John Coltrane

A Love Supreme John Coltrane

If you could own only one John Coltrane album, it would have to be A Love Supreme. In Coltrane's comparatively short career, there is no other album that could have repeated both the commercial success and the outstanding reviews, including Grammy nominations. There are only three tracks on the 1964 album, and all three praise the man without whom Coltrane says he could never have made the music he did.

In this case, the John Coltrane Quartet also consists of Jimmy Garrison on bass, McCoy Tyner on piano and Elvin Jones on drums. The combo puts in an enormous amount of effort, and if this album were longer, the listener would have to be provided with a towel to prevent the musicians' beads of sweat from becoming too much of a problem.

This recording already sounds much warmer and more detailed on the CD track than the Japanese 24-bit SHM re-mastering of the same track. Not only can you hear that the vocals on the first track have been overdubbed, but you can actually hear the sonic signature of the vocal chamber. A must for the high-end connoisseur.

This recording is part of a series of re-releases by the legendary Impulse label. Under the aegis of mastering pro Kevin Gray, the Analogue Productions label had the analogue master tapes reworked at AcoustTech in California and released them as a hybrid SACD. Even on the CD track, the sonic capabilities of these revisions put even the original LPs from the 60s in the shade and are clearly superior to previous digitisations.

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" CD/DVD conditioner for even more sonic improvement.