IN ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas on the evening of Dec. 9, 1964. Amid Santa displays and nativity scenes, holiday lights festooned homes to create a festive atmosphere in the small Bergen County borough.

After a day of work and school, residents settled in for a night of television. Among their choices were the musical-variety series “Shindig!” featuring Chubby Checker and the British band Manfred Mann, and “The Danny Kaye Show,” with guest star Tony Bennett.

Inside his recording studio on Sylvan Avenue, engineer Rudy Van Gelder was focusing on a different type of music — jazz — as saxophonist John Coltrane and his three-piece supporting band set up for a recording session with producer Bob Thiele. Before the night ended, Coltrane would create “A Love Supreme,” a milestone recording in the history of jazz whose themes of spiritual rebirth and uplift fit in with the hope and optimism of the holiday season.

“A Love Supreme,” released in early 1965, is presented as a suite in four parts: “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance” and “Psalm.” Led by Coltrane’s tenor saxophone, the music is, by turns, soaring and solemn, soulful and searching. The album clocks in at just under 33 minutes.