Ornette Coleman Music

Great tunes that we're all still playing more than 40 years later. This is one of the seminal early albums that spawned some of his later, even more memorable work a few years later: Shape of Jazz to Come, This is Our Music, Change of the Century, etc. The approach to chordless playing isn't as refined as it would become later on, but, it's good to keep in mind that a lot of the tunes Ornette was writing at the time were based on popular tune harmonies like I Got Rhythm and Out of Nowhere. If you ask me, Ornette hadn't fully abandoned traditional harmony at the time of this recording. Hence, Walter Norris' piano playing, while retrospectively incongruous with the kind of chordless playing that has defined most of Ornette's career, fits fine for my ears in the context of this recording. While I don't think he would have sat well with Broken Shadows or Beauty is a Rare Thing, Norris' bop lines sound good here. Check out some of the bop influence in Don Cherry's blowing too!

Ornette Coleman generated quite a stir when he appeared on the jazz scene, although listening to his debut record nearly fifty years later, it's actually quite difficult to understand. "Something Else!!!!" actually sounds quite conventional and tame to modern ears, certainly not like the leap forward that his Atlantic debut, "The Shape of Jazz to Come" was.

A lot of this probably has to do with the band-- while Coleman (playing his trademark white plastic alto sax) is accompanied by his then-usual frontline partner Don Cherry on trumpet, his rhythm section-- pianist Walter Norris, bassist Don Payne, and drummer Billy Higgins-- play within conventional constraints. Higgins' place in this is actually quite interesting to hear, given how advanced his drumming would be on that Atlantic debut. As a result of this conventional rhythm section performance, there are implied changes on the pieces. Coleman plays far more conventionally than he usually does, and when he does venture into his style of bending the notes or trying to force the rhythm section to follow him (as on "Jayne"), they don't. Net result-- Coleman introduces tension when playing the way that makes sense to him, and as a leader, he (and to a lesser extent, Cherry) is in total opposition to the rest of the band.

The music itself is decent enough-- most of the pieces are blues forms of some sort or another, somewhat advanced at times, but by and large pretty straightforward, and its pleasant enough, but similar to Cecil Taylor's early records, there's little indication of what advancements he'd make in the very near future. Coleman has indicated in books that the songs on here were written several years beforehand-- if this is the case, it explains their relative unadvanced state. Still, it's a quite listenable record, and it's a decent album, but it's better as a historical document than anything else. Interested parties in Coleman's music are encouraged to check out his work on Atlantic first (in particular "The Shape of Jazz to Come") before coming to look for this album.

I had this for years on tape, mislaid it, & now just got the CD. It's automatically a very important album because it's Coleman's first as a leader; but I'd never thought of it as a first-rank Coleman album--of his two Contemporary discs, probably I'd give the 2nd, _Tomorrow Is the Question_, the edge, & unquestionably the Atlantics are the peak of Coleman's early career. However, revisiting the disc I'm reminded of how sheerly enjoyable it is, & I think it deserves the full 5 stars. The "sound" of the disc is a surprisingly effective blend of brisk West-Coast swing & Coleman's already completely wayward, unorthodox sax. Don Cherry plays a normal trumpet (with a pronounced Miles Davis inflection) rather than the oddball "pocket trumpet" that sounds so marvellously alien on the Atlantics--he sounds basically like a confident bopper but already makes a few lateral swerves that suggest his future musical direction.

Reviewers often blame the comparative conservatism of the music here on the presence of Walter Norris, a fine bop pianist but hardly a necessary presence given Coleman's later preference for pianoless ensembles. (Norris is reported in Litweiler's bio of Coleman as having been rather mystified by Coleman & Cherry's frequently ignoring the chord changes they'd decided on for the tunes during their improvisations.) But to criticize Norris is to miss the point: Coleman's music here is much more closely tied to bop orthodoxy than it would be in the following years. Tunes like "Chippie" & "Angel Voice" are straightahead "I Got Rhythm" variants, despite their nicely individual melodies ("Angel Voice" for instance has a calypso tinge to its A section). Even more surprising, "Jayne" turns out to be a variation on "Out of Nowhere", a Parker favourite. This last instance is certainly enough to scotch the idea that Coleman was ignoring standard 32-bar structures or chord changes.

