A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle

No other word for it! After years of collecting John Coltrane albums, finding a new one is as close to a miracle as makes no difference. And what an album! There are already two sets of recordings from Coltrane's week at The Penthouse in Seattle in 1965: Live in Seattle on Impulse and The Unissued Seattle Broadcast on RLR Records. But this is buried treasure, a recording of the famous A Love Supreme set down on the last night of the gig, 2 October 1965. It amounts to an amateur recording, captured on the club proprietor's Ampex reel-to-reel using 1/4" tape and two mikes suspended above the stage. Astonishingly, the tapes are still in excellent condition, and the re-mastering has come up beautifully. The only break (when tapes had to be switched) is virtually unnoticeable, given the professional editing. It's nice, too, that Japan's (if not the world's) supreme Coltrane fan, Yasuhiro Fujioka from Osaka, has been also been involved in this release. And the music? Wow! At 75 minutes, it's well over twice the length of the original studio recording, and the musicians added to Coltrane's classic quartet, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Ward and Donald Rafael Garrett, are an integral part of an extraordinary live gig, with brilliant solos from all concerned, not least Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones in the extra 'Interludes'. It is a musical and spiritual triumph.

Hmmm. It's difficult to really to rate this one. I was expecting transcendence, but it's all a bit of a mess. I've got the original and the Antibes version, plus versions by brothers Branford (check out his studio and live versions) and Wynton. The first is, obviously, holy writ and the others are all wonderful in their various ways.But this one - the one we all were so excited about when we heard it was coming out - is, for me, a disappointment. It's a must have, obviously, because it is from The Master, but there's a lot of wandering about without much purpose. Don't get me wrong, I love late Coltrane. It's not Pharaoh's screech-fest that's the problem here; it's more about padding in general. But then I can't stand Mahler for exactly the same reason. Less, usually, is more and there just too much 'more' here for this Coltrane disciple.

As someone who bought John Coltrane's original 'A Love Supreme' studio album when it was issued in 1965, I'm glad to have survived long enough to hear this live club version.It was recorded by Coltrane's friend and saxophonist, Joe Brazil, at The Penthouse, Seattle on October 2, 1965 and the existence of the tapes were known to only a few people.The classic quartet of Coltrane(tenor sax); McCoy Tyner(piano); Jimmy Garrison(bass) & Elvin Jones(drums) was augmented by Pharoah Sanders(tenor sax); Carlos Ward(alto sax) & Donald Garrett(bass) plus various percussion.This performance of ALS is longer(75 minutes), wilder and darker than the 1964 studio version and is gripping from start to finish.The recording quality is far from ideal but this is outweighed by the chance to hear a rare live performance of 'A Love Supreme'.Anyone who loves Coltrane's original spiritual jazz masterpiece should hear this live Seattle version of ALS as well as the better recorded one at Antibes on July 26, 1965 and available on a 2-CD set 'A Love Supreme'(Deluxe Edition) - Impulse! 589 945-2.

There are few things to know before you buy.It's a field recording, so there is ambient noise (people chatting, applause, club sounds).The bass sometimes gets muffled out as piano and drums are much louder.This is McCoy Tuner's album. He's just blistering throughout.It's much wilder and more passionate than the studio album and there is a lot of additional material.Personally, I like it better than the original and it is presently my favourite Coltrane recording.Animal from the Muppet Show is playing the drums. Killer!

I love John Coltrane and the studio version of A Love Supreme, but, although this live version is twice as long, there is barely 20 minutes of Coltrane solo time . Both Trane and Sanders are low in the mix, but not the dynamic Elvin Jones, thankfully, who makes this album worthwhile, for me, along with an incredible solo by McCoy Tyner on Persuance, but, who also generally lacks solo space . Overall a disappointment in the Coltrane legacy

For me, the question was how does this relate to the studio recording - in that that seems to have some sort of perfect settlement of form with content, which I think is defining for a lot of people who listen to it.For me, so far, the big difference is the tension between the form and the content. It's like wherever Coltrane and his musicians are, the settlement of the studio album doesn't work anymore and they're striving for somewhere beyond.The sort of "perfect answer" of the studio album isn't there anymore - which I think is going to be a disappointment for a lot of people - but it's still amazing to be there in the club listening to them going beyond.

This live version is amazing and I'm so pleased I got this. The packaging looks cool, but the glue holding it together will dry out and unstick eventually, I've had this problem with several similar designed CD sleeves over the years. But while it is new it is a nice sleeve and it has a very good booklet, so I can't fault it that much. This live version is the perfect companion to the studio version, of course.

Dreadful quality, only Elvin’ drums. Coltrane’s sax way in the background, straining to hear: painful, frustrating listening