5 Facts About John Coltrane's Meditations Recording Session

Recorded in a single day The entire album was recorded on November 23, 1965, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

A follow-up to A Love Supreme Meditations was Coltrane’s next major studio album after the landmark A Love Supreme, released earlier that year.

Featured a new lineup The session included Coltrane’s classic quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones, plus saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and drummer Rashied Ali.

Intended as a single extended piece Coltrane conceived Meditations as one continuous composition, though it was split into four tracks for the original release.

A bridge to free jazz The album marked Coltrane’s transition from modal jazz toward the more avant-garde, free jazz style he explored in his final years.