Heard on Impulse!: Ten Impulse Records Releases You Must Own
Published July 02, 2006
1) A Love Supreme, John Coltrane (1964) - Was there ever any doubt as to what Number One would be? Trane's magnum opus remains, after more than forty years, staggering. It is dense, challenging, overwhelming, and exhausting, but it's also quite possibly the most exhilarating piece of music ever recorded — even more than Beethoven's Ninth. A Love Supreme is a sonic monument to God, one that will make the most hardened atheist look into the sky and smile.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins (1962) and Further Definitions, Benny Carter (1961). The least avant-garde recordings on this list, and that's the best thing about them: here are three giants who epitomize the Duke's favorite compliment, "beyond category." Ellington and Bean were a part of jazz from its youth to its maturity, as was Carter (who was only slightly less important than the former two), yet no matter what the era around them, they always sounded fresh and modern. And that, folks, is what we call "timeless."
Michael J. West is a writer, editor, and dilettante jazz critic in Washington, D.C. In addition to BlogCritics, he writes for JazzTimes, Washington City Paper, and AllAboutJazz.com. He occasionally writes at Pop Musicology, too. He's very cute. His mother told him so. And he is not at all related to Adam West, Michael J. Fox, or any of the other similar-and-famous names that you might bring up because you're so original! - Heard on Impulse!: Ten Impulse Records Releases You Must Own
- Published: July 02, 2006
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Lists, Music: Jazz
- Writer: Michael J. West
- Michael J. West's BC Writer page
- Michael J. West's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
A jazz version of Parliament, that's good! I had thought of it more like a free version of On the Corner.
I must confess that I've never found coltrane listenable: reminds me of my own miserable practice sessions before I gave up the sax. Sold "love supreme" CD ten years ago in a garage sale.
I must confess that I've never found coltrane listenable
I hope you're not religious, Bliffle, because I'm preety sure calling Trane "unlistenable" carries mandatory time in Hell.
I know it's sacrilege, but I think if I could have only one John Coltrane Impulse! album it would be "Crescent"....
Sacrilege, yes, but understandable. Hell, my one Coltrane Impulse! album might actually be Ascension. (Bliffle, if you thought A Love Supreme was unlistenable....)
My choice would be Stellar Regions. I'm weird.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/49912)
interesting list. i just picked up Attica Blues a few months ago. it sort of reminded me of a jazz version of Parliament.
A Love Supreme: killer. one of those records you can never tire of.