John Coltrane's "Ascension"
January 29, 2025 5:53 AM   Subscribe

"But what I would suggest is that John Coltrane never made rawer, realer, rip-your-face-off-and-pull-out-who-you-really-are art than his infamous Ascension date from June 28, 1965. In its tonal ferocity, it’s merciless and yet, paradoxically, laden with that self-same quality that is the balm for all human suffering: mercy sprung from the well of compassion, understanding, and intimate communal byplay." - Colin Fleming, Jazz Times
After nearly thirty-five years, it is still impossible to speak of Ascension without a word of caution. It is the single most vexatious work in jazz history. So, a word of caution: It can't hurt you. In fact, contrary to its reputation as the apogee in '60s free-jazz rants, the piece goes down as smooth as bourbon, at least after you've heard it a few times and can no longer be intimidated by its shock tactics... Coming to the end of the music's long night, you may blink at the silence in stunned relief and inscrutable rapture. Or you may not. In any case, return visits to Ascension reveal it as decreasingly monolithic. Fake notes—cackles and hollers and shrieks and squawks—are still notes, and fortuitous harmonies and melodies, forged in the cauldron of chance, will on repeated exposure seem as preordained as composed music. - Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz
posted by Lemkin (12 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
Gorgeous record with a well-deserved rap of being semi-impenetrable to a lot of folks. I've never had a great opinion of "free jazz," but with Coltrane it's immediately clear that he's reaching for something with his art that he knows is at best elusive and more likely impossible to grab. It's like advanced math, the spirits, and a goddamn food fight showed up to squabble over WHAT IT ALL MEANS.

If you don't have context here and give this a listen, know that there are a lot of great jazz records from that era that can be more free and disorganized (some of Ornette Coleman's work) or more dense and difficult (like I find Andrew Hill's stuff). And if you miss the more traditional structures of music, there is some great abstract work in both composition and playing from the Miles Davis quintet of that era and some of the early 60s Charles Mingus albums.

In short, jazz is a land of contrasts. Happy listening, and thanks to OP for putting this up.
posted by GamblingBlues at 8:12 AM on January 29 [4 favorites]


I once read somewhere that this album starts at the intensity level most compositions finish at... and only keeps getting more intense. I think the author compared it to Wagner.

It's definitely one of Coltrane (John)'s most difficult works. And an early example of noise jazz, something that became more prevalent as the decade wore on (ESP-Disk', anyone?)

One of my greatest record shopping finds was pulling a clean OP gatefold copy of this album out of a junk shop for $1. Probably pushing 30 years ago now.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 8:58 AM on January 29 [3 favorites]


It's definitely one of Coltrane (John)'s most difficult works.

What might be a Coltrane album that might be better for a newbie?
posted by splitpeasoup at 10:54 AM on January 29


What might be a Coltrane album that might be better for a newbie?

I would recommend John Coltrane My Favourite Things.
In the title track he takes the Sound of Music piece and stretches it out, and you can hear his brilliance in what I understand is a very accessible recording. An edited version became a hit as well.

Also, thank you for posting this, I used to listen to this on headphones in the dark and lose myself in it. My sense was that you had to go through it, while most music washes over you, you had to go through this piece to really listen to it.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:17 AM on January 29 [3 favorites]


What might be a Coltrane album that might be better for a newbie?

If you mean something more in a "mainstream jazz" style, any of his albums released in 1959 or earlier fit that bill. Blue Train, Bags & Trane, The Cats, Cannonball & Coltrane, Soultrane are a few examples.

If you're look for some of his more exploratory but still accessible work, then Phlegmco(tm)'s suggestion is a good one.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:21 AM on January 29 [2 favorites]


this is a record i had to listen to over & over, with dawning recognition of its beauty & power. at first, i didn't even like it (& i listen to a lot of way-out stuff). i would say, a lot of free jazz depends on momentarily creating cadences which are played with & then mutated--or discarded--& it's not that hard for a practiced listener to recognize them in real-time. but with this record, coltrane is not working with cadences but with textures & clashes of textures. he's utilizing implications & absences, & it's the knowledge of his deep foundation that is what grows on you with every further listen. poets who are wedded to the unspeakable are occasionally allowed a place in poetry, painters make a fetish of their love of mysteriousness, but musicians who go to the same place only get a sad, knowing smile from "musician's musicians" because if this is also music, everything they've spent a lifetime learning is--wrong.
posted by graywyvern at 2:48 PM on January 29 [2 favorites]


What might be a Coltrane album that might be better for a newbie?

His 1963 standards album Ballads is part of his mellow phase, it's pretty listenable and one of my faves. Everything else gets more heavy.

Of course, many listeners first became familiar with him from Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.
posted by ovvl at 4:23 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]


My Favorite Things is a good starting point, and even better if you're sufficiently familiar with the songs' original performances to have a sense of what he's doing to them.

I'd also suggest, without trying to be contrarian, A Love Supreme. The gentle swing rhythm that underpins it is seductive. You're allowed to half-listen to it if that's all you can spare, and then if you want to give it your full attention later you'll find so much more. Personally I found this much easier to grok than most of his late-50s/early-60s albums but we all find our own paths. It's got a monster reputation that it doesn't really deserve, and I believe this is because we've all grown up in a world that had already been changed by this album -- it's a part of our vernacular because we've spent most of our listening time enjoying music by thousands of artists who've been influenced by A Love Supreme.

And finally, check out some of the explainers of "Giant Steps" on youtube. For something so angular it's surprisingly singable, and the melody will stick in your head. Having a visual guide to how Coltrane is, in a sense, playing a musical game helps enrichen the experience.
posted by at by at 4:42 PM on January 29 [4 favorites]


Giant Steps has "tunes". So that might be good for a total jazz novice.

But ultimately I'd go with A Love Supreme. It's digestibly brief. And, honestly, anyone who can't hear what's luminous in it probably isn't ever going to grok Coltrane.
posted by Lemkin at 5:23 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]


If you are the sort of person for whom “introduce me to John Coltrane” means “show me what the big deal is, show me the monumental, mind-expanding stuff” I would also say you can just listen to A Love Supreme. I think it’s considerably more accessible than Ascension.

If you’re looking to start a little mellower than that, other answers have you.
posted by atoxyl at 5:32 PM on January 29 [3 favorites]


The album he did with Johnny Hartman, Is in my opinion some of his deepest work
behind and beside a singer.
posted by hortense at 10:52 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]


Great, great album, definitely not as difficult as its reputation would suggest - always something somewhat melodious going on amidst the churn. Oddly enough I came to this one (and free jazz generally) from much more abstract/abrasive music (maybe that's why Ascension seems more gentle and lyrical than chaotic to me), via noise groups such as Hijokaidan and Borbetomagus and then contemporary Japanese avant sax types (Masayoshi Urabe, Harutaka Mochizuki, etc) and then just kept going back in time...
posted by remembrancer at 8:49 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]


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