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Rating:
If "A Love Supreme" was Coltrane's gift to God who inspired him, the subsequent "Ascension" is an immense descent into the inferno from which the great John, along with about a dozen great musicians, tries to ascend to see the light...
A metalhead friend of mine described "Ascension" as an album more satanic than the black metal and similar genres he usually listens to... In fact, it truly is: I happened to fall asleep listening to this hell; after fifteen minutes, I woke up, shocked, in a cold sweat... Something like that only happened to me with the desperate cries present in "Revolution 9" by the Beatles.
There isn't much to say regarding the tracks, there are only two versions of the same piece "Ascension". Forty and thirty-eight minutes of whistles, screams, desperate solos with trumpets and saxophones attempting to "ascend" on impossible notes that are not played, but rather shouted as if someone is torturing the instruments or musicians. All interspersed with moments of comprehensive improvisation on a very simple, almost basic theme, which leaves you completely disoriented...
Noteworthy is the beautiful bass duet, a duet between Davis and Garrison, one with the bow and the other plucked, very interesting; and the always innovative and never banal drumming of Elvin Jones...
Very important for Coltrane's career (it marks his definitive turn towards free), not at the levels of "A Love Supreme" or "Giant Steps", but excellent nonetheless. Not recommended for the faint of heart... :-)
Tracklist
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