A Love Supreme - Reception and Influence

Reception and Influence

A Love Supreme is often listed amongst the greatest jazz albums of all time. It was also quite popular for a jazz album, selling about 500,000 copies by 1970, a number far exceeding Coltrane's typical Impulse! sales of around 30,000. As further testimony to the recording's historic significance, the manuscript for the album is one of the National Museum of American History's "Treasures of American History", part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. In 2003, the album was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The publication called it a "legendary album-long hymn of praise" and stated "The indelible four-note theme of the first movement, 'Acknowledgment,' is the humble foundation of the suite. But Coltrane's majestic, often violent blowing (famously described as 'sheets of sound') is never self-aggrandizing. Aloft with his classic quartet..., Coltrane soars with nothing but gratitude and joy. You can't help but go with him." The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" and awarded it a "crown" stating "It is without precedent and parallel, and though it must also be one of the best loved jazz records of all time it somehow remains remote from critical pigeonholing" calling it "immensely concentrated and rich."

The album's influence has been extensive and diverse. Musicians ranging from tenor Joshua Redman to the rockstar Bono of U2 have singled out the influence of the album on their own work. Guitarists John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana have each credited the album as one of their greatest early influences.