A Love Supreme/The Legacy of John Coltrane

by Roy Luckett
January 28th, 2008

This quartet, which still includes two of its original members from 1985, pays fantastic tribute to the music of Coltrane and other jazz songs inspired by Coltrane’s 1964 landmark A Love Supreme. What’s fascinating about this album is that this classical string quartet, whose instruments consist of two violins, a viola, and a cello, effortlessly melds classical and jazz disciplines into something fresh, not awkward, a triumph given that Coltrane’s music was created for the most part for a configuration of saxophone, piano, bass and drums. And the track “Naima” is a stunner. What an unexpected delight!