I like to say “A Love Supreme” is my favorite jazz album and Louis Armstrong playing “West End Blues” my favorite single, although in reality I would be hard pressed to select a lone favorite in either category. Let’s just say I would feel a lot worse about life if I didn’t have “A Love Supreme” in it. It’s a semi religious experience for me every listen.
That said, I really like what the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (read Wynton Marsalis, leader, arranger, trumpeter) have done in recasting Coltrane’s masterwork for a fairly conventional, and I say “fairly” because there’s a lot of advanced playing on this, big band. Proves one thing, Coltrane knew all about swinging, even in a piece that at face value wouldn’t seem to have much to do with the concept.
I’ve read a review or two that characterized it as sacriligious to play with “A Love Supreme.” I don’t agree. Come on fellas, remaking standards in your own image is a chief ingredient in the essence of jazz.
Some nice playing on the LCJO version by Scotsman Joe Temperley, who’s currently my favorite baritone sax player. See “Concerto for Joe” if you want more.
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