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The Documentary: A Love Supreme - 50 Years On

The Documentary: A Love Supreme - 50 Years On: A Love Supreme: 50 Years On

John Coltrane - Jazz Composer

15/04/2015 GMT

A Love Supreme: 50 Years On

A Love Supreme - 50 Years On

BBC World Service - The Documentary, A Love Supreme - 50 Years On, A Love Supreme: 50 Years On

Saxophonist Courtney Pine celebrates 50 years of John Coltrane’s album A Love Supreme

Saxophonist Courtney Pine celebrates 50 years of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme - one of the greatest jazz albums ever made.

Often cited as one of the greatest albums ever made, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme is revered not just by jazz aficionados but music fans the world over. Fifty years on from its release, British saxophonist Courtney Pine explores what makes A Love Supreme such a unique and important record.
 
John Coltrane intended A Love Supreme to be a spiritual album - a declaration of his religious beliefs and personal spiritual quest. However the album also had a wider cultural significance. Released in February 1965 - just days after black rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated, and weeks before Martin Luther King led the March on Alabama - for many, the sound and feel of A Love Supreme perfectly captured the sadness, confusion and anger of America’s growing black consciousness movement.
 
Courtney visits the Gaumont State Theatre in Kilburn, North London, where John Coltrane performed on a tour in 1961, and is joined by a trio of leading British jazz saxophonists - Nat Birchall, Finn Peters and Jason Yarde – each of whose lives have been inspired and shaped by A Love Supreme and the music and spirit of John Coltrane.
 
Our quartet of musicians explore why A Love Supreme continues to inspire music lovers across the world to this day, and what it is about this 33 mins suite of music that touches so many and continues to do so with each new generation.

(Photo: American jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images)

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Saxophonist Courtney Pine celebrates 50 years of John Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme" - one of the greatest jazz albums ever made.

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