A Love Supreme, Coltrane: The 32-Minute Work That Pushed The Human Condition Forward

When the term “avant-garde jazz” is mentioned, it is impossible not to bring up the fuel behind it- the incurred frustration from the Civil Rights Movement incentivized jazz to emphasize pure expression, experimentation, and to encapsulate the feelings of jazz artists in response to the world at the time. The immense amount of demanded political and social change paralleled the equally immense amount of change in harmony, melody, structure, and style jazz demanded. On the lookout for ways to revolutionize jazz as an artform, John Coltrane assumed the forefront of the avant-garde jazz movement with one of his most famously known works, “A Love Supreme”.

“A Love Supreme” is a 4-movement work by John Coltrane centered around the spirituality Coltrane embraced in his late career, using “A Love Supreme” as a medium to carry his gratitude to god. Recorded in 1964, “A Love Supreme” intertwines avant-garde jazz with modal Eastern-influenced sounds, ultimately serving the work as a tribute to the pains of Africans, Asians, and African-Americans in the United States- this almost analogously addressed the minority public, similar to the general Muslim community, the ummah.

Like many political leaders at the time such as Malcolm X, Coltrane used spirituality as a testament to the need for remaking of black religious identities, now based on an identity rooted in Eastern influence. This served as a divine basis for the protests of Malcolm X, as well as many other Black activists part of the Civil Rights Movement at the time. Coltrane was a heavy artistic anchor in this idea- his new works surfacing around this time covered the same interconnection between the Islamic faith and the human condition, in a sense acting through his music and pushing the movement as a whole forward.

In a general case, Coltrane never specified a specific faith he was loyal to- though he was heavily inspired by Malcolm X, an Islamic Black activist, “A Love Supreme” addresses an ambiguous god, a divine power above all. This power would be the power that he paid homage to, saying it “responded” to him. Coltrane famously said:

“I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace. ALL PRAISE TO GOD.”

The deep connection with god that many activists drew enabled their message to be heard larger- religion is a social unifier, in a sense, withholding a vastly diverse community that all congregate over their faith to one, well, faith. So, this connection with the Islamic god that Coltrane, as well as Malcolm X and Amiri Baraka (a black poet) reference ties their message to the general well-being of the umma. It strengthens their word and makes the hardship, the struggle, the perseverance, and the adversity foreshadow a greater future by banding a diverse community together, reframing change as something closer than a dispersed group can achieve.

“A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane is not only significant due to its embrace of the African Islamic faith into jazz. Its significance is defined by the call to action the people behind this tie provide- the call to change the social condition of the United States.