and First Meditations (September 1965). In June 1965, Coltrane and ten other musicians recorded Ascension , a 40-minute long piece that included adventurous solos by the young avant-garde musicians (as well as Coltrane), and was controversial primarily for the collective improvisation sections that separated the solos. After recording with the quartet over the next few months, Coltrane invited Pharoah Sanders to join the band in September 1965. While Coltrane used over-blowing frequently as an emotional exclamation-point, Sanders would opt to overblow his entire solo, resulting in a constant screaming and screeching in the altissimo range of the instrument. Free jazz quickly found a foothold in Europe—in part because musicians such as Ayler, Taylor, Steve Lacy and Eric Dolphy spent extended periods there. A distinctive European contemporary jazz (often incorporating elements of free jazz but not limited to it) flourished also because of the emergence of musicians (such as John Surman , Zbigniew Namyslowski , Albert Mangelsdorff , Kenny Wheeler and Mike Westbrook ) anxious to develop new approaches reflecting their national and regional musical cultures and contexts. Ever since the 1960s various creative centers of jazz have been developing in Europe. A good example of this is the creative jazz scene in Amsterdam. Following the work of veteran drummer Han Bennink and pianist Misha Mengelberg, musicians started to explore free music by collectively improvising until a certain form (melody, rhythm, or even famous song) is found by the band. Jazz Critic Kevin Whithead documented the free jazz scene in Amsterdam