Meditations (John Coltrane album)

Meditations is a 1966 album by John Coltrane. The album was considered the "spiritual follow-up to A Love Supreme."^[7] It features Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as soloists, both playing tenor saxophones. This was the last Coltrane recording to feature his classic quartet lineup of himself, bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner (augmented here as a sextet with Sanders and second drummer Rashied Ali), as both Jones and Tyner would quit the band by early 1966. Sanders, Ali, Garrison and Coltrane's wife Alice would comprise his next group.

Meditations
Studio album by John Coltrane
Released	August 1966[1]
Recorded	November 23, 1965
Studio	Van Gelder (Englewood Cliffs)
Genre	Free jazz, avant-garde jazz
Length	40:31
Label	Impulse! A-9110
Producer	Bob Thiele
John Coltrane chronology
The Avant-Garde (1966) Meditations (1966) Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (1966)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
DownBeat	(Don DeMichael) / (William Russo)[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[6]

Alternative versions of tracks 2–5 had been recorded in September 1965 by the same musicians minus Rashied Ali and Sanders. They were later issued as First Meditations (for quartet) in 1977.

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Coltrane.

Side one

1. "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost" – 12:51
2. "Compassion" – 6:50

Side two

1. "Love" – 8:09
2. "Consequences" – 9:11
3. "Serenity" – 3:28

Personnel

• John Coltrane – tenor saxophone, percussion, band leader
• Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone, percussion
• McCoy Tyner – piano
• Jimmy Garrison – double bass
• Elvin Jones – drums
• Rashied Ali – drums