“Rudy dimmed the lights in his studio. I’d never seen him do that and it sort of set an atmosphere.”

That’s how pianist McCoy Tyner has described the momentous time at engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 50 years ago today when John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was recorded.

A 33-minute suite, what Coltrane called his “humble offering to God” performed by the saxophonist with only surviving member Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones, the suite was fashioned around a simple pattern, just four notes based on the words “a Love Supreme.”

The record means as much if not more to us today than it did on release in 1965. And tonight, in simple recognition of this and in a further spirit of celebration, there’s a special concert at London’s Union Chapel re-envisioning A Love Supreme to mark the anniversary.