[5] In addition, Coltrane was elected to DownBeat's Hall of Fame, putting him in the company of Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young.

[5] At the same time, in the months since A Love Supreme was recorded, Coltrane's music had become increasingly turbulent, moving further in the direction of free jazz.

[6] Coltrane had befriended saxophonist Albert Ayler, and was heavily influenced by his music;[7] meanwhile, he had also become somewhat of a father figure for a number of younger avant-garde players, some of whom would appear on Ascension.

He was in an ideal position to bring into the orbit of the avant-garde fans and musicians who had previously hesitated, been puzzled or mildly hostile.

[12] Saxophonist John Tchicai had previously recorded with Shepp as part of the New York Contemporary Five and on Four for Trane, and also sat in with Coltrane during one or more performances at the Half Note.

[16] Trumpeter Dewey Johnson had played with Marion Brown[17] and repeatedly sat in with Coltrane's group before being asked to participate in the recording of Ascension.

[18] Saxophonist Pharoah Sanders had performed with Sun Ra, whose music Coltrane admired, and had also played and practiced yogic breathing exercises with Marion Brown.

[21][22] In addition, drummer Rashied Ali, who would eventually join Coltrane's group, was invited to participate in the recording of Ascension, but passed up the opportunity, a decision he would soon come to regret.

The most obvious antecedent is Ornette Coleman's octet (or "double quartet") recording, Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, which—like Ascension—is a continuous 40-minute performance with ensemble passages and without breaks.

However, on Ascension (and unlike on Free Jazz), ensemble sections alternate with solos, which take up about equal space.

[27] Shepp also noted the influence of Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor on the recording, and concluded: "The precedent for what John did here goes all the way back to New Orleans...

[37] Jost noted that, in contrast with Free Jazz, "the central idea is not to produce a network of interwoven independent melodic lines, but dense sound complexes.

This superimposition produces rapidly moving sound-fields whose rhythmic differentiation is provided as a rule by the rhythm section, rather than coming from within.

When seven independent melodic-rhythmic lines coincide, the relationships between them lose clarity, fusing into a field of sound enlivened by irregular accentuations.

[27] Such also commented that "the roles among performers in Ascension are minimally differentiated",[42] and wrote that this approach "enables soloists and improvisers to fuse their emotions and personalities more effectively".

[42] Similarly, writer Tony Whyton stated that "Although this type of nonhierarchical experiment is typical of several collective practices in the 1960s, the role that Coltrane fulfils within the sound world of Ascension is diametrically opposed to canonical aesthetics, where the iconic genius is presented as the center of creativity and performance practice,"[43] and noted that "Coltrane's involvement in the creation of an ensemble sound is somewhat antithetical to the album's cover design, which shows the artist seated alone in quiet contemplation".

[43] Ben Ratliff wrote that the album suggested "the notion of the jazz band as community, a collective effort to make large-scale textural music rather than an exclusive, carefully structured machine",[44] and offered these comments: "Within the individual group, the leader-with-sidemen idea seemed suddenly old; a freer and more simultaneous notion of group playing was moving in.

ABC executive Alan Bergman recalled receiving an advance copy of the album prior to its release; he stated: "I listened to about five minutes...

Its relationship both to jazz tradition and also to developments in avant-garde music from Varèse to Cage's wilder disciples is clear..."[52] In a review for DownBeat, Bill Mathieu called Ascension "possibly the most powerful human sound ever recorded".

"[54] Audiences began walking out of his concerts, as they did in August 1965, at Soldier Field in Chicago following the album's recording but prior to its release.

In fact, contrary to its reputation as the apogee in '60s free-jazz rants, the piece goes down as smooth as bourbon, at least after you've heard it a few times and can no longer be intimidated by its shock tactics... Coming to the end of the music's long night, you may blink at the silence in stunned relief and inscrutable rapture.

Fake notes—cackles and hollers and shrieks and squawks—are still notes, and fortuitous harmonies and melodies, forged in the cauldron of chance, will on repeated exposure seem as preordained as composed music.

"[56] In a review for AllMusic, Sam Samuelson awarded the album five stars, and wrote: "this can be a difficult listen at first, but with a patient ear and an appreciation for the finer things in life, the reward is a greater understanding of the personal path that the artist was on at that particular time in his development.

"[2] Writing for All About Jazz, Derek Taylor admitted that his initial encounters with Ascension were difficult, but "like anything worth investigating the logic and effulgence of this work eventually started to reveal itself with repeated listenings.

He concluded: "there is a strong case to be made that Ascension is Coltrane’s best, most coherent and clearest statement of what he felt music should be for and what it could achieve.

Regarding the two Editions, they commented: "After a time, they resemble a rock formation seen from a subtly different angle, but still unmistakably the same grand and forbidding outcrop.

[59] The music produced by the members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians was frequently the result of an emphasis on a collective approach to the creation of unique textures, often using non-traditional instruments.

[61] During their 1985 United States tour, the band Minutemen played a tape of Ascension in its entirety for their audiences prior to their live sets.