JOHN COLTRANE: “A LOVE SUPREME”

First appointment on Friday, April 18th with the twelfth edition of the Jazz Appreciation Month Livorno April 2025, organized by the Committee UNESCO Jazz Day Livorno, in collaboration with the State Conservatory Pietro Mascagni, the UNESCO Club of Livorno, the Museum of Mediterranean Natural History, and Symphony. With the patronage of the Italian National Commission for UNESCO.

At 6.00 pm, at Symphony Record Shop, piazza Cavour, 23, the listening meeting will take place titled “A LOVE SUPREME,” on the 60th anniversary of the publication of the famous album by John Coltrane. The meeting, dedicated to Lauro Lubrano, historic secretary and among the founders of the Livorno Jazz Club, is curated by Chiara Carboni of the Committee UNESCO Jazz Day Livorno. Free admission.

A Love Supreme is the 16th studio album by John Coltrane, released in 1965. Considered Coltrane’s masterpiece and one of the most important records in jazz history, the album was ranked 47th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003. It was recorded on December 9, 1964 at the Van Gelder studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The album is structured as a suite in four parts. It is seen as a spiritual album, representing the artist’s personal struggle for purity. The fourth track, Psalm, is also a saxophone “reading” of a poem by Coltrane included in the liner notes, an improvised movement based on the syllabic content of the poem.

John William Coltrane, better known as John Coltrane, was born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina, USA. He is considered the greatest tenor sax player in jazz history and a master of the soprano saxophone as well, bringing it back into the limelight after decades of obscurity. According to many critics, he is considered, along with colleague Charlie Parker, among the greatest innovators of the musical genre invented by African Americans between the late 19th century and the early 20th century.

Often imitated for his style, tone, and wild dissonances, he created some of the best records in jazz history, from “My Favorite Things” to “A Love Supreme.” Some of his compositions, like the beautiful ballad “Naima,” are now part of the classic jazz music repertoire.

Lauro Lubrano (Livorno 1930 – 2022) became passionate about jazz since the 1940s. Secretary and among the founders of the Livorno Jazz Club in 1952 (one of the oldest in Italy), second only to the 1948 Hot Club, Lubrano was a fundamental source of information for anyone wishing to learn about the history and stories of Livorno Jazz through his collection of books and records, some of which are very rare, on jazz history and more generally on music.

He met “everyone,” from the Ciampi brothers, Piero, Paolo, and Roberto, to the great American names passing through Livorno, and baptized the main concert and educational initiatives related to post-war Jazz. Lauro Lubrano also knew the greatest experts and scholars of jazz music such as Mazzoletti, Polillo, Massimo Mila, and in his precious collection, he also had the complete recordings of Stravinsky performed by Bacchelli, another piece of Livorno’s music history. He contributed with his “guided listening sessions” to the success of past editions of JAM Jazz Appreciation Month.