Love Supreme

I have been quite 'arid' with this blogging business. Rather than dry up entirely I thought I would say a word or two about John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. Many great essays have been written about this recording so I don't need to say much here other than some personal reflections. I have been unable to tire of this record. The opening line just hooks me every time. I think also the intensity of the music makes so much else seem insipid and ingratiating. I suspect that many of us have from time to time almost given up on everything else in life to devote what time we have left to listen to Coltrane. These feelings are testimony to the music's power. Many have said that he took jazz pretty much as far as it would go; the other famous complement is

that he 'killed jazz'. This is hyperbolic. His death meant a tremendous loss to the industry. His son Ravi now seems to carry the mantle, and has really developed the atonal style of playing the tenor sax.

Thanks for reading.

Gentle readers...

My colleague tells me that I now have a readership that is global in scope, spanning several continents.

The weather continues to be a major factor. My wife was stuck in the snow in Crfe yesterday (she won't mind me saying). Three hours she was sat in the car, with very little petrol, phone dying, and no hot chocolate.

There is an amazing piece of footage here; Coltrane playing Alabama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOjxBuwBUEE

First reflection

I suspect several of us are feeling just a little uncertain about the sot23 things training and keeping a reflective blog. I have created a blog and that can be the basis of my first reflection. Blogger doesn't seem easy to drive (keeping the analogy of the 'dashboard'). If I'm honest I did have a slight 'pang' of giving up. It is quite surprising how rapidly people of my age can actually get to grips with these things; I was dismissive about smart-phones, as an example, (because I only phone and send texts...), but really got to grips with it swiftly and have ventured beyond phoning and texting.

It has been snowing here, and this always threatens to keep me in Southampton over the weekend. I have therefore added a link to a snowy picture below.
Snow

And here is an image of a yellow car:

Yellow car is a game you can play when out driving with the family. If you see a yellow car, bash someone. The driver can keep the score.

My thought for the day is from Evelyn Underhill: 'Sanity consists in sharing the hallucinations of others'.