Ascension (studio album)
by John Coltrane
eBay
Condition: Used
eBay
Condition: Used
John Coltrane bestography
Ascension is ranked 5th best out of 88 albums by John Coltrane on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by John Coltrane is A Love Supreme which is ranked number 74 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 15,677.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Upcoming concerts
Listen to Ascension on YouTube
Ascension track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Ascension rankings
Leonard
JR
craola
baystateoftheart
RockyRaccoon
Hayden
KitchenSink
Patman360Ascension collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 105 members
Ascension ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 327 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 35 hours ago | Araldo | 718 | 83/100 |
| ! | 3 days ago |  DommeDamian | 7,286 | 49/100 |
| ! | 09/28/2025 02:07 | BurndenAce | 1,007 | 77/100 |
| ! | 05/24/2025 18:09 | duelek | 1,584 | 76/100 |
| ! | 03/25/2025 00:42 |  nocturnes | 39 | 87/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.2/100, a mean average of 76.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 19.0.
Ascension favourites
Showing latest 20 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 44 members
Ascension comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 18 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
An excellent album that I feel is not quite the classic everyone says it is, at least for me. It seems almost like Coltrane pushed the avant-garde jazz past the breaking point, to where it becomes more of a noise album than a music album. It is still great playing, but it is not an album that I would come back to, because I personally prefer a lyrical balance within the avant-garde or free jazz styles. 9/10!
Jboy56 08/29/2022 12:41 | #288998
Hendrix of the sax..
A crazy experience that really crams as much instrumentation into your ears as possible. In some places this works perfectly and in others it sounds a bit like a mess. The performances are incredible and it is a joy just to hear these masters of their craft play. This is very consistent throughout and so it gives us a lot to enjoy. However, it is the content where this album struggles as it is a bit confused in places and is quite a tough listen. I can see how this would make the album a masterpiece for some listeners but to me it doesn't work. Overall, I love the playing but can't get past the craziness that would allow me to appreciate this record more.
America, land of the free (jazz) and home of the brave (jazz?)
Somewhere between heaven and headache.
Fischman 02/16/2019 22:32 | #232063
Brilliant expression or just disjointed cacophony? I can see the argument for both. I lean closer to "brilliant," but there's no doubt there's some mindless rambling in there as well.
pretty much mindblowing
I never knew Jazz was this amazing! And it looks like its not just Trane playing. These guys are awesome!
Wow
Where to go from A Love Supreme? Right up on to heaven. The music here is so beautiful. Every instrument is given it's time to "speak" its praises until it is consumed by the others in a giant "chorus", until they all end in a glorious final rapture that makes me think of porcelain staircases and of angels.
Your feedback for Ascension
A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
