Henry Rollins on the greatest jazz album of all time: “It’s just beautiful”
Although he might be best known as the former frontman of hardcore pioneers Black Flag, Henry Rollins exists in his own space. Outside the furious sounds of his younger years, the DC legend is one of the most compelling commentators on the story of modern music and has provided many fascinating accounts on everything from rock to jazz.
It might sound strange that Rollins, a man so inextricable from the story of punk, might be a jazz aficionado. Still, looking past the immediate musical differences of the genres, spiritually, both share much in common. Both are profoundly countercultural modes, originally weaponised to rail against the establishment and provide personal and creative solace for those taking sanctuary within their confines. Furthermore, both have had immense impacts on the arc of popular music.
When discussing the music of his life for Pitchfork, Rollins chose John Coltrane’s 1965 effort A Love Supreme as his favourite jazz album of all time. He noted the beauty of the saxophonist’s work on the record and even posited that the late master, who died in 1967, believed he could cure the world of hatred and war with the power of his efforts.
Reflecting on the album, Rollins looked back to 1991, when he was a 30-year-old who had already achieved success as an artist. The former Black Flag vocalist said he had an epiphany when listening to Coltrane’s Live at Birdland: “John Coltrane is my favourite musician, and jazz is the best thing America ever came up with, and I need to know every single thing about jazz.”
Following this, he bought every jazz record he could. “I became this jazz-inhaling machine,” he recalled.
Regarding A Love Supreme, Rollins commented: “But of all those records, it was A Love Supreme because Coltrane’s tone, the music, it’s just beautiful. It aspires to so much. I really think John Coltrane thought he could cure the world of war and hatred and everything bad with his horn. Not like, ‘Don’t worry, I’m the man, I’ve got this,’ but, ‘Oh creator, I’m here to serve you.’ Like he was so humble in the face of music and in the face of his god.”
Rollins explained that he connected with Coltrane because he never played an impure note, and in another parallel between their respective musical worlds, he also respected the jazz innovator’s intensity.
He said: “I know I’m getting a little highfalutin, but he’s intense. He meant it all the way to the end. So Coltrane made me aspire to just be musically pure, and it’s the jazz guys that informed my musical integrity: If you don’t like it, don’t play it. I got that a bit from Black Flag, but I really got it from jazz. The real punk rock in America is bebop.”
All captured in one session, A Love Supreme isn’t just a career highlight for Coltrane but a stunning apotheosis in the rich and varied trajectory of jazz. Undoubtedly a favourite among jazz enthusiasts as well as Coltrane devouts, it’s the perfect example of how music can be powerfully life-affirming.
Listen to A Love Supreme below.
