?
- A Love Supreme is certainly Coltrane’s vision, but this is a concert and each player gets a turn in the spotlight. I don’t know what to say about McCoy Tyner’s section when he duets with Elvin Jones. Incredible.
- I also saw a dead snake on the road.
- Never before have I believed as much that an instrument is an extension of someone’s body and being as John Coltrane playing this music.
Photo: “American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane in 1963.” Hugo van Gelderen (Anefo), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