Anyway, why need we judge the music on how "advanced" it is? Sure, Ornette never sounded like this again, but it's still a solid, grooving jazz date. & it's got some of Coleman's greatest tunes on it--"The Blessing", "Invisible", "Chippie", "The Sphynx", "When Will the Blues Leave?"...all classics. The album is mostly uptempo swingers, carried along by Billy Higgins' springy drumming--it's a delight to listen to.

Ornette Coleman's tunes on this early album are bouncy and melodic. The overall mood is up-beat and optimistic. Purists will prefer "The Shape of Jazz to Come" and other recordings by his more austere pianoless quartet recorded a few years later. But for me the piano and bass playing fairly conventional jazz changes behind Ornette and Don Cherry "works"-- even if it really shouldn't. And Billy Higgins' light touch on the drums adds just the right tone: I can picture him smiling as he plays. "The Blessing" has become a jazz standard, and all the quirky melodies stay in your head for a long while. This should be in your Ornette collection, whether it is the first or last recording of his you buy.

The piano sounds fine! This is rediculous. In fact, you hardly notice it. It's very low in the mix. What a great album! All the tunes are his, the saxaphone playing is excellent (incredibly smooth). The notes Coleman puts together on this album are definitely strange, but the overall effect is not overwhelming cacophony, like found on Free Jazz. In fact, it's an incredibly straight forward album. Coleman was an innovator, but sometimes you just want to relax and take a break from his edgier music, regardless of how innovative it may have been. In summary- the songs are relatively simple, but certainly not boring. The sax playing is EXCELLENT. I like it better than "shape of jazz to come" which, i think, is an overproduced album. What is that crappy treble sound in Atlantic Jazz recordings? Anyway, you won't find it on this album.

Great tunes that we're all still playing more than 40 years later. This is one of the seminal early albums that spawned some of his later, even more memorable work a few years later: Shape of Jazz to Come, This is Our Music, Change of the Century, etc. The approach to chordless playing isn't as refined as it would become later on, but, it's good to keep in mind that a lot of the tunes Ornette was writing at the time were based on popular tune harmonies like I Got Rhythm and Out of Nowhere. If you ask me, Ornette hadn't fully abandoned traditional harmony at the time of this recording. Hence, Walter Norris' piano playing, while retrospectively incongruous with the kind of chordless playing that has defined most of Ornette's career, fits fine for my ears in the context of this recording. While I don't think he would have sat well with Broken Shadows or Beauty is a Rare Thing, Norris' bop lines sound good here. Check out some of the bop influence in Don Cherry's blowing too!

Ornette Coleman generated quite a stir when he appeared on the jazz scene, although listening to his debut record nearly fifty years later, it's actually quite difficult to understand. "Something Else!!!!" actually sounds quite conventional and tame to modern ears, certainly not like the leap forward that his Atlantic debut, "The Shape of Jazz to Come" was.

A lot of this probably has to do with the band-- while Coleman (playing his trademark white plastic alto sax) is accompanied by his then-usual frontline partner Don Cherry on trumpet, his rhythm section-- pianist Walter Norris, bassist Don Payne, and drummer Billy Higgins-- play within conventional constraints. Higgins' place in this is actually quite interesting to hear, given how advanced his drumming would be on that Atlantic debut. As a result of this conventional rhythm section performance, there are implied changes on the pieces. Coleman plays far more conventionally than he usually does, and when he does venture into his style of bending the notes or trying to force the rhythm section to follow him (as on "Jayne"), they don't. Net result-- Coleman introduces tension when playing the way that makes sense to him, and as a leader, he (and to a lesser extent, Cherry) is in total opposition to the rest of the band.

