The album sold a half-million copies by 1970, more than 10 times Coltrane's usual level of sales. The reception of A Love Supreme was major. It closes, 'God breathes through us so completely … so gently we hardly feel it … yet, it is our everything. The text was provided in the album's liner notes. The suite's four parts are 'Acknowledgement,' 'Resolution,' 'Pursuance,' and 'Psalm.' In 'Psalm' Coltrane performs a poem by playing it on his sax.

Coltrane is playing on tenor sax and chants the four-note theme 'a love supreme' with himself, later layered by overdubs. The sidemen in the quartet on A Love Supreme were bass player Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner. Filled with spiritual exaltation, his abundance of talent balanced free expression with just enough traditional jazz feel to keep its four heartfelt tracks accessible. A controversial leader of experimental jazz, legendary saxophone player John Coltrane recorded his studio album A Love Supreme in December 1964 and it was released the following month, becoming for many his most-beloved piece of work.

A love supreme drummer