Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - A Love Supreme (2005)

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Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - A Love Supreme (2005)

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In 1964 John Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. It's one of most influential and imposing jazz suites ever written, and on this debut CD for the Palmetto label, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, featuring Wynton Marsalis, adapts Coltrane's immortal composition to the big band. Not to be outdone by his brother Branford's quartet version of this material recorded live on DVD, Wynton and company skillfully extend and elaborate on the Coltrane's work, and preserve the soul-searching spirit of the four-part suite, which deals with the blues, 4/4 swing, Afro-Latin rhythms, and ballads. Pulsed by Carlos Henriquez's sure-footed basslines, Herlin Riley's spiritual syncopations and Earl Lewis's profound pianisms, saxophonist Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson's Tranish cries, and the leader's triumphant trumpet tones are as fluent and fierce as ever. Collectively, this brilliant orchestra goes where no large ensemble has gone before.

Review by Eugene Holley, Jr.

Few arrangers have attempted to score John Coltrane's landmark suite A Love Supreme for good reason: it is very difficult to stand up to the emotional impact of the composer's original recording. But Wynton Marsalis ambitiously dove into scoring it for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra for this Palmetto CD. The results are rather uneven. In spite of the best efforts of the participating musicians, the solos often prove to be a distraction, leaning more toward humor than sticking to Coltrane's message. The most ridiculous section occurs in the opening movement, "Acknowledgement," when the baton is passed from one player to the next as they take turns playing the brief cadence of the well-known A Love Supreme vamp, which quickly grows tedious. "Resolution" works somewhat better, though there are sections which sound as if more rehearsal time was needed. Drummer Herlin Riley makes a strong effort with the transitional solo into "Pursuance," but his work pales next to that of Elvin Jones on the original album. "Psalm" comes the closest to achieving what Coltrane might have envisioned had he chosen to record his suite with an orchestra. One noticeable improvement is the omission of the vocal chant included by Coltrane. In any case, die-hard fans of Marsalis will want to pick up this CD, while others should consider themselves forewarned of the potential for disappointment.

Review by Ken Dryden, Allmusic.com

In the last year there's been a resurgence of interest in John Coltrane's epochal A Love Supreme. First saxophonist Branford Marsalis' quartet released a live DVD with an incendiary version of the suite, demonstrating with the same instrumentation how an ensemble could be reverent without being imitative, capturing the essence of the piece without sounding like a weak copy.

Now brother Wynton has addressed the piece, reinterpreting it in a larger context with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. What their version of A Love Supreme lacks in the immediacy of interplay that is really only possible with small ensembles, they more than make up for by giving the piece a broader scope and a fuller palette.

"Acknowledgement" opens with an immediate richness as piccolo, clarinet and saxophone iterate the introduction. When bassist Carlos Henriquez enters with the familiar four-note motif, Marsalis takes Coltrane's opening theme and builds it into something more expansive as it leads into the solos. The rhythm section of Henriquez, pianist Eric Lewis and drummer Herlin Riley doesn't try to mimic the unit of Garrison, Tyner and Jones. Lewis, in fact, is remarkably restrained, accompanying the soloists with more spacious chords that maintain a certain breadth, while providing well-positioned and sometimes outré support. Marsalis' solo is also surprisingly restrained: no flurries of notes, just well-chosen ones that go to core of the piece, giving a new meaning to Coltrane's simple concept.

Wynton then takes the group to church, each congregation member/instrument saying "A Love Supreme" in call-and-response fashion, leading into the piece's finale where the theme is sung by all.

"Resolution" swings hard, but again Lewis sustains an element of space in his accompaniment, all the while uncannily in synch with every soloist. Marsalis and saxophonist Weiss Anderson may get the bulk of the solo space, but in some respects it is Lewis who is the less obvious star of the show. He provides the glue that, along with Henriquez's warm and woody tone and Riley's understated sense of swing—which doesn't go for the power of Jones yet has its own energy—ties everything together. Lewis does get the opportunity for an extended solo in "Resolution" and manages to pay homage to Tyner while still maintaining his own identity.

Henriquez introduces "Psalm" with a stark simplicity that foreshadows Marsalis' arrangement, which bases itself on Coltrane's solo, demonstrating that improvisation can sometimes immediately become composition. Marsalis cleverly intertwines various instruments, creating a vivid sense of colour, all the while retaining the strong blues roots of the piece. While the suite ends on a larger note than the original, Marsalis manages to maintain the spiritual tranquility of the piece, with the orchestra ebbing and flowing throughout.

Dramatically proving that the barest of ideas for small ensemble can be enriched and enhanced in a larger setting, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra's A Love Supreme is a masterful interpretation. Along with Branford Marsalis' version, it finally places the suite in the position of being a repertoire piece that can and should be limned for its inherent potential.

Review by John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com

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Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - A Love Supreme (2005)

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Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - A Love Supreme (2005)

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