The music itself is decent enough-- most of the pieces are blues forms of some sort or another, somewhat advanced at times, but by and large pretty straightforward, and its pleasant enough, but similar to Cecil Taylor's early records, there's little indication of what advancements he'd make in the very near future. Coleman has indicated in books that the songs on here were written several years beforehand-- if this is the case, it explains their relative unadvanced state. Still, it's a quite listenable record, and it's a decent album, but it's better as a historical document than anything else. Interested parties in Coleman's music are encouraged to check out his work on Atlantic first (in particular "The Shape of Jazz to Come") before coming to look for this album.

I had this for years on tape, mislaid it, & now just got the CD. It's automatically a very important album because it's Coleman's first as a leader; but I'd never thought of it as a first-rank Coleman album--of his two Contemporary discs, probably I'd give the 2nd, _Tomorrow Is the Question_, the edge, & unquestionably the Atlantics are the peak of Coleman's early career. However, revisiting the disc I'm reminded of how sheerly enjoyable it is, & I think it deserves the full 5 stars. The "sound" of the disc is a surprisingly effective blend of brisk West-Coast swing & Coleman's already completely wayward, unorthodox sax. Don Cherry plays a normal trumpet (with a pronounced Miles Davis inflection) rather than the oddball "pocket trumpet" that sounds so marvellously alien on the Atlantics--he sounds basically like a confident bopper but already makes a few lateral swerves that suggest his future musical direction.

Reviewers often blame the comparative conservatism of the music here on the presence of Walter Norris, a fine bop pianist but hardly a necessary presence given Coleman's later preference for pianoless ensembles. (Norris is reported in Litweiler's bio of Coleman as having been rather mystified by Coleman & Cherry's frequently ignoring the chord changes they'd decided on for the tunes during their improvisations.) But to criticize Norris is to miss the point: Coleman's music here is much more closely tied to bop orthodoxy than it would be in the following years. Tunes like "Chippie" & "Angel Voice" are straightahead "I Got Rhythm" variants, despite their nicely individual melodies ("Angel Voice" for instance has a calypso tinge to its A section). Even more surprising, "Jayne" turns out to be a variation on "Out of Nowhere", a Parker favourite. This last instance is certainly enough to scotch the idea that Coleman was ignoring standard 32-bar structures or chord changes.

Anyway, why need we judge the music on how "advanced" it is? Sure, Ornette never sounded like this again, but it's still a solid, grooving jazz date. & it's got some of Coleman's greatest tunes on it--"The Blessing", "Invisible", "Chippie", "The Sphynx", "When Will the Blues Leave?"...all classics. The album is mostly uptempo swingers, carried along by Billy Higgins' springy drumming--it's a delight to listen to.

Ornette Coleman's tunes on this early album are bouncy and melodic. The overall mood is up-beat and optimistic. Purists will prefer "The Shape of Jazz to Come" and other recordings by his more austere pianoless quartet recorded a few years later. But for me the piano and bass playing fairly conventional jazz changes behind Ornette and Don Cherry "works"-- even if it really shouldn't. And Billy Higgins' light touch on the drums adds just the right tone: I can picture him smiling as he plays. "The Blessing" has become a jazz standard, and all the quirky melodies stay in your head for a long while. This should be in your Ornette collection, whether it is the first or last recording of his you buy.

The piano sounds fine! This is rediculous. In fact, you hardly notice it. It's very low in the mix. What a great album! All the tunes are his, the saxaphone playing is excellent (incredibly smooth). The notes Coleman puts together on this album are definitely strange, but the overall effect is not overwhelming cacophony, like found on Free Jazz. In fact, it's an incredibly straight forward album. Coleman was an innovator, but sometimes you just want to relax and take a break from his edgier music, regardless of how innovative it may have been. In summary- the songs are relatively simple, but certainly not boring. The sax playing is EXCELLENT. I like it better than "shape of jazz to come" which, i think, is an overproduced album. What is that crappy treble sound in Atlantic Jazz recordings? Anyway, you won't find it on this album.

