Ascension

iTunes Review

Be advised: Ascension is not for the casual jazz fan, nor is it the place to start an exploration of the music of John Coltrane. That said this recording is a spectacular achievement that will be of special interest to those into avant-garde jazz or other types of cutting-edge music. Recorded in June 1965, Ascension finds Coltrane fully embracing atonality and a lack of traditional structure for the span of an entire album. Dense, difficult, and uncompromising, the music is almost unbearably intense (especially when all the musicians are blowing furiously at once) and often disturbing, and it rarely lets up for 40 minutes. The large ensemble here consists of Coltrane’s regular band at the time along with some younger players associated with the free jazz movement. It features three tenors (Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp), two altos (Marion Brown, John Tchicai), two trumpets (Freddie Hubbard, Dewey Johnson), two bassists (Art Davis, Jimmy Garrison), piano (McCoy Tyner), and drums (Elvin Jones). Even for an artist as relentlessly searching as Coltrane, Ascension stands apart among his influential body of work. It will never be his most popular album, but it must be reckoned with if one is to truly understand his music and his impact on modern jazz.