Jake Victor - IHRTLUHC

Jazz History
Research Paper
11/2/2016

A Love Supreme as a Model for Innovation

I know people who conceived their kids on A Love Supreme. I know people who wrote their Ph.D. theses on

A Love Supreme. I know people who mark very important life experiences all around A Love Supreme.

Leonard Brown

John Brandenberger, a Lawrence University Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship,

defines innovation as the creation, development, and/or application of new ideas or approaches

to products, processes, and/or practices which usually have antecedents and usually bring value

to society. Innovation is something that most jazz musicians have been chasing since the dawn

of be-bop in the 40s, however it is often a pursuit that most musicians misunderstand.

John Coltranes 1965 work A Love Supreme is the capstone of a career which showed that

true, successful innovation in jazz does not necessarily come from creating something totally

new that comes like magic from within a chosen torch-bearer. In the album, one can hear fruit

borne of Coltranes internalization of pre-established, influential styles of jazz married with

incredible work ethic and dedication to specific concepts that he had been exploring for many

years. But, despite being one of the most acclaimed jazz albums of all time1, despite being

studied and listened to by countless devotees, and despite there being an entire religious sect

based upon it (the mission of which is to paint the globe with the message of A Love Supreme,

1 Cook and Morton (2006) [1992]. "John Coltrane". The Penguin Guide to Jazz
Recordings. 2734
and in doing so promote global unity, peace on earth, and knowledge of the one true living

God)2, musicians often misunderstand a core concept of Coltranes career, specifically when

dealing with A Love Supreme. This revolutionary music was not resting inside of Trane his

whole life, just waiting to burst lose. This was music that came about as the result of a very

human mission of an incredibly intense amount of soul-searching, practicing, creative thinking,

and playing. Jazz critic Nat Hentoff described this quite well by saying, By the time A Love

Supreme hit, Trane struck such a spiritual chord in so many listeners that people started to think

of him as being beyond human. I think thats unfair. He was just a human being like you and me

but he was willing to practice more, to do all the things that somebody has to do to excel3.

John Coltranes deification in the jazz world has led listeners to lose sight of the deeply

methodical ways he drew upon his life experiences to gather the innovative force necessary to

create A Love Supreme.

One can hear both early and modern (for the time) influences in A Love Supreme. Coltrane

was influenced heavily by the deepest African-American roots of jazz, incorporating elements of

work songs, blues, and church music into his album. His signature sheet of sound establishes

its whole foundation upon permutations of the pentatonic scale, which happens to be the scale

which most work songs are based upon4. However, he uses the mournful, yearning sound of the

minor pentatonic scale to an incredible degree in the album, even for Coltrane. Jazz pianist and

historian Lewis Porter argues in the definitive published analysis of A Love Supreme to date that

2 Saint John Coltrane Church. 2002. Accessed October 25/, 2016.

3 Kahn, Ashley. A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album [Penguin
Publishing Group. Kindle Edition]. xxi

4 Martin and Waters. Jazz: The First 100 Years. P.35

the entire composition is based upon one minor pentatonic cell!5 This soulful sound is made even

more intense by the influence of God and the church in Tranes composition. As saxophone

player Howard Wiley told music writer Chris Robinson about the suite, Oh man, it hit me from

note one! Having grown up in the black church, Wiley connected Coltranes opening fanfare to

the beginning of the church service. The service always starts with a prayer by the deacon, an

in-time, out-of-time chant, in the same way that A Love Supreme opens up. Its like the opening

call, like the opening chant, and then it settles in.6 Wiley could not have been more accurate.

Coltrane himself seems to want listeners to hear him as a pastor leading the congregation. If one

follows along in Part 3, Psalm, one can hear Coltrane actually wordlessly reciting the words of a

prayer he wrote and included in the liner notes with his saxophone, one note per syllable the

only time that Coltrane ever included anything self-written in the liner notes. Lewis Porter

expands:

The roots of this solo seem to grow out of formulaic procedures used by preachers in black

churches. Coltrane, whose grandfather was in the ministry, frequented the American Methodist

Episcopal Zion Church during his childhood in North Carolina and no doubt absorbed much

musical inspiration there. Jeff Titon, in his paper, Tonal System in the Chanted Oral Sermons of

the Reverend C. L. Franklin, describes the procedure of black American preachers for

intonational chant. The chant is divided into sections according to pitch apexes, for which

we may use the more familiar term recitation tones. The first section of a preacher's chant uses a

recitation tone a perfect fifth above the tonal center. Succeeding sections have progressively

higher recitation tones--the minor seventh and, at points requiring special emphasis, the octave.

5 Porter, Lewis. "John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme": Jazz Improvisation as Composition."

6 "The Religious Experience of John Coltranes A Love Supreme Cuepoint Medium."