Pat Metheny is an unfortunate position. He is a richly gifted musician and a guitarist of formidable skills who has chosen to spend much of his career recording light and inoffensive music that wouldn't be out of place on the soundtrack of a yoga CD, earning himself in the process an army of dedicated fans, many of whom are under the delusion that his blandest recordings are the very pinnacle of modern jazz.

It took him several years to break cover, but he did so on this fabulously disorienting and hectic session with one of his great heroes, Ornette Coleman. It may have helped that Coleman hadn't made a classic record in quite a while, but something about Metheny must have galvanised him - just as something about Coleman's steely integrity and determination to go his own way must have prompted Metheny to up his game. With a rhythm section consisting of longtime Coleman bass player Charlie Haden plus the great Jack DeJohnette and the somewhat less celebrated Denardo Coleman (Ornette's son) on drums, all five players kick up a rare old storm.

Some of the compositions have already become classics - the title track and 'Mob Job', for example. The extended version of this album contains some even more deranged cuts that were left off the original.

I started listening to jazz as a teenager in the mid-1980s, and this was the only contemporary record I heard that had anything of the fire and invention of the jazz I really loved, which was bebop. It still sounds fresh, blazing out of the stereo with punkish energy. I particularly like the fact that a large proportion of Metheny's fans can't listen to this thing at all. It just goes to show that not everyone who loves jazz loves genuinely creative and searching music.

Metheny would go on to do two things very dear to my heart: in the early 90s he recorded a solo album of manic noise guitar, 'zero tolerance for silence', which even fans of the genre don't like (although Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and I are at least two big fans), and then at the end of the century he publicly tore a furious strip off Kenny G for defacing Louis Armstrong's 'What A Wonderful World' with his nightmarish caterwauling. Rock on, Pat - the more restless you get, the better we like you.

An album by a lot of very very good musicians but certainly NOT one that many people will enjoy.

Ornette of course has his own ideas about what music should be. There is no denying that he's a thinker. On the other hand Miles Davis said "Anyone who listens to this can see he's all f*****d up." Miles was no slouch when it came to making 'outside' music. I think you have to take his comments into consideration. In addition Ornette imitated Miles in that he started working with an electric band with two basses and two drummers after Miles had a similar arrangement.

And Metheny is a better musician than given credit. It's worth listening to just for that. He's one of those guys who seems to be progressing at least instead of stagnating.

The really experimental stuff is intense, while the less experimental is surprisingly straight forward.

Suffice it to say it's not for very many people. It's highly intellectual music. It's not my cup of tea. I think Duke Ellington was correct in saying "It don't mean a thing if it don't swing." I do see the need for this type of, what I would call over intellectual music, and it's definitely worth a listen just to get your ears stretched, but it's not what I listen to very often.

If you think about it Ornette didn't really change music very much. Very few musicians have been influenced by his ideas. They respect his ideas but don't use them where as John Cage, or Varese's ideas are now totally a part of rock music. There are some good reasons for that. I'm waiting for the microtonalists myself. That's where I see the future.

I was given this CD a few years ago by my brother who was given it by his brother-in-law. They're both Metheny fans but couldn't listen to this CD. I couldn't stop playing it when I first got it, and still listen to it regularly, but this is coming from an Ornette fan much more than Metheny.

It's obvious that this is an Ornette album with Metheny just another cog in the wheel. I'm not convinced that Metheny was even the right choice for guitarist on this album and would be interested to hear what Bill Frisell or Marc Ribot would have sounded like in his place. The only songs where Metheny sounds like Metheny is on the two songs he co-wrote with Ornette; Kathelin Gray and Trigonometry. They're both beautifully written and played, with very tasteful interplay between the players. That being said, I like this album better than any other Metheny album that I've heard and better than the three times I saw Metheny in concert.

If you appreciate great ensemble playing with a supergroup of musicians, playing challenging compositions than this CD is for you. If you're familiar with Coleman's previous stuff, you won't be surprised at all but if you're only familiar with Pat Metheny's relatively laid back compositional style than be prepared for a shock.

