June 8, 2015
ShapeShifter Lab, Brooklyn, NY

Michael Eaton, Sean Sonderegger, James Brandon Lewis - tenor saxophone
Michaël Attias, Daniel Carter - alto saxophone
Briggan Krauss - baritone saxophone
Dan Brantigan, Jonathan Finlayson - trumpet
Graham Haynes - trumpet with FX
Anthony Coleman - piano
Ava Mendoza - guitar
Adam Minkoff - electric bass
Calvin Weston, Nick Anderson - drums

This was the second time for me to perform John Coltrane's Ascension live, but this occasion was in honor of the 50th anniversary of the original studio album. I enlisted the help of bassist Adam Minkoff, with whom I have performed more than anyone else in New York City (most especially on his epic rock octet arrangement of Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring"), to co-present the music with me. Minkoff and I have a free improvised trio with drummer Nick Anderson, which formed the core nexus of the rhythm section.

We assembled a rather remarkable group of personalities featuring some of New York's strongest free improvisers, along a special guest from Philadelpha, Calvin Weston on drums (Ornette Coleman's Primetime, Marc Ribot, the Lounge Lizards, etc). There was no rehearsal aside from a brief 10-minute talk down of the one page score I created. I cued and conducted Coltrane's original tonal centers, and with a larger group than Coltrane's original studio band, Minkoff's presence on bass was invaluable for smooth transitions.

Press:

"Coltrane's rip-snort, wham-bam, OMG opus was recorded fifty years ago this month, and it still packs the shit-just-got-real punch that it did back in the day. A collective roar from a feisty large ensemble, it embraced both political and spiritual overtones when it shook the world in the mid-Sixties. Saxophonist Michael Eaton and bassist Adam Minkoff have gathered their own mega-squad of improvisers adept at outcat exclamation, and from Michael Attias' alto to Briggan Krauss' bari, it should be intriguing to see where their pointed polyphony leads them. One thing's certain: the physical punch of the 14-member outfit will be its own reward. This is body music and head music. Fans of superb pianist Anthony Coleman might want to circle the date. He doesn't get his McCoy on very often." -- Jim Macnie, Village Voice

"'Ascension,' John Coltrane’s mid-1960s supernova, was a work of density and extremity, impossible to replicate under any conditions. But evocation is another story, and this tribute has enough heavy improvisers — like the trumpeters Graham Haynes and Jonathan Finlayson, the saxophonists James Brandon Lewis and Briggan Krauss, and the drummer G. Calvin Weston — to generate intrigue. Setting things in motion are Mr. Eaton, who will play tenor saxophone, and Mr. Minkoff, on electric bass." -- Nate Chinen, NY Times