Free Jazz Music

Another Lee Oscar special it is not as good as his first album that was a classic this one is different I like his new direction it is good to hear the harmonica on any cd.

For those previously acquainted with Ornette Coleman, this collection of compositions is like visiting an old friend...for those first discovering the work, "Free" is a great place to start. Though adventurous, the compositions are accessible and interesting from the first listen. The agility and finesse of the players is astounding. As leader, