It's a lot more difficult to get the hang of 'Ascension' than to get into Ornette Coleman's 'Free Jazz' or Cecil Taylor's 'Conquistador!'. Coltrane took a moderate position when it came to free jazz but 'Ascension' is just so powerful and overwhelming a statement that it can be very demanding - it's virtually 100% soul for the duration of the whole record.

I had to listen to it at least 20 times before I finally realized that 'Ascension' is just as great as Coltrane thought it was.

Thanks a lot for the Temple University link. I'll check it out soon!

This could be utter gibberish and nothing more than a tell-tale clue of my poor understanding of jazz, but to me it seems that whatever Ornette Coleman wanted to express with Free Jazz lies in its form whereas Coltrane's Ascension uses this format to express more complex thoughts.

When you speak of "what he wanted to express," do you mean feelings rather than ideas?

And by form do you mean structure?

And by format, do you mean not structure, but rather the free jazz genre?

By "complex thoughts," do you mean something more rational than emotions?

I'm currently listening to the live in Japan album.
Right now I'm 12 minutes in the bass solo that opens 'Crescent', which is sounding really super!

Woohoo! After 15 minutes of a somewhat less interesting bass solo - or am I just in a different mood today - Trane has just started to play the first chords of 'My favorite things'. 43 more minutes to go!
And I still don't even really recognise the tune!

Okay, I just finished listening to live in Japan.
More than 4 hours for only 6 tunes.
It's obvious that this isn't an instant pleaser.

It will take some time for me to catch up with it.
Right now I have the idea that most of the music more or less just passed me by.
What stood out most for me - a bit to my own suprise - was Alice Coltrane's piano playing.