Art Doesn't Happen In A Vacuum: The Context of A Love Supreme

A Love Supreme: What Was Going On In 1964–5?

Art doesn’t happen in a vacuum. 

It’s the product of the events that preceded it. 

And in some cases art can even forecast the future, or at very least guide us into the future with wisdom and hope.

I think with a lot of art that seems so immortal, so timeless, art that can withstand the test of time, it’s easy to think that it just somehow arose out of the ether one day and will forever live untouched by the events surrounding its inception. 

I mean, think about Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica. Though we may think of it now as timeless, it’s rooted as a statement against war after the bombing of the city of Guernica in the Basque country in 1937. 

The inimitable novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo was written in 1862 and inspired by the political and social unrest during the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, a specific time and place. In its preface Hugo portends its importance: “… so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.”

Another example of art holding a cultural context is one of my favorite punk rock albums of all times, London Calling by the Clash, recorded in December of 1979. Do you know this album? LOVE IT! Throughout the album you can hear references to the nuclear age as well as rising unemployment, racial conflict, and drug use, especially in Great Britain.The concepts and lyrics are all completely historical, political, and social.

Though Picasso, Les Misérable, and Punk Rock all seem to have a particular context, their art continues to speak to our souls today. 

Today, I’m thinking about the enduring art of John Coltrane’s album, A Love Supreme which is also rooted with a fascinating cultural context. I’m fascinated by this iconic, spiritual, and deeply moving piece of sonic art and I want to share it with you at a bright, open venue with the space and time to truly experience this immortal album in a way that I believe it was meant to be heard.

Better than at a nightclub, I believe this album is best suited to be absorbed at yoga and meditation studio. After all, this album is more like a meditation than a traditional jazz album. So, let’s meditate together to the spiritual sounds of A Love Supreme. And if you don’t live near Salt Lake City, you can Zoom in and catch it that way.

 

Changing Times


A Love Supreme was recorded in late 1964 and hit the record stores and airwaves in early 1965. And like I said, this album—this musical meditation, this masterpiece—didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s fascinating to consider the events that were happening in America and around the world at this time because it gives a greater context understanding for the music and message of this album.

Were you around in 1964–1965? What do you remember about the events of that era? 

I recently learned some cool perspectives around what was going down at the time that John Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme. Starting last week, I’ve started conducting in-person and Zoom interviews with clients and students to better learn about what I can do to better serve my students’ needs and so last week I met at a coffee shop with Bob and Cindy, friends and students who were both around 1964–1965, and by chance, not knowing that I was studying this era as it relates to A Love Supreme, they told me about what it was like to be a teenager/young adult at this time. 

Bob, from New Jersey, told me that he graduated high school in 1965 and noticed a massive cultural shift in the summer of 1965. From his perspective, early in the year, when he graduated high school everyone had short hair and nobody smoked weed. People around him seem to live an Ozzie and Harriet lifestyle. But by the end of 65 he said that things changed drastically. What seemed like overnight, all the guys had long hair and smoking weed was suddenly a thing. With rock and roll firmly underway and Vietnam raging, the younger generation were definitely starting to think outside of the box. He also said that the parents of the younger generation had zero context nor preparation to cope with much less understand the massive shift in attitude of their kids.

In the same year that John Coltrane created and recorded A Love Supreme, Bob Dylan released his album named for its title track, “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” And whether it’s Dylan or Coltrane, analyzing the events of the day, it’s obvious that nothing could have been more of an understatement. 

Crossing the Threshold 

1964–65 marks a big threshold for the US and the world socially, artistically, and politically.

A Love Supreme is a compassionate and enduring response to a massive change that was happening both personally in John Coltrane’s soul as well as throughout myriad domains in the world. In moments of huge change like this I think it would be easy for an artist or writer to be cynical, foreboding, or negative about the changes they are noticing. But recognizing the monumental shifts that are happening in the world, shifts that will change the world forever, John Coltrane instead chooses to help usher us over the threshold to a new era by laying bare his heart and exposing his deeply personal spiritual conviction, the result of his spiritual awakening, by reminding us that no matter what, we are all being carried over this threshold by a Love Supreme. Afterall, Coltrane made a deal with God: If he could kick heroin and booze, he would devote his life to sharing love and making people happy by the power of his music. 

