MOG

John Coltrane found the melody for "Spiritual" in a collection of black spirituals that he was studying. There's a well-known spiritual "No One Knows The Trouble I've Seen". This different melody from his collection shared that title.

He orchestrated it for his band before their time at the Vanguard. They recorded it three times during their stay. This "C" take went on the original "Live At the Vanguard" album.

This is one of the few pieces of music I know where I can tell you the hour and date that I first heard it.

In October, 1973 the whole world came very close to dying by a nuclear exchange when the armed forces of the U.S. and Russia both went on highest alert for a morning during Israel's Yom Kippur War, because the superpower's client states Israel and Egypt both seemed to be at risk of a massive defeat at each other's hands, since the situation was that fluid and since armaments were sluicing into the Mideast in floods from the United States and from Russia.

While this sabre rattling was taking place, I was listening to Coltrane "Spiritual" for the first time. When I was finished listening that morning and went to class, I heard that we had all escaped with our lives when the sides decided it was a good idea to stand down.

I might have been the only person who experienced it this way, and it's totally magical thinking, but for me I've thought since that Coltrane's "Spiritual" had a spirit it in that seemed like it could save the world and heal men's souls.