Music
The "Meditations" suite consists of five clearly-delineated movements. "Love," an out-of-tempo ballad that begins with a plaintive, swelling melody accompanied by washes of sound, is followed by "Compassion," a strongly rhythmic waltz. [6] [7] The third movement, "Joy," is an uplifting, up-tempo major-key piece; it is succeeded by "Consequences," which features a manic Tyner solo over polyrhythmic accompaniment provided by Garrison and Jones, leading to a climactic saxophone solo. The suite ends with "Serenity," a ballad. [6] [8]
As was true with Sun Ship, recorded on August 26, [9] much of the music on First Meditations is based on small melodic cells that are used as starting points for improvisation. [10] Throughout, Coltrane's playing is marked by extensive use of the extreme high register of the tenor saxophone, as well as by vocalized screams and cascades of notes. [6] Much of the music's tension derives from a contrast between Coltrane's wildness and the rhythm section's insistence on providing a steady tonal and rhythmic framework. Wild noted that, in "Compassion," Coltrane's frantic vocalizations "become that much more penetrating when set off by the accompaniment: Jones continues relentlessly to repeat the rhythm pattern, Tyner to demarcate the tonality Coltrane has abandoned." [6]
Further developments
The day after the recording session, the group began a nine-day residence in Indianapolis, Indiana, after which they traveled to San Francisco for a two-week stay at the Jazz Workshop from September 14–26. [11] During this period, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, who had participated in the June 1965 recording of Ascension , and bassist and clarinetist Donald Garrett, who had known Coltrane since 1955, [12] sat in with the band; according to Sanders, Coltrane told him "that he was thinking of changing the group and changing the music, to get different sounds." [13] Sanders and Garrett were invited to travel with the group to Seattle, where they would record Live in Seattle , Om , and A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle as a sextet, supplemented by additional guest musicians. [14] [15] [16] Sanders would remain with the group until the final year of Coltrane's life. [17]
While in California, the quartet visited Coast Recorders, where, on September 22, they recorded another version of "Joy" which was included on the CD release of First Meditations as a bonus track. [18] This track is the last known recording of the Coltrane/Tyner/Garrison/Jones quartet, as later recordings all involved other musicians. (Tyner would leave Coltrane's group at the end of 1965 to form his own trio and to work with Tony Scott, and Jones departed in January 1966, joining Duke Ellington's band. [19] ) The alternate version of "Joy" was initially issued in edited form on the 1972 album Infinity , with an overdubbed string orchestra plus harp and vibraphone parts provided by Alice Coltrane. [18] The track would also appear, in unaltered form, on the 1978 album The Mastery of John Coltrane, Vol. 1: Feelin' Good . [18]
At some point, Coltrane decided not to release the initial recording of the suite, and instead, in November 1965, elected to record a second version, featuring the quartet plus Sanders and drummer Rashied Ali. [20] This version was released in 1966 as Meditations. [21] Although this "definitive" rendering is also composed of five movements, it omits "Joy," and begins with a new piece titled "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost," which is then followed by "Compassion," "Love," "Consequences," and "Serenity," in that order. [22] Given the presence of two drummers and an additional saxophonist, the music is, not surprisingly, much denser: David A. Wild wrote: "the movements become submerged in a swirling vortex of sound, and their themes appear casually, almost as if in passing." [6] However, the fact that both versions of the suite are available in recorded form provides a valuable glimpse into Coltrane's evolution as a bandleader, composer, and saxophonist. [6]
Reception
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album 4 stars, and stated that, when comparing the two versions of the "Meditations" suite, "on grounds of simple beauty and perhaps out of sentimental attachment to the group that was breaking up, the early version is to be preferred, though it clearly no longer represented what Coltrane wanted to do." [24]
Bob Blumenthal, writing for The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide , commented: "Coltrane was pushing toward greater harmonic and rhythmic freedom, a move which Tyner and Jones made reluctantly. The music is harsher, more unsettled, with hints that agreement is occasionally lacking in the rhythm section." [25]
In a review for Elsewhere, Graham Reid wrote: "for anyone who embraced A Love Supreme these First Meditations sessions... could be the next logical step." [26]
Chris May, writing for All About Jazz , included the recording in his Coltrane "Alternative Top Ten Albums" list, and stated that, in comparison with Meditations, "if you prefer relatively gentler Coltrane, then First Meditations (For Quartet) is the one to go for." [27]
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.
A Love Supreme is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones.
My Favorite Things is the seventh studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in March 1961 on Atlantic Records. It was the first album to feature Coltrane playing soprano saxophone. An edited version of the title track became a hit single that gained popularity in 1961 on radio. The record became a major commercial success.
Impressions is an album of live and studio recordings by jazz musician John Coltrane, released by Impulse! Records in July 1963.
Transition is an album of music by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, recorded in 1965 but released posthumously only in 1970. As its title indicates, Transition was a bridge between classic quartet recordings like A Love Supreme and the more experimental works of Coltrane's last years.