Great album all in all.

What are you people thinking? Has the world gone mad? This is NOT jazz. I can play better than this and I don't even play saxaphone. Someone came up to me the other day and said "Hey this is great stuff!" When I told him that they weren't even playing music whatsoever, he said "No way man, they are CHOOSING those notes!" I slapped him in the face.

I thought that the birth of Kenny G. as a jazz icon was the lowest point in jazz's history...I was wrong... Song X is rock bottom.What happens when a drummer, guitarist, and saxophonist all solo at once? Song X a.k.a. crap.

. . . after ten years. I don't know why it took me so long, but I'm finally enjoying this wonderful, if slightly off-kilter, session. I think this is at least the third disc of this music that I've bought--not all, thankfully, at full price. And I'm keeping this one.

Maybe it's just that my ears have, over the past decade, opened up a little. That's part of it, I think. And I do remember listening to it this time around with no particular expectations. A few observations. I'm entirely taken by Coleman's violin playing on "Mob Job," so much so that I'd like to have heard more of it represented here. I don't think I'd like a whole disc of it, and I know he doesn't play the violin "correctly," but he has a unique way of approaching it, achieves some delicious sonorities, and interacts with Metheny and bandmates very interestingly. I was also surprised by the quieter, more lyrical selection, "Kathelin Gray" (a mournful, elegiac ballad), and parts of "Mob Job."

I also think the inclusion of Denardo is more than nepotism. He adds a kind of percussive thrust and coloration--granted, a little dated--that Coleman pere and Metheny obviously wanted, and to these ears, at least, he admirably acquits himself. Haden and DeJohnette are at the absolute top of their game and come across as absolutely comfortable in this, for the most part, free-jazz setting.

There is much to recommend this music to anyone used to more outré jazz--the sly blues/field holler/gospel sensibility, the unique aural signature, snatches of beauty emerging from what initially sounds like aural chaos, the last half of "Endangered Species" with its train motif, weirdo Denardo contributions, and sheer high energy, and some of Coleman's most inspired playing. One should also acknowledge the adventurous spirit demonstrated by Metheny, who risked alienating his fan base (mission accomplished, if the reviews posted at this site are typical) by setting aside his hugely popular regular jazz gig to play with one of his heroes. And it's not as if Metheny has never done this kind of thing before; the title cut to Off Ramp shares a similar approach to what's going on here.

Certainly not for everybody, but he who has an ear, let him hear.

Interesting precursor to the thrash-jazz movement comes packed with explosive avant-garde interplay but also suffers from the strained dynamics. While the Metheny-Coleman alliance is an interesting one, it does not always work in favor of the music. Only when the duo go all out, abandoning tradition in search of brass-bliss cacophonies that the experimentation does not feel like a double-edged sword. Besides for rampant dissonance, there are a few tracks, especially on the new version, which demonstrate actual attempts at symbiosis. There is a lot to find in between cracks on this one, the end result is just uneven and even unsure.

I just got this CD a couple days ago and did not hear the original release. Apparently there are 6 songs on this one that were not on the original, released in the 80's. When I listened to the CD from beginning to end, I found that some of the first few tracks were among my personal favorites, so I am glad to hear this release first. Also, I understand that this release has been digitally remastered.

I found some of the tunes rather catchy (suprising for an Ornette album) and some of them are kind of smooth and emotional. All in all this is A+ material, unique and original. Sometimes it sounds kind of like East Indian improvisation, or maybe some African influence. I don't know if it was intended that way or not. Pairing Ornette and Metheny together was a genius idea, I think that they complement each other really well. There are also some electonic percussion things on, which at the time was probably a somewhat new idea. It kind of reminds me of "Futureman" from Bela Fleck.

Ornette certainly has his own sound, that's for sure. This album is not for everyone, as it takes an open ear to listen to it.

