Ornette Coleman Music

"In All Languages" is a split-in-two CD where the 'old guys' play a bunch of songs, and the 'new guys' play a lot of the same songs. Ornette Coleman's idea is to bridge the gap between rock and jazz styles, though the end result is the 'old guys' sound a lot more vital than the 'new guys'. The CD starts with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins accompanying Ornette Coleman. More of the songs are taken at a very fast tempo, which makes the music sound boppish. It sounds great, and there's a lot of energy in the ten songs with the old quartet. Of the first ten, "Peace Warriors", "Africa...", "Word For Bird", and "Cloning" are really energetic, only "Feet Music" and the first title track lag. "Space Church" is more impressionistic, and does the most to close the gap between the two halves of the CD. "Latin Genetics", "Sound Manual", and "Mothers Of The Veil" are taken at a middle-of-the-road tempo, and you can hear the freedom in the playing much better.

The second half of the CD (a big half -- 13 of 23 songs and 37 of 71 minutes) opens with "Music News". It's a good start, Ornette sounds inspired and the guitars are chittering away. The big disadvantage is the recorded sound. It sounds like they band is in a basketball arena - there's a lot of reverb and the bass is mushy. Plus, the drum sound is dated, Denardo Coleman may have used electronic drums which haven't aged well. Either that, or they got acoustic drums to sound electronic. "Mothers Of The Veil" is played at a similar tempo to the first version, though the rhythm is less keyed in. "The Art Of Love Is Happiness" sounds a bit like it could have been on the first half of the CD. "Latin Genetics" sounds more Caribbean the second time through. The harmodolic rhythms on "Today..." and "Feet Music" get disjointed, though they're separated by the aptly named "Listen Up". "Cloning" is somewhat like the first version, though with guitarists Charles Ellerbee and Bern Nix percolating away, the sound is quite different. The second version of the title track is extremely different. The band sets up a stomping beat, and it makes a nice setting for the melody. "Biosphere" is a fast blast. "Story Tellers" starts with a Jamaaladeen Tacuma bass solo, then gets into some pretty Coleman saxophone. The CD ends on a furious version of "Peace Warrior". The second half of the CD is musically pretty good, but the cavernous sound takes away from the music.

This is a good CD, all Ornette Coleman fans (i.e. of any vintage) should get this, and almost anyone else would have their ears opened, since it's almost an Ornette Coleman career sampler.

Since my introduction to Ornette Coleman's art, I haven't been able to get enough recordings of his various groups and projects. This album brought so many things together for me and offered a new understanding of Harmelodic music. Hearing the two varied perspectives of the same concepts between Prime Time of 1987 and the original quartet of 1957 was astonishing. Hearing the varience from his original quartet to his experimentation with the two bass players and extravegent rhythm section including one my favorite bass players of all time: Jamaaladeen Tacuma was almost more than I could handle. If you're a true lover of harmelodic music or free jazz or the avant-garde, you've got to have this album. If you have this album or are getting it and like the stylings of Jamaaladeen Tacuma as much as I do, check out his other albums (Dreamscape is one of my favorites).

I keep coming back to this recording, finding more magic in. Great playing from both bands. I learn more each time I hear it.

It's great to hear Ornette's classic quartet (Haden, Cherry, Higgins) get together again. The other disk features some of the same compositions played by Ornette's funk group "Prime Time." This is great music--the 4 stars indicates only that it cannot match the achievement of the original Atlantic recordings of 1959-1960.

I need to chime in here to counteract the review below. This album (along with Ornette's gritty collaboration with Pat Metheny on 1986's Song X which I'm sure sent many a Metheny fan to change the record during dinner parties across the world...those not hip enough to know anything about Orntte anyway)was a personal starting point in developing a deeper understanding of the avant garde movement. I had heard Free Jazz, but wasn't prepared to digest all it had to say at the time. In In all Languages (and Don Cherry's wonderful Art Deco)I found a basis for appreciation of what Ornette, Cherry, Haden and Higgins represented to the history of the music.

The Prime Time Cuts of roughly the same song list gave me further insight into a musician not willing to stand pat at a time when young Jazz revisionists were taking the movement backwards (no disrespect to the great work of the Marsalis brothers intended). 1989's Virgin Beauty doesn't quite live up to the Prime Time magic here.