Sun Ship is a posthumously released jazz album by tenor saxophonist John Coltrane recorded on August 26, 1965. Along with First Meditations, recorded a week later, it was one of the last recording dates for Coltrane's "Classic Quartet" with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. The recording occurred shortly after a notable performance by the quartet, with Archie Shepp added as a second tenor player, at the DownBeat Jazz Festival at Soldier Field in Chicago, which was described by Ben Ratliff as "a famous breaking point — a Dylan-at-Newport, or a Rite of Spring," with music that he described as "jagged and vociferous... It aggravated a great part of the crowd, prompting, according to some witnesses, a large exodus."
Meditations is a 1966 album by John Coltrane. The album was considered the "spiritual follow-up to A Love Supreme." It features Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as soloists, both playing tenor saxophones. This was the last Coltrane recording to feature his classic quartet lineup of himself, bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner, as both Jones and Tyner would quit the band by early 1966. Sanders, Ali, Garrison and Coltrane's wife Alice would comprise his next group.
Ascension is a jazz album by John Coltrane recorded in June 1965 and released in 1966. It is considered a watershed in Coltrane's work, with the albums recorded before it being more conventional in structure and the albums recorded after it being looser, free jazz inspired works. In addition, it signaled Coltrane's interest in moving away from the quartet format. AllMusic called it "the single recording that placed John Coltrane firmly into the avant-garde".
Om is a posthumously-released album by John Coltrane, recorded on October 1, 1965, one day after the recording of Live in Seattle, and one day prior to the recording of the music heard on A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle. The album, which features Coltrane's quartet plus three additional players, consists of a single 29-minute work that was split into two parts when released on LP. Om was issued by Impulse! in 1968, and was also included on The Major Works of John Coltrane, a compilation CD released in 1992.
Expression is an album by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, recorded in early 1967 and released in late September of that year, around Coltrane's birthday, and two months after his death. This was the first posthumous release of a Coltrane recording, and the last album he personally authorized.
Coltrane Jazz is the sixth studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in early 1961 on Atlantic Records. Most of the album features Coltrane playing with his former Miles Davis bandmates, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb during two sessions in November and December, 1959. The exception is the track "Village Blues", which was recorded October 21, 1960. "Village Blues" comes from the first recording session featuring Coltrane playing with pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, who toured and recorded with Coltrane as part of his celebrated "classic quartet" from 1960 to 1965.
The European Tour is a posthumous album by jazz musician John Coltrane released in 1980 on the Pablo label. The tracks were recorded on October 22, 1963 at the Koncerthuset in Stockholm, Sweden during a two-week European tour which was produced by Norman Granz, and which included concerts in Oslo, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Milan, Kaiserslautern, Frankfurt/Main, Paris, Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart. Additional tracks from the Stockholm and Berlin concerts appear on Afro Blue Impressions. Tracks from Stockholm, Berlin, Paris, and Stuttgart are featured on the 2001 Pablo compilation Live Trane: The European Tours.
Bye Bye Blackbird is a live album by jazz musician John Coltrane recorded on November 19, 1962 at the Konserthuset in Stockholm and released in 1981 by Pablo Records.
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays is an album by jazz musician John Coltrane, recorded in February and May 1965, shortly after the release of A Love Supreme.
Kulu Sé Mama is an album by jazz musician John Coltrane. Recorded during 1965, it was released in January 1967 as Impulse! A-9106, and was the last album released during Coltrane's lifetime.
Live in Seattle is a live double album by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, recorded in 1965 and released posthumously in 1971 on the Impulse! label. The album consists of a set played by Coltrane's quartet at The Penthouse on September 30, 1965. Along with the later-released A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle, recorded two days later at the same club, they are the only officially released live recordings of Coltrane's six-piece lineup from late 1965. The original double LP issue was expanded to 2 CDs for the reissue.
Selflessness Featuring My Favorite Things is a posthumous album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1969. The album juxtaposes two tracks recorded live at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival with a single track ("Selflessness") recorded in a studio in Los Angeles in 1965.
Cosmic Music is a jazz album by John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane released after John Coltrane's death. John Coltrane only plays on two tracks, "Manifestation" and "Reverend King".
Dear Old Stockholm is a compilation album by jazz musician John Coltrane released by GRP and Impulse! in 1993. The music, which was recorded on April 29, 1963 and May 26, 1965 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, features Coltrane's quartet with Roy Haynes substituting for Elvin Jones on drums.
A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle is a live album by American saxophonist John Coltrane, released on October 22, 2021, through Impulse! Records. It was recorded on October 2, 1965, at the Seattle jazz club The Penthouse, by saxophonist Joe Brazil. The tapes were found five years after Brazil's death in October 2008 by the saxophonist Steve Griggs. It is one of only two recorded live performances of Coltrane's 1965 album A Love Supreme, the other being a July 1965 recording from the Jazz à Juan jazz festival in Juan-les-Pins, Antibes, France, which was released in 2002 as part of the deluxe edition of A Love Supreme.