First of all, this is a dream team group, Ornette Coleman and his original bassist Charlie Haden, with drummer extrodinare Jack Dejohnette, with Guitarist Pat Metheny, and Ornette's son on percussion. What comes out of the grooves is usually suprisingly fun and melodic, although sometimes brilliantly chaotic. This is a great introduction to Ornette's vision...

I bought this on LP when it came out in 1986. When that record wore out,I got it on cassette. When that cassette stretched out and ripped in two,I bought in on cd. Here I am listening to it on this new cd edition.
If you have SONG X,but don't have SONG XX,then you DON'T have SONG X.
Thank you Pat for putting this exiting,new,& FRESH cd out. The 6 NEW TUNES (to me) are so great,they really complete the session.
There is an AIR,a kind of SPACE,a stirring kind of ROOM SOUND to this recording that makes you feel like your lucky enough to be right there at POWER STATION with them.
THIS CD IS INCREDABLE,I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!!

I love this album. It crosses both musical and social boundaries.
Although Ornetted Coleman's music appears to be an "acquired taste". I feel that, like Ligeti, Messiaen or Lutoslawski, the taste is worth acquiring for the reward it returns. This is a good example. It may take the usual Metheny fan out of his/her comfort zone for a bit, but if you hang in, that comfort zone might expand quickly into an energy zone. The unusual Metheny fan knows that Pat Metheny does occasionally stretch out like this. He does it well, too.
For the usual Coleman fan: If you enjoyed "Dancing In Your Head" and "Beauty Is a Rare Thing", this one may just lift you out of yourself for a while. But please - try to listen undistracted.

Interesting precursor to the thrash-jazz movement comes packed with explosive avant-garde interplay but also suffers from the strained dynamics. While the Metheny-Coleman alliance is an interesting one, it does not always work in favor of the music. Only when the duo go all out, abandoning tradition in search of brass-bliss cacophonies that the experimentation does not feel like a double-edged sword. Besides for rampant dissonance, there are a few tracks, especially on the new version, which demonstrate actual attempts at symbiosis. There is a lot to find in between cracks on this one, the end result is just uneven and even unsure.

I just got this CD a couple days ago and did not hear the original release. Apparently there are 6 songs on this one that were not on the original, released in the 80's. When I listened to the CD from beginning to end, I found that some of the first few tracks were among my personal favorites, so I am glad to hear this release first. Also, I understand that this release has been digitally remastered.

I found some of the tunes rather catchy (suprising for an Ornette album) and some of them are kind of smooth and emotional. All in all this is A+ material, unique and original. Sometimes it sounds kind of like East Indian improvisation, or maybe some African influence. I don't know if it was intended that way or not. Pairing Ornette and Metheny together was a genius idea, I think that they complement each other really well. There are also some electonic percussion things on, which at the time was probably a somewhat new idea. It kind of reminds me of "Futureman" from Bela Fleck.

Ornette certainly has his own sound, that's for sure. This album is not for everyone, as it takes an open ear to listen to it.

First of all, this is a dream team group, Ornette Coleman and his original bassist Charlie Haden, with drummer extrodinare Jack Dejohnette, with Guitarist Pat Metheny, and Ornette's son on percussion. What comes out of the grooves is usually suprisingly fun and melodic, although sometimes brilliantly chaotic. This is a great introduction to Ornette's vision...

I bought this on LP when it came out in 1986. When that record wore out,I got it on cassette. When that cassette stretched out and ripped in two,I bought in on cd. Here I am listening to it on this new cd edition.
If you have SONG X,but don't have SONG XX,then you DON'T have SONG X.
Thank you Pat for putting this exiting,new,& FRESH cd out. The 6 NEW TUNES (to me) are so great,they really complete the session.
There is an AIR,a kind of SPACE,a stirring kind of ROOM SOUND to this recording that makes you feel like your lucky enough to be right there at POWER STATION with them.
THIS CD IS INCREDABLE,I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!!

