DESCRIPTION:
Michael Eaton and Adam Minkoff Present John Coltrane's Ascension

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

Poster photography and design by Dani Gros.
Video editing by Norihiro Kikuta.

"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