Ascending, by Clear Path Ensemble

Ascending

by Clear Path Ensemble

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1.	Tongue Rhythm 05:57	buy track
2.	Train of Thought 07:32	buy track
3.	Apse 03:57	buy track
4.	Saying Something 06:15	buy track
5.	Ascending 05:37	buy track
6.	Epicycle 06:07	buy track

about

Ascending is the fourth album from Clear Path Ensemble. In the past, bandleader Cory Champion tracked his first three albums, Clear Path Ensemble (2020), Solar Eclipse (2022), and Black Sand (2025) with a cast of some of the finest jazz musicians in Aotearoa New Zealand. This time around, he chose a different approach: improvising with, and in response to, himself, building a series of layered sonic landscapes recorded over a single day in the same room.

Opening in the spirit of American composers Steve Reich and Laraaji’s late '70s to early ‘80s minimalist, new-age, and ambient explorations, the album begins with glistening, hypnotic figures on ‘Tongue Rhythm’. Softer and more watery, ‘Train of Thought’ blends lush chords and rolling percussion into a reflective soundscape. Shades of mid-70s Miles Davis and the Pacific sunset visions of Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman flow through ‘Say Something’ and the title track, before the album closes with the celestial memory-lane melodies of ‘Epicycle’.

Recorded solo, with the exception of ‘Saying Something’, featuring piano, Rhodes and vibes courtesy of Champion’s longtime collaborator, Daniel Hayles, Ascending’s six compositions represent a tasteful subtraction from the spiritual/psychedelic jazz, space music, ‘70s ECM jazz-funk, and electronica that coloured Clear Path Ensemble’s first five years.

Ultimately, Ascending is a window into the soul of an artist looking inward as he reaches into the infinite and the sublime.

credits

released May 27, 2026

Cory Champion - vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, marimba, bass metallophone, percussion, piano, Rhodes.

Daniel Hayles - piano, Rhodes, vibraphone (B1).

All music composed by Cory Champion, except Saying Something composed by Cory Champion and Daniel Hayles.

Artwork by Jade Townsend. My bird (2025), courtesy of Season.

Recorded on April 25, 2025 at Ahumairangi Studio, Massey University Wellington, with support from Creative New Zealand.

Produced by Cory Champion
Engineered by Dan Goodwin and Mike Gibson
Mixed by Cory Champion
Mastered by Downbeat Mastering
Design by Samuel Forbes

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about

Clear Path Ensemble New Zealand

DIY contemporary jazz meets electronic production from some of New Zealand’s most revered musicians in the Wellington scene.

clearpathensemble.com

discography

Ascending

May 2026
Black Sand

May 2025
Workshop

Oct 2024
Solar Eclipse

Sep 2022

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Ascending

by Clear Path Ensemble

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Streaming + Download

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$60 NZD or more