Dude, that's nuts. I am just starting to study jazz now - Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, etc., and I want to now check out Ascension... How do you do an entire album without chord changes? Inversions of the same chord?
I don't even think I fully understand what exactly is going on in Ascension - there's all sorts of weird polyrythms on the drums, just a piano backing, and about 9 horns just killin it in, I think, one given mode. Each horn player takes a solo or two at some point where the other horns chill out for a little while, and then they all come back eventually...it's pretty wild shit. They recorded two versions - one clocks in at 40:56, the other 38:30. I wouldn't go at it just yet - fully assimilate yourself to Duke Ellington, then move to Monk (and never leave Monk because he's a fucking genius), check out Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, then look into some Coltrane - but even then, Ascension should NOT be your first album of his something a little more standard (his earlier stuff) would be a good intro - 'Coltrane' is an album that proves he's as technically and improvisationally as capable as any saxophonist playing at the time...and then later stuff just destroys any boundaries you'd think a horn player has.
Dude, I didn't know you were so in to jazz. That's awesome. We should definitely jam on some jazz stuff some time. It's a ton of fun. DO me a favor: I sent you an e-mail, did you get it? If not, my email address is Matthew_Barletta@student.uml.edu . Send me a list of jazz albums you think I should pick up to start getting in to that stuff more. I would love to hear your input. Right now I'm learning "Minority" by Gigi Gryce. Great tune. It's just hard when my teacher is assigning me all these songs and I've never heard them before, and he expects me to nail the rhythms on the chords.
Oh, and if you're interested in checking out the most ridiculous drummer I've ever heard, see if you can find anything with John Blackwell on drums. I think that's his name. He typically drums for Prince when he's on tour, but I saw an instructional video of his that blew my mind. For real.
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