I love this album. It crosses both musical and social boundaries.
Although Ornetted Coleman's music appears to be an "acquired taste". I feel that, like Ligeti, Messiaen or Lutoslawski, the taste is worth acquiring for the reward it returns. This is a good example. It may take the usual Metheny fan out of his/her comfort zone for a bit, but if you hang in, that comfort zone might expand quickly into an energy zone. The unusual Metheny fan knows that Pat Metheny does occasionally stretch out like this. He does it well, too.
For the usual Coleman fan: If you enjoyed "Dancing In Your Head" and "Beauty Is a Rare Thing", this one may just lift you out of yourself for a while. But please - try to listen undistracted.

This is a DVD which contains two short avant-garde films made by Dick Fontaine in 1966 and 1967. Together they make 55 minutes. I have not purchased the DVD, so I cannot comment on the quality of the disc itself, but I have seen "Sound??" (1967) which features John Cage (narrating) and Roland Kirk (playing music and exploring sound.) It's a nice piece which encourages keeping an open mind towards new, different, evolving, eccentric, avant-garde music and the exploration of sound. Cage questions what "sound" stands for and whether simply "sound" is music or not. I recommend this film to open minded listeners and to musicians who are into other things than practicing rudiments and scales to a metronome 10 hrs/day. Unfortunately I have not seen the 29 minute long "Ornette Coleman Trio" yet, but know that it was made in 1966 and features the Ornette Coleman Trio with David Izenson and Charles Moffett recording the soundtrack of "Who's Crazy" in Paris.

1. The sound quality is sometimes poor, particularly the drumset, with the sounds of the individual instruments merging together in an indistinct mess. The audience applause after solos irritates me too.

2. The music is typically Ornette: as he's said in the past, in a sense he's been playing the same tune most of his career. In this live performance he continues the tradition, re-using his elegant licks: a type of bebop as a previous reviewer stated. Sure it may seem very old-fashioned by now but the soulful execution is usually timeless. (Mozart used an already well established musical language but trancended any need to develop it.)

There's very little of Coleman's idiosyncratic trumpet and violin work which after my 30 years as an Ornette fan I find generally more exciting than his sax playing. (For example the cut Falling Star from a live concert in Copenhagen 1965 has some delicious offerings of both: see "all my reviews".)

3. With regard to the drumset work by Denardo, as well as being poorly recorded it tends to a busy, unrelenting style often with simplistic cymbal sizzle overkill which for me is often quite irritating. If only he could appreciate silence and more of a sense of space - in some of the more reflective passages I longed for a total absence of percussion. Still, as Coleman often seems to favor what some people have unflatteringly called "scrambled egg music", the drumset style and arrangements may be at Coleman's direction.

The good:

5 stars for the beautiful rendition of "Sleep Talking" which makes this CD a must have for my collection of about 30 albums under the Ornette name.

5 stars for the elegantly arranged "Waiting for You" which also has tasty individual performances, particularly the arco bass work and Coleman's sax work.

5 stars for "Once Only", again an elegant arrangement which tells a story over time.

Overall, for those new to Ornette: there are much better Coleman albums available with superior drumming and groove. (E.g. Ornette! recorded Jan 1961 with drumming to die for by Ed Blackwell, very tasty bass playing from the brilliant Scott LeFaro and some excellent work by Don Cherry on pocket trumpet.)

It was announced today that this album won the Pulitzer Prize for music. Congratulations Mr. Coleman!

Thought Coleman was a different type of jazz musician than he is. If you want melody and mellow, forget Coleman. If you like dissonance, try him

Coleman's play on different instruments showed a lot of skill, but the music seemed to lose some of its spontaneity in the process. The jazz represented to me a kind of neo-be-bop that lacked lyrical luster and moving harmonies.

jwc

The return of acoustic Ornette Coleman, beautifully recorded, a wonderfully intuitive and interactive band, and the leader playing as sweetly as he ever has in his life. This is my favorite album of Ornette's since Song X and a reminder that the jazz greats just get better and better as they age.