[Dynocator]

I can't describe in words how amazing A Love Supreme is, both in terms of it's feel and the technical proficiency in playing the horn like that. It tales me somewhere else, every single time. Those long legato runs are out of this world.

[moomin]

I know many people who adore A Love Supreme, but I wouldn’t recommend it to a novice. I still can’t make head nor tail of it.

[rectang]

My deepest sympathies... But I can't agree with that. There were two albums that turned me on to jazz as a teenager. A Love Supreme was one of them. (The other was the Charlie Mingus album Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.)

A Love Supreme more invigorating than laid-back classics like Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, and the harmonies of the first two cuts are grounded enough that nothing is lost from not knowing the original standards. (A lot of jazz is hard to approach today because the context is lost -- nobody knows the tunes or can follow the chord changes, so you can't feel the tension and everything sounds like undirected noodling. The experience is analogous to listening to a remix without knowing the original).

A Love Supreme is literally the first jazz album I recommend to people.

[pimeys]

Think of it him talking to God. Close your eyes and let the short album flow from introductions to the ascension of Psalm.

And from there it's nice to jump to the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders.

https://pitchfork.com/features/pitchfork-essentials/9724-ast...

[_emacsomancer_]

_Blue Train_ is probably a better one to start with.

[rectang]

If you're going down this path, I'd say _My Favorite Things_, because people might actually know the song.

[pimeys]

I'd say Olé is even better. You can cut the air with a knife when the title track is playing.

[afishisafish]

Such a rewarding song, Olé. An interpretation of an old Republican civil war song, pure bliss when the melody kicks in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6miDvc52yU

[pimeys]

The melody is very strong. Also when Trane's last solo kicks in is something really strong.

What I really like about him is when he just screams like a total madman through the saxophone. That's why one of my favorite albums from him is the last live The Olatunji Concert with Pharoah Sanders, where the sick man just roars like a lion. Horrible sound quality but I'd say his strongest band and absolutely brilliant music.

[andybak]

Live at Birdland was my Coltrane gateway drug.

Afro Blue... Actually more for the McCoy Tyner piano work but the whole ensemble is wonderful.