JOHN COLTRANE Ascension (Verve Vault Series Edition 2026 double album 2-LP pressed on 180-gram Black Vinyl, cut from original analog tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound. Recorded on 28 June 1965 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio and released on Impulse! Records in 1966, Ascension stands as one of John Coltrane's most radical and far-reaching works - a nearly forty-minute large-ensemble performance marking his decisive embrace of the avant-garde.Produced by Bob Thiele, the session assembled eleven musicians: alongside Coltrane's tenor saxophone, trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Dewey Johnson; saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown, John Tchicai and Archie Shepp; pianist McCoy Tyner; bassists Art Davis and Jimmy Garrison; and drummer Elvin Jones. The music alternates between densely textured collective improvisation and extended solo statements, conjuring what critics have described as a hurricane of violent, searching sound. Initially controversial for its intensity and freedom, Ascension has since been recognised as a landmark of modern jazz and a defining statement of the emerging free-jazz movement. This Verve Vault double album 2-LP presents both complete takes - Edition I and Edition II - together on LP for the first time, allowing direct comparison of two organic, ever-changing performances of the same piece and affirming the work's enduring place in Coltrane's artistic legacy. Gatefold picture sleeve with hype sticker, factoory sealed).