Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
A Love Supreme at 60: Thoughts on Coltrane’s Masterwork
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
Wadada Leo Smith (foreground) performs with John Lindberg at Woodland Pattern bookstore in Milwaukee on Oct. 30.
(Photo: Izzy Yellen)On Oct. 30, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and bassist John Lindberg completed a Midwest tour to promote their 2015 album, Celestial Weather (TUM), bringing the trek to a close at Milwaukee’s Woodland Pattern, a nonprofit bookstore that regularly hosts a variety of avant-garde shows.
The acoustic duo took naturally to the intimate setting—both musicians were able to play their loudest and quietest, revealing subtleties in each dynamic and in every shade in between.
While the album is heavily steeped in improvisation, both musicians exhibited a strong knack for performing compositions, deftly blending spontaneous passages and through-composed sections into a unified whole.
Their live version of “Feathers And Earth,” the final track on the album, was a solid example of this melding. On the recording, a spiraling figure of interwoven parts dominates the song’s second half, and Smith and Lindberg used a variation of that figure—subtly warped and altered—during the live show.
“Feathers And Earth” also showcased the brilliance of each musician as a soloist, and featured extended moments where time seemed to stand still. Lindberg’s solo explored the extremities of extended technique—at some points engaging in tremolo picking with his bare hand, at other points bouncing up and down the range of his strings.
While his dexterous technique was the definitive aspect of Lindberg’s solo, his attention to texture was also impressive.
Smith’s solo differed stylistically, especially in terms of space and pacing. He peppered his time in the spotlight with silence, but those moments never felt stagnant. Each bout of silence transported Smith to his next idea, but each isolated expression was undeniably complete unto itself.
Though compelling in isolation, the musicians truly brought out the best in each other and created their most compelling music as a duo. In a soundscape based on a simple melody, the two played with drones and intervals, quilting together a warm set of harmonies. Smith’s trumpet sang through a Harmon mute, shimmering with thin overtones, contrasting to Lindberg’s bellowing ambient sounds.
The next tune charted a different approach, with each musician exploring vast sonic ranges with agility, each calling out to other with bold attacks. But inside all that apparent chaos was a clear sense of control. Neither Smith nor Lindberg missed a step, and both players were always ready to pounce with conviction. The piece ended suddenly, but the barrage of sounds left an afterglow of tension.
The final piece, a concise, stripped-down ballad, offered a mood of both cohesion and satisfying conclusion. Smith and Lindberg provided dissonant harmonies over a fluid, amorphous soundscape, and though the song only lasted a couple of minutes, it was the night’s most unified and expressive.
After the music was over, Smith talked to the audience for several minutes. He lightheartedly disagreed with a published review of the album, sharing his artistic views on it. He praised the audience’s reception to the concert, joking that if the enthusiastic appreciation had been any more intense, the two would have either cried or run away.
It is always a privilege to see musicians of extraordinary skill play together so creatively, but to pair it with an outward kindness and spirited aura such as theirs created a supreme listening experience.
“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
Apr 15, 2025 11:55 AM
DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
