Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and "Sonny’s Blues"

Lili Eichler

ENL 10C

14 May 2018

Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Sonny’s Blues

Jazz has always been a big part of my life –– Ever since I can remember, I’d wake up on Saturday morning to jazz blasting through the house; The only music that was played on car rides was jazz; And I grew up practicing jazz piano. When I read, “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin, I immediately thought of John Coltrane’s album A Love Supreme. Not only is Coltrane’s album musically moving, like Sonny’s song, but it also emerges from a place of extreme hardship, and even more specifically a struggle with drug-addiction. Like Sonny’s performance, A Love Supreme is the manifestation of a man’s emotional and spiritual journey.

Recorded in 1964, and released in 1965, Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was created at the height of the Civil Right’s movement –– 1964 was the year that the Civil Rights Act was passed. In addition, at this point in his life Coltrane had finally overcome his long struggle with heroin addiction. In the liner notes of the album, Coltrane writes: "During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life." The background of this album is almost identical to that of Sonny’s story in, “Sonny’s Blues” which was also published during the Civil Rights movement in 1957. The even more identical similarity is that the center point of Sonny’s conflict was his struggle with his heroin addiction. Ironically, both musicians' battles with addiction proves to play an integral role in the beauty of their art.

A Love Supreme is broken up into four separate parts titled “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” and “Psalm.” each track representing a different stage of his rebirth and spiritual quest. The first track, “Acknowledgement,” mimics the first song performed by Sonny. It is nervous and scattered. One might imagine that, like Sonny, Coltrane’s “face [is] troubled, he was working hard” (Baldwin). His saxophone screams spontaneous riffs –– “stammered, started one way, got scared, stopped; started another way, panicked, marked time, started again” (Baldwin). Coltrane is a bit staccato in contrast with the rest of his band –– “[He] wasn't with it” (Baldwin). Baldwin also emphasizes this rhythm with his stop and go sentence structure. Eventually, the audience of A Love Supreme is introduced to the four note theme that evolves into the famous chant: “a love supreme.” The mantra is repeated throughout the rest of the song and eventually gives way to a more melodically driven track titled, “Resolution.” This is similar to the way that Creole initiates the melodic song by Ray Charles, “Am I Blue? And, as though he commanded, Sonny [begins] to play” (Baldwin). Both Coltrane and Sonny are encouraged by their band members to really take control of their instruments. This is in part, for both of them, a powerful stance against their heroin addictions. As Sonny describes earlier on in the story, “‘[W]hen [heroin is] in your veins. It makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time…It makes you feel—in control. Sometimes you've got to have that feeling'” to create music (Baldwin). But in both cases, they are able to garner this musical strength without vice. 

Coltrane's next track, “Resolution,” begins with a determined bass-line, which is quickly accompanied by regimented drums, a powerful piano section, and a strong melody. Coltrane’s control over his saxophone is evident. Like Sonny and his piano, “he [seems] to have found, right there beneath his fingers, a damn brand-new [saxophone]” (Baldwin). 

The third track is titled, “Pursuance.” Here, Coltrane seems to fully express himself. The song begins with drums, but after about a minute and a half, Coltrane begins his solo. His saxophone is optimistic and full of life. It is focused, and so is the rest of the band. The drums, bass, and piano all progress in linear movement. Coltrane’s solo on “Pursuance” is the most expressive and intense of any other solos on the album –– This might be compared to Sonny’s piano solo. Coltrane’s solo is strong and full –– His band members, like Sonny’s, “[seem] to say, amen” (Baldwin). The audience can feel the release of Coltrane’s emotion through every powerful note. Similarly, the narrater observes that, “Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life” (Baldwin). When his solo ends, Coltrane quietly pants through his saxophone –– he seems to be out of breath like Creole and Sonny who “let out their breath, both soaking wet, and grinning” (Baldwin).  

In both Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and, “Sonny’s Blues,” the relationship between all the band players is extremely important. Before the debut of A Love Supreme, Coltrane had been kicked out of bands due to his heroin addiction. Before playing at the nightclub in front of his brother, Sonny’s fraternal relationship had been strained. An integral part of jazz is the chemistry between the different band members. Baldwin emphasizes this through his description of Sonny’s performance –– Creole “reminds,” “answers,” and “tells” his band members. This language used by Baldwin perfectly communicates the closeness of jazz music to an intimate conversation. Both musicians use the support of the jazz community –– and jazz music –– to persevere. Like Coltrane writes in his liner notes, both musicians "entered into a phase which was contradictory to the pledge and away from the esteemed path; but thankfully, now and again through the unerring and merciful hand of God, [they] perceive and have been duly re-informed" by the community and spirituality of jazz music. 

Works Cited

“A Love Supreme.” aln2.Albumlinernotes, aln2.albumlinernotes.com/A_Love_Supreme.html.

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