Rabshakeh

It's an interesting one. Part of what makes Ascension what it is for me is just how wonky the cast list is. On the original, neither trumpeter is right at all, the rhythm section is one step away from downing tools (except for when Hubbard plays, when suddenly they're all nicey nicey), and some of the saxophone players were really just randoms at the time, like Marion Brown. There are gaping holes like no Don Cherry and no Gato Barbieri. I would like to discover that the new CryptoAscension had Hannibal Marvin Peterson and Alan Shorter on trumpet, or at least Ted Curson or Barbara Donald. I think that the failure to include stronger free trumpet is probably for me the weakest part of the original Ascension, both in terms of music and legacy - given what a star making record it was for the saxophone players, the lack of decent free trumpet effectively buries the instrument in the free context, leaving Don Cherry as the only high profile avant trumpet player until Lester Bowie. Cryptoscension is our chance to fix that, and get names like Alan Shorter stuffing the "spiritual jazz" sections of thousands of RSD sale bins. For piano and drums, it would just be players who could keep up and were willing to be noisey (e.g. Burrell and Murray?) but perhaps Bobby Few on keys, if you were willing to make the new CryptoAscension into something quite different. I really like Few in a free blowing context. For saxophone, Frank Wright would be a contender, to represent the Ayler crowd, and then Sam Rivers, doing something very different.

Keith Jarrett – Sun Bear Concerts Piano Solo Recorded In Japan (ECM, 1978)

Need to get that one out.

Kai Winding + J.J. Johnson + Bennie Green + Willie Dennis And Featuring John Lewis & Charlie Mingus – Four Trombones (Debut, 1953)

This had occurred to me too. It breathes very much the same air. Also the Aphrodite’s Child record 666. i am less in love with it. It’s a record that I enjoy despite it being, in my view, probably a bit too of it’s time.

JAS – Volcano (1985) First time streaming this, which seems to be a very obscure bit of 1970s style modal / spiritual jazz that somehow came into existence in the materialist 1980s. Oddly, they managed to get a Matti Klarwein cover going.

Hubert Laws – In The Beginning (CTI, 1974)

I'm surprised at the lack of reminisces in this thread. Given how often groups like the Clarke Boland group show up in discussions, I had assumed that there would be lots of happy memories of seeing the big groups in this era.

Herbie Hancock – The Piano (Columbia, 1979) I have been exploring Hancock's acoustic releases from the 70s and 80s recently. Not a great deal there of the old Hancock, or the new Hancock. A strong sense of someone relearning from the basics, rather than returning from a place of growth.

Michael Mantler – No Answer (WATT, 1974)

OM – Cerberus (JAPO, 1981) My first listen to this. I found it disappointing. Less Urs Leimgruber and more Christy Doran.

Johnny Griffin - Change of Pace (Riverside, 1961)

Thanks. I'll check it out at least. Stenson with beef sounds compelling enough to at least try. They'd put Wham in 'Spiritual Jazz'.

Interesting looking list of musicians. Would you recommend it?

I would. I think it's a nice record. Everyone plays well.

Thanks. I think I found the cover art appealing, and hoped a few would be winners.

Opposite Corner – Low-High (Caprice, 1982)

Just looking at the series’ releases on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/label/772059-Jazz-I-Sverige Are any of them recommended?

Mark Helias – The Current Set (Enja, 1987)

This'un's a good'n. Obviously, this too. More than the quartet track? I enjoy a lot of Joachim Kuhn's music, but I really think that the second LP is much improved by Dudek.

Joachim Kühn – This Way Out (MPS, 1973) Double LP. I feel like the second, with Dudek, would potentially be a euro free jazz classic if it had been released on its own. Whereas the first LP is just dull.

The point was that I don't think the two older kids had power to control decision making. I think that percentages meant that it was in the hands of Ahmet.

David S. Ware Trio – Passage To Music Having just finished this excellent record: String Trio Of New York – Area Code 212

I can't stress enough how much I've enjoyed listening to the recommendations above in this thread. A lot of records I didn't know, with, overall, an extremely high quality.

Beautiful cover art.