In a nutshell, this is what A Love Supreme is all about.

Context

One way to gain a deeper insight, context, and appreciation for this important masterpiece of music is by understanding what was happening at the time that it was born. Have you ever researched the newspaper archives and read the current events on the day you were born? It’s a trip, right? Well how about we explore what was going on around the time that A Love Supreme was born.


To take a snapshot of 1964–5 when this album was recorded and released, I’ve made a list of notable events and lumped them into very general categories, Social/Political, Art And Culture, and Other. They aren’t necessary in either chronological order or in order of importance. 

Check this out …

Social/Political

  • July 2, Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights act, abolishing racial segregation in the United States

  • February 3, Black and Puerto Rican groups in New York City boycott public schools. Protesting against school racial segregation. 

  • February 4, the United States authorizes the Twenty-fourth Amendment, outlawing the poll tax. Payment of a poll tax was a prerequisite to the restoration for voting in a number of states and existed as part of the Jim Crow Laws. Until the 24th amendment, the poll tax prohibited people, especially black people and minorities, from voting.

  • April 20, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, simultaneously announce plans to reduce production of materials for making nuclear weapons.

  • Vietnam:

    • Estimates between 400–1,000 students march through Times Square, New York and another 700 in San Francisco, in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War. Other marches also occur in Boston, Seattle, and Madison, Wisconsin.

    • May 12, 12 young men in New York publicly burn their draft cards as an act of resistance to the Vietnam War.[17][18]

    • July 8, U.S. military personnel announce that U.S. casualties in Vietnam have risen to 1,387, including 399 dead and 17 MIA.

  • Six days of race riots begin in Harlem, New York, United States, prompted by the shooting of a teenager.

  • December 11, Che Guevara addresses the United Nations General Assembly; a bazooka attack is launched at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.

  • December 14, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (379 US 241 1964): The U.S. Supreme Court rules that, in accordance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, establishments providing public accommodations must refrain from racial discrimination.

  • October 14, Martin Luther King Jr., becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.

Arts and Culture

Other

Births

  • Michelle Obama

  • Sarah Palin

  • Jeff Bezos

  • Nicolas Cage

  • Tracy Chapman

  • Crispin Glover

  • Stephen Colbert

  • Tom Morello (from Rage Against The Machine)

  • Wynonna Judd

  • Courtney Love (married Curt Cobain, Hole)

  • Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden)

So zooming in to look at the events that occur right as John Coltrane records A Love Supreme, he goes into the studio and records it with his iconic quartet on December 9th. On December 10 Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. On December 11th iconic soul singer Sam Cooke is shot and killed. By January of 1965 A Love Supreme is released to the public. In February of 1965, Malcolm X is killed.

John Coltrane dies July 17th 1967.

Were you around in 64-65? What was your experience like during that time?

Understanding the personal, social, and cultural context in which A Love Supreme was created helps us have a deeper connection and understanding to this music yet as a timeless piece of art, it remains as important a voice today, one that continues to shape our individual soul as well as the soul of our world. 

Please come and experience this divine piece of music for yourself at my John Coltrane and A Love Supreme yoga and meditation experience and see what this music says to you today. 

This experience will be perfect for both those who are either new or already familiar with yoga, meditation, and jazz. If you're familiar with yoga, meditation, John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, or jazz in general, come to experience it in a way that you likely never have before. If you’re new to any or all of it and are curious this will be a really cool introduction to all of it. 

At this event, we’ll do some gentle movement then we will meditate while listening to the album. We’ll discuss, process, and integrate its feeling and message. 

Plus, I will play some live music on my sax along with one or two other musicians. 

You don’t want to miss this!