When it comes to the titans of jazz, most people would give you the name John Coltrane. He recorded a wealth of music in his short career but many consider the 1965 record “A Love Supreme” to be his masterpiece. What makes it different from his other works is that it was a spiritual endeavor, created at a time when Coltrane was experiencing a religious re-awakening.
Coltrane was at the peak of his popularity when “A Love Supreme” was released, and it was instantly acclaimed and sold incredibly well by jazz standards. Not only did it earn gold record status in just five years, it also had a profound effect on future generations on jazz musicians and composers alike.
Local saxophonist Jacam Manricks was drawn to the music of John Coltrane from a young age. Originally from Australia, Manricks spent over a decade in New York city cutting his teeth before moving to Sacramento in 2014 where he has been an integral part of the local music scene ever since. Manricks has recently begun hosting a concert series at The Sofia, Home of the B Street Theater, called “Jazz Upstairs at the B.”
CapRadio’s Excellence in Jazz host Avery Jeffry recently sat down with Manricks to discuss his passion for the music of John Coltrane as well as his upcoming performance of “A Love Supreme.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
On what drew him to Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”
For one, just his work ethic and his devotion to his work and his music. At this point in his career when he recorded “A Love Supreme," it was his devotion to being the best human he could be through music. It was where he declared his intentions of creating music, despite it being largely instrumental, that can speak or relay a message that does something really good for people, to help humanity, to make the world better and to speak to people’s souls through his musical language. It’s important to note also that when it was released in early 1965, “A Love Supreme” quickly became Coltrane’s best-known album and is a kind of musical self portrait. It earned him two Grammy nominations, an induction into Downbeat Magazine’s Hall of Fame, and a newer generation of fans, many of whom were younger than the typical jazz audience and like Coltrane, were looking for alternative spiritual paths.
On Coltrane’s musical development and short career
His career as a bandleader was very short, only 10 years, in fact, from 1957 to 1967. I believe he recorded 25 albums as a leader. There are three or four main periods of Coltrane that jazz musicians talk about: The “early period” dates from the early 1950s to mid 1950s and during that time he was in and out of Miles Davis’ band. Miles recorded a series of four albums for the Prestige record label that documented Coltrane’s early style; “Cookin’,” “Relaxin’,” “Workin’,” and “Steamin’.” Next is the “sheets of sound” period which was during the late 1950s. This is where he would improvise as though slaloming through chord changes, outpouring stackings of harmonies and scalar patterns and melodies at breakneck speed. Then you have the “classic quartet” period, which was during the early 1960s when he started to form his own band and really solidified his role in being a jazz band leader. During this period, he moved across to the Impulse record label and began producing a balance of fiery live recordings and softer, more meditative studio recordings.
On the character and structure of “A Love Supreme”
Coltrane had begun writing and recording songs that were more focused on communicating a message of creating good for all through music. There are heavy religious and spiritual undertones in this music.
Also at this time, Coltrane was writing music based on his own poetry. In the liner notes for “A Love Supreme” he wrote a poem that shared the same title. Many actually believe Coltrane’s improvisation on “Psalm,” the final movement on the album, is a wordless recitation of the poem. “A Love Supreme” is carefully worked out into 4 sections; “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” and “Psalm.” In line with Coltrane’s religious beliefs, some suggest this may represent a kind of “pilgrim’s progress” in which the pilgrim acknowledges the divine, resolves to pursue it, then searches and eventually celebrates what has been attained in song. I’m very interested in music theory and how it can translate into a narrative that folks can grasp. Coltrane does this by creating musical characters through “pitch cells” and weaving these cells as motifs throughout the suite. We call it motivic continuity in the music theory world. Coltrane and pianist McCoy Tyner use these motifs in countless different forms of transposition and inversion throughout their improvisations.
On his concert series at The Sofia
I’m super excited about this series because I’m almost curating it as an educational thing, at least so that each show has a narrative to it so we can connect with the audience on a deeper level. We’re doing Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” on June 13th. We’re also doing a tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson and titans of the tenor saxophone and the American songbook on July 11th. On August 22nd, bassist Jonathan Stoyanoff and his band will be doing a tribute to pianist Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters and on October 4th, we’re doing a history of jazz show. It’s called “The Evolution of an American Art Form” and I’m very excited about that one.
