'Trane shows why he's the heavyweight champ

One of John Coltrane's many undisputed masterpieces, A Love Supreme, is among even the top of this immeasurably influential tenor player's catalogue. Often described as an album that introduces the less serious jazz listeners to 'Trane's "adventurous" side, A Love Supreme is a religious experience. It is among the most focused works of one of the brightest lights in jazz history. The intensity and focus are clear by the album's cover, which also happens to be one of the best album covers in music history.\nA Love Supreme is a four-part composition that acts as a metaphor for a struggle to reach religious enlightenment. In the notes (the reissue comes with a 30-something page booklet), Coltrane lets the listener know exactly where he's coming from: "This album is a humble offering to Him. An attempt to say 'THANK YOU GOD' through our work..." Anyone familiar with this work has undoubtedly noticed the perfection in the execution of his ideas through each movement. "Acknowledgement" shows Coltrane searching as his persistence heard in the repeated line "a love supreme" over Garrison's repetitive bassline that settles into part two, "Resolution." From there, Coltrane launches his sax riffs everywhere, painting the picture of his struggle for understanding that gradually, through the remaining movements, turns into worship.\nThis deluxe edition adds a second disc as well as the extended liner notes with an updated perspective on this album's influence as well as the original notes and quotes from Miles Davis, recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, a description of one of the live performances of A Love Supreme, several pictures and other comments made by Coltrane. The second disc includes a surprisingly clean, though at times less inspiring and focused, recording of the live performance in France as well as several alternate takes.\nBecause this is one of the greatest studio recordings in jazz, the live performances can't help but fall short of the standard to some degree. A Love Supreme is an essential album, but the double-disc may be overdoing it for anyone who considers himself anything but a hardcore fan.