Ascension | 
 enlarge | Creator: John Coltrane
Category: Music
Buy Used: $51.04
Used (2) from $51.04
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 792260
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
EAN: 4988005403926
ASIN: B000AA7DU0
Release Date: October 4, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: PLEASE READ FIRST!!!IMPORTANT!!! IF you are purchasing DVD, VHS, or BOOK please see Amazon description for LANGUAGE, REGION and Format FIRST!!! If you are purchasing DVD or VHS, PAL FORMAT WILL NOT PLAY ON US PLAYER.REGION 2 WILL NOT PLAY.PLEASE DO NOT BUY if you don't have either multisystem or PAL player. Please verify amazon description of LANGUAGE, BOOK or DVD COULD BE IN GERMAN. PLEASE SEE AMAZON PRODUCT DESCRIPTION AND PICTURE FIRST!!!Delivery time 2-3 weeks.
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| Customer Reviews:
It'll blow your mind, even if you hate it... April 27, 2008
finulanu (Here, there, and everywhere)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Here is where Coltrane makes the Leap and dives horn-first into free jazz (though I prefer the term "fire music"). This makes A Love Supreme look like Rod Stewart singing the Great American Songbook. This is strong stuff, so if you don't hold your free jazz well, a whiff may kill you. But if you do, you probably will love, and maybe even already own this album. It is intense. It's made up of two different takes of the title song, each of them spanning about forty minutes. The story was that Coltrane recorded two takes, released one to the general public, but quickly withdrew it and substituted the other. I prefer the second slightly, but that's only because it's got a piano solo at the end, and the more McCoy Tyner I can hear in my life, the better. Both takes of it rule, though. For the uninitiated, here's what Coltrane did. He got six other horn players, including fellow tenormen and avant-garde luminaries Archie Shepp and Pharaoh Sanders, together and pretty much had them go insane. The "chorus" sections to this piece pretty much consist of the seven horn players improvising loudly together while Elvin Jones thrashes his drums mercilessly. And the individual solos are pretty abrasive themselves especially the ones from Sanders, who just plain mutilates his sax. But the thing you have to understand about this piece is that it's not just noisemaking without a purpose. John Coltrane's way too smart for that, and let's face it, he takes his art too seriously for it. No, it's pretty clear they're trying to get some very complex emotions across. I've heard it's supposed to be a simulation of the race riots of the era, and I can definitely see where that's coming from. The "chorus" sections definitely seem like some form of conflict to me. And that's why I love this album so much. It's an expression of emotion in its purest state, a striking social statement that definitely resonates today, even if the race riots are long past. You can still feel the album forty years later, and I think it can move anyone, even though I definitely understand why free jazz ain't everyone's cup of meat. I mean, I'm not trying to take the ivory tower approach, because that's the wrong way to go about music. But this is not accessible in the faintest. So you may love it, you may hate it, and if you hate it, that's cool too. Still, at least give it a chance. One thing's for sure: you won't be unmoved.
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