So, while arguably not the greatest of Ornette's efforts...probably not as good even as Tone Dialing (for Prime Time fans) or either of the recent Sound Museums (for acoutic Ornette fans), and certainly not the statement that Something Else! or the Shape of Jazz to Come were in "the begining," In All Languages is a VERY worthwhile ride!

Long live Ornette and all hail the continuing growth of appreciation for Eric Dolphy. Peace

With his milestone recordings of the late fifties Ornette opened the gate to a whole new world which is still being explored today as it will be tomorrow. While the original quartet with its Atlantic output is rightly regarded as his most important achievement, these two albums rank among his most successful and accessible work, as uncompromising as they are.The pieces contained in here are mostly simple, riff-based fragments, a basis for improvisation. But the "Broadway Blues" on the accompanying "New York Is Now"-CD is a fine example of Ornette the tunesmith. Writing an easy melodic line is often underrated or disregarded. But Ornette has always been a composer with the very rare ability to put it brief and,even more,to fill a lot of music into his pieces. These two CDs once more lay proof to the fact that his music is, besides all other qualities, lasting,i.e.it'll never get dated. One reason is, I suppose, evident here: Ornette knows his roots and is the born leader - giving his colleagues ample space to develop their own ideas and to contribute to the music in a vital way and yet making them to play HIS music. All musicians on these albums are in fine form and play with inspiration.Dewey displays his embodied tenor tone very pleasingly, Jimmy Garrison's bass supports and solos simultaneously and giant drummer Elvin Jones is a category of himself.I'd say that Ornette rarely played with so much power as when driven by Elvin.And despite this line-up no allusions to Trane creep up and go way into the music. Shortly after John Coltrane's death, a rather unexpected atmosphere. If simple were easy, why are there so few successors? The album covers are quite good too!

I believe the main lesson being taught by Ornette to the world has nothing to do with his "Harmolodic approach". The thing we learn from Coleman is to be ourselves. Here he uses Coltrane's rhythm section, but does not even remotely sound like anything but himself - starting a tune with a short riff, in unison with the tenor of Dewey Redman, then diving into an extended improvisation - playing with few limitations but with pefect control.
The two versions of "Check out time" are an example to Coleman's truly free approach. The opening riff is basically identical, but where on the first version Coleman enters with bursting energy, on the second version the opening is followed by a Redman's long notes over a slowing rhythm. This gives the rest of the piece a whole different feel.
On the Love Call versions Ornette plays trumpet and violin. While I prefer his alto playing, it is good to hear him explore the different sounds and possibilities.
That's Ornette. His mind is always working, unbound by anything other than his own musical sensibilities. He knows his African American tradition - but is not limited by it or any other tradition. It is not easy for a musician to stray from a tradition - it is much easier to stay in the cozy confinements of an existing style/tradition. But the strong survive - as Coleman has.

An excellent one, folks. Ornette holds on to Dewey & borrows Jimmy Garrison & Elvin Jones from Trane for more airborne excursions (see New York is Now!). The disciplined playing of Jimmy & Elvin keep the horns from wandering too far out in these riff driven compositions. & the album almost doubles in length from the LP release with two alternate takes & a bonus track. Ornette picks up his trumpet only once, & Dewey's playing is spiritually right on time. The Love in these calls is evident.

Bob Rixon, WFMU

Guitarist James Blood Ulmer will probably always be associated with Ornette Coleman. Blood's was part of a now legendary (and never recorded) quartet of Coleman's and featured Coleman on his debut record. It seemed it was only a matter of time until an album of Coleman tunes was recorded by Ulmer, and "Music Speaks Louder Than Words", from 1997 is that album. Unusually, it's also something else now and again too.