The final section is the most intense and uses a mixture of all the preceding recitation tones.

Coltrane's Psalm adheres to this general outline Like the preachers, Coltrane begins by

reciting on the fifth for most of the first sixteen lines. These may be divided into five sections,

each roughly corresponding to the pattern of initial ascent, recitation, and descent. Although

Coltrane ascends at points to c" and even the e 6"', he centers around g' and almost always comes

to rest on c.'7 Here we can see an example of Coltrane drawing on what he has found to be

important to him from his own specific life experiences, just one of many concrete concepts that

he drew upon in order to create something revolutionary in A Love Supreme.

We would be ignoring dissident opinions if we didnt acknowledge that some people might

think all this is a little much. However, Alice Coltrane herself said in the liner notes of the album

that He liked to draw an analogy between mankind and his horn, explaining that one group

might represent the upper register, another the mid-range, and yet another the deeper notes, but

that it took all to make the whole. It is not much of a stretch when we know that he liked to

think metaphorically with his horn to think that he could think it the preachers voice.

A later musical influence can be traced from the genres of jazz that were around during the

time that Coltrane was making a name for himself, namely stemming from Coltranes time

playing cool and modal jazz with the Miles Davis Quintet, popular genres within jazz of the 50s.

These elements are more straight forward, as Coltrane incorporated a lot of pre-composed

elements and form that borrowed from the classical tradition. Elvin Jones also plays gong and

timpani at certain points throughout the suite, again borrowing from the classical tradition like

cool jazz did. Trane also structured virtually all of the harmony in modes (which can be verified

by looking at a picture of the score), reminiscent of the modal jazz that he played with Miles on

7 Porter, Lewis. "John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme": Jazz Improvisation as Composition."
compositions such as So What, and Tranes subsequent composition Impressions. He even

incorporated the sound of Latin jazz that began trending by the end of the 40s and was strongly

established by the time the album was released: Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison often employ

Latin grooves throughout the album, for example the cascara pattern Elvin plays at the beginning

of the suite.

None of this would have mattered, however, if Coltrane hadnt have had the work ethic to

pursue his musical aspirations to the fullest extent of his capability. Coltranes work ethic and

practice routine are the stuff of legend for example, he was famous for his 12-hour plus daily

practice routine. Ashley Kahn retells the story of how Coltrane retreated to his study for five

days and didnt set his horn down until A Love Supreme was written during a break from

playing when he was supposed to be visiting with his family after the birth of his first son.

On August 26, his first son was born. John and Alice brought John Jr. home to their recently

purchased two-story house in Dix Hills, a quiet section of Long Island, New York. For Coltrane,

it was a rare opportunity to put his horn down, his feet up, and just be with his family. But

Coltranes obsessive nature would not let him rest. For five days he had secluded himself upstairs

with pen, paper, and saxophone. It was late summer, or early fall, because the weather was nice

at the time in New York, recalls Alice. There was an unoccupied area up there where we hardly

ever went, sometimes a family member would visit [and] would stay there. John would go up

there, take little portions of food every now and then, spending his time pondering over the

music he heard within himself.8 Miles Davis himself said of Coltrane, [He] didnt hardly ever

hang out, he would go back to his hotel room to practice it was almost like he was on a

8 Kahn, Ashley. A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album (p. xv).
mission.9 Without the work ethic necessary to reach his full potential, Coltrane would never

have even found his mission, nonetheless accomplish it however, lucky for us, his dedication to

his craft led him to greatness.

ADD: Story of Coltranes struggling with recording Hot House with the US Navy at age of

20, then where he ended up a lot of work went into it! It wasnt always just within him

After analyzing everything that went into the arrival of Coltranes A Love Supreme, one can

see a clear model for innovation: reflection and intense thought on ones own life experiences

and influences, finding a clear message or mission towards what one wants to be, and finding the

willpower, discipline, and work ethic within oneself to accomplish everything that ones mind is

set to. [Coltrane] realized music had a higher purpose, says [Leonard] Brown. He wanted to

use it to attain that, and he wanted to be able express music in that way that touched people. So

he wanted to be a force for good.10 A Love Supreme was Trane doing exactly that, chasing his

mission to the best of his ability. If one truly realizes and internalizes all these lessons, it will

lead towards innovation that is both inevitable and convincing. After contemplation of Coltranes

career and creation of A Love Supreme, one realizes that instead of chasing something simply

new, one should instead focus on ones own specific mission and experiences, and what one

has to say that is truly genuine. Innovation and new ideas will naturally follow.

9 Kahn, Ashley. A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album (p. 3)

10 Mason, Amelia. "As Coltranes 'A Love Supreme' Turns 50, Why The Jazz Landmark Still
Matters."