6. John ColtraneA Love Supreme
There’s also a version of this done by John McLaughlin with Carlos Santana [Love Devotion Surrender] where they were all dressed in white on the front conver. That was one of the prog albums that I had. The beginning of their version of ‘A Love Supreme’ every time was just like… you know that point where you hear a record and the first four bars hit you so hard every time that you can hardly breathe? You’re like, ‘Ah, it’s that record!’ And I’m getting that every time. I probably still would get it if I put it on now.
And then, about 10 years ago, my son had just finished university and he moved up to San Francisco. And he lived for a while on Haight-Ashbury, sort of the heart of the counterculture. He lived in an arts collective, which, unfortunately, I hear is closing down this month. He lived there for a while, and I would go visit him and we’d walk around the neighbourhood. Very close by him is The Church Of John Coltrane, which is a church run by one of his relatives. Now, California is weird, but there are some things sometimes when you see them, you say, ‘That is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen!’ It’d be like seeing The Church Of Joe Strummer in Ladbroke Grove!
I like the fact that he had struggles with a lot of stuff but he came out the other end and produced some of the best stuff ever. It’s weird jazz that I like. Some of that is like metal guitarists with the very fast runs. I’ve actually seen John McLaughlin play and he could play faster than any of those people, and he was about 70.
It took me a while to get into it, but the more I listen to A Love Supreme, I find there’s other layers there. It’s like Bowie’s Low – there are still things that I’m discovering. In the end, it’s like a book; there are some books I’ve read three or four times and I’ve learned something different every time. Because your mind changes and it gets different things in and can process it slightly differently every time… I often think to myself, that’s the mark of something worthwhile.