Ulmer is backed by two bands-- acoustic bassist Calvin Jones and drummer Rashied Ali or electric bassist Amin Ali, drummer Aubrey Dayle and keyboardist Michael Mustafa Ulmer. The material with Jones and Ali really shines-- Jones sticks close the model of Charlie Haden on bass but Ali is a monster, all over the place, freely associating and providing a great framework on which Ulmer can work-- look no further than opener "Lonely Woman" for a fine example of this. Jones patiently offers anchor, Ulmer slips in and out of tempo, and Ali provides a framework where Ulmer's playing works perfectly. The electric stuff is a bit different-- they tackle a pair of Coleman tunes and three Ulmer originals. The Coleman songs are both fantastic-- "Elizabeth" gets a nice straight reading and "Cherry, Cherry" (with Jones guesting) featuring a fine free structure that really seems to get the point of Coleman's music.

Now to be clear, I love Blood Ulmer's singing, and these are vocal pieces. I think "Blues Preacher" is one of the really great records, but this is a mixed batch. Admittedly, "I Can't Take It Anymore" is ok, it's a straight blues, neither fantastic nor horrible, but "Dance in the Dark" and "Rap Man" are both pretty much train wrecks. Ulmer mumbles his way through, dominated in volume by the backing instruments. Worse still, they're both really bad. If this were on a major label, I'd assume the label made him do it, but I can't for the life of me figure out why they're on this record.

I'm giving this three stars, but it's a tough rating to issue out, the Coleman covers are so strong it's hard not to love this record, but there's such a mixed batch of stuff on here, it's hard to think highly of it.

The good news is that when this record is good, it's GREAT. The bad news is that when it's not good, it's really, really not good. With six cuts of Ornette Coleman covers and a truly great set of side musicians, this could have been a near-perfect recording (definitely 5 stars). Unfortunately, Ulmer includes three originals of sung r&b songs (these aren't terrible songs, it's just that Ulmer's lyrics and singing can't begin to compete with his own incredible guitar playing). On the instrumentals, Ulmer's harmolodic playing has never been better, especially on the opening cut "Lonely Woman." Ironically, the title of the recording might have informed Ulmer (let the music speak for you man, it says so much more than your words). The definitive Ulmer record is still "Tales of Captain Black," and if you can afford the import $, it comes more highly recommended.

Ornette holds on to Dewey & borrows Jimmy Garrison & Elvin Jones from Trane's side of the tracks for some steamy blowing sessions (see Love Call). The disciplined playing of Jimmy & Elvin keep the horns from wandering too far out in these riff driven compositions. No attempts are made to disguise the Southwest boogie 'n' blues roots. An exceptional one-time quartet collaboration. "Garden of Souls" indeed. Four great souls & soul to spare. Essential Sixties improvisational music.

Bob Rixon

Recorded on the same dates in 1968 as "Love Call," "New York Is Now" pairs Ornette with Dewey Redman (yes, Joshua's father) on tenor sax, and two-thirds of the late 'Trane quartet (Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones). Tracks "The Garden of Souls" and "Broad Way Blues" are the stand outs, with Ornette and Dewey taking flight. My reservation at awarding a fifth star for this recording comes from the fact that this "second" pianoless quartet just doesn't quite measure up to the Atlantic group of the early 60s (Cherry, Haden and Higgins). Despite the fact that Garrsion and Elvin feed the group creative foundations to build upon, it just seems to me that Ornette is running out of new ideas. Perhaps this is why he made such drastic changes in a few years time.

I say "hidden" because Ornette fanatics have always known about this record and it's magic. However, to people just discovering Ornette this one tends to fall beneath the cracks. This point of view is a shame as everyones playing is coherent,ever shifting, and swinging. Dewey's solo intro into Garden of Souls quite frankly is worth the record alone.

Ornette Coleman is a Genius of the first Order.His Music Here is timeless&Stunning.The Music is Amazing.The Vibe is Unbelievable.

Best of MY favorite period in the career of one of the artistic geniuses of the century. Ornette. 'Nuff said.

I'll keep it brief. This is great jazz. Old Gospel track 7, the last on the album is an 18 carat free jazz gem. I went over to my stereo to check out which track it was, just to know the name. It was Old Gospel and 4 minutes 10 seconds into the track. For a momement I feared it was coming to an end but I looked back to the cd cover which had the track at 10 minutes plus. And to my amazement in those six more minutes it just grew and grew and filled my whole apartment, not to mention my mind, body and soul with the sheer joy and intensity of being alive. Buy this cd if only for this one track.