absence of drugs by drinking heavily . He emerged victorious at the end of another Philadelphia sojourn in May , a victory that inspired his piece “ Psalm ” on the 1964 album A Love Supreme , an authentic act of grace . From then on , with the help of Naima , he followed an exemplary diet . Already during his last engagement at the Café Bohemia , Trane had signed a contract with Prestige Records , for whom he recorded a series of twelve albums between May 1957 and December 1958 ( not counting nineteen cosignatures and collaborations for the same label beginning in the autumn of 1956 ).
Renaissance at Monk ’ s place . Trane also made a habit of going to Thelonious Monk ’ s house to study the pianist ’ s pieces . Monk would play them over and over until the saxophonist had thoroughly mastered them :
He ’ d start playin ’ it and he ’ d look at me . I ’ d get my horn and start trying to find what he ’ s playing , and he ’ d continue to play over and over and over and over , and I ’ d get this part . Next time he ’ d go over it I ’ d get another part . And he would stop to show me some parts that were pretty difficult , and if I had a lot of trouble , he ’ d get his portfolio out and show me the music . He would rather a guy learn without reading . You feel it quicker when you memorize it , when you learn it by heart , by ear ... When I almost had the tune down , then he would leave me with it . He ’ d leave me to practice it alone . And he ’ d go out somewhere , maybe he ’ d go to the store , or go back to bed or something . And I ’ d just stay there and run over it until I had it pretty well and I ’ d call him and we ’ d play it down together . Sometimes we ’ d just get one tune a day .
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