Ascension

It's honestly quite hard to believe how genuinely phenomenal John Coltrane's Ascension is. It's 40 minutes of pure chaos while still feeling extremely contained and controlled within its own orchestration. There's not a single dull moment on here, every musician gives it their all and every single one of their individual solos is fantastic. There's such an overwhelmingly imposing energy radiating from this album, and it seems larger than life when you actually listen to it. I find it hard to believe that this is actually something that exists, actually something that was performed. It's an album that doesn't just demand your entire attention, but rather convinces and forces you to listen to this grand experience, but you wont regret giving in and letting it immerse you in its freaky but spiritual world of chaos. The drumming on this album is what keeps it going, but the way it shifts and changes throughout is what makes it stand out among the crowd of other Free, Avant-Garde and Spiritual Jazz albums.

I haven't heard enough of his discography yet, but my god, I can't imagine anything ever topping this. This is easily a top ten Jazz record for me, maybe even top five. Entrancing, gorgeous, perplexing and absolutely genius... it's something that only happens once in a lifetime.