Ornette Coleman Music

This is my first Coleman CD. A casual jazz fan for the past 40 years, all I knew of him was that around 1960 he became famous for something called "free jazz." That style supposedly features meandering solos with shreiks, atonality, dissonance, lack of melody and harmony, etc. I don't know if it's all that bad, but I prefer my jazz to be traditional bebop, hard bop and third stream progressive, the stuff of the 1950's. I bought this CD, Ornette's second release (from early 1959) because the Amazon sound samples persuaded me that it preceded his more radical stuff and was listenable. Sure is. In fact, it is lovely, with a nice mixture of swing and ballads. Nothing here to scare away people like me, who like the early Miles, the early Coltrane, the early Cannonball, Paul Desmond, etc. Plenty in these 43 minutes to enjoy, and repeated listenings increase the pleasure. Someday perhaps I'll invest some dough in more infamous Coleman works, but this one proves that he knew how to play the accessible way BEFORE he abolished the rules and invented new approaches to jazz. I'm glad I have it, especially because all nine tunes are Coleman originals.

An album that seems to garner more positive attention that I can ever understand, Ornette Coleman's sophomore album "Tomorrow is the Question!" is an unqualified disaster. His debut album, "Something Else!!!!", featured Coleman playing fairly straightforward pieces (all compositions that were several years old by that point) in a sympathetic backdrop but by and large with musicians who weren't quite ready to play with Coleman. Still, the pieces were largely advanced blues forms, and Coleman's non-tempered playing introduced a bit of tension to them (with the piano in conflict) and somehow, it works out ok.

This time around though, things are worse-- liberating himself from a piano, Coleman nonethless had a rhythm section foisted upon him of either Percy Heath or Red MItchell on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. One gets the impression they wanted to get it, but just couldn't. Coleman (on alto) and to a lesser extent Don Cherry (on trumpet) attempt to bring the music out, but every time they do, the bassist and Manne seem to stay with the straight pattern. This sort of leaves the soloist hanging, with disasterous results on several pieces (most noticably "Mind and Time" and "Compassion", where it almost sounds like the horns and rhythm are playing two different songs because their playing is so dramatically different and "Rejoicing" where Coleman tries to break the structure but the Heath in particular stubbornly walks).

In fact, the only piece that really seems to work is "Tears Inside", where both Cherry and Coleman solo much further inside than they do on any of the other pieces-- Cherry's solo in particular is lovely.

But in the end, the set is a disorganized mess-- these guys may have been sympathetic to Coleman, but they weren't prepared for what they had to do to keep his music intact. In several months when in New York, Coleman and Cherry would record masterpiece "The Shape of Jazz to Come" with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, and the difference is astounding. This one is for completionists only.

Now this is more like it! After a mediocre debut on "Somethin' Else," Ornette gets down to business on his second album for the Contemporary label, "Tomorrow Is The Question." Smartly Ornette has adopted a pianoless quartet for this recording, the lineup he became famous with on Atlantic. The songwriting is beginning to come together too, particularly on "Rejoicing." My reason for withholding a fifth star for this CD is twofold. First, if his Atlantic Recordings "The Shape of Jazz to Come," "This Is Our Music" and "Free Jazz" are five-starrers, this is clearly a notch below. Second, and more importantly, the personnel here are not quite on par with his Atlantic group. Don Cherry is here, but he is joined by Red Mitchell and Percy Heath alternating on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums. While these three are giants of jazz, they are certainly not monumental figures of the "new jazz" for a reason. They do not bring to Ornette's music what Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro, Billy Higgins or Ed Blackwell will later. Still, this is a great buy and not to be overlooked.

Ornette Coleman pulls together a Prime Time band with some unfamiliar names. First of all, there's a keyboard player - Dave Bryant. He's not very prominent in the mix, and his sound blends in with guitarists Chris Rosenberg and Ken Wessel (also new names). So, it doesn't change the sound very much. The bassists are Albert MacDowell, who played with Ornette before, and Brad Jones, who went on to play with Dave Douglas's electric groups. Denardo Coleman is on the drums, and Badal Roy plays percussion. The CD starts off with "Street Blues", a very good happy song. There's a turn to left field with "Search For Life" - Ornette brings in a woman to rap and an R&B-sounding bassist. The rap is a positive one, about how we're all the same and should love each other. The next 14 songs can be summarized as being similar to "Street Blues" -- very good happy songs. "Bach Prelude" stands out for its classical feel -- the first half is formal, then the second half is jamming over a stiff rhythm. Some Prime Time songs on other albums get a little lost when the rhythm gets sloppy, but the group stays in the same pocket throughout. The sound is reverberant, contributing to the dreamy, happy sound.

This is highly recommended for Ornette Coleman fans. You really get the sense from this CD that Ornette is the consumate melodic player with a positive outlook on life.

The freedom in Ornette Coleman's music is very demanding of the musicians he plays with. Not technically demanding, necessarily, but in terms of creativity. His classic quartet was able to rise to this challenge brilliantly, as were the classic Prime Time lineups of the 80s. This version of Prime Time is not quite up to the same standard, and the result (other than Ornette's own melodies) is often uninspired. Like Jerry Garcia on "Virgin Beauty", the band too often seems to be just meandering as they try to follow the leader.

I am huge fan of Ornette Coleman and own most of his albums. Tone Dialing is an attempt to break away from the acousic sound he used for so long and incorporate hip-hop and amplified instruments. He shoots and misses. His plastic horn is an afterthought behind the electric bass and heavy drums. And the reverb he uses is annoying. Simply, the group isn't nearly as good as his earlier groups. I would recommend The Shape of Jazz to Come, Change of the Century, or At the Golden Circle, anything but this one.

I bought it a few years ago, played it once and hated it. I played it yesterday and hated it. Want my copy?

Yes, it's very different from Coleman's 60's records. Guess what - he's an evolving artist, even in his 60's and 70's! Actually compared to his other CD's from the 80's & 90's, such as "Virgin Beauty" and in "In All Languages", it's not THAT different.

This album took several listens to before I could wrap my brain around it. I won't repeat what previous reviewers have written. It's certainly very dense, challenging music which sometimes fools you into thinking it's just funky world beat, but then turns around and messes with your head. The lines the various instruments play are melodic and consonant, but the way they interact is somewhat disorienting at times, before falling back together. He manages to incorporate a huge variety of musical styles and influences and stir up something that could not possibly be anything other than Ornette! Overall this is fascinating music.

It's become one of my favorite Ornette Coleman albums (and yes, of course I love the 60's stuff!). Give this one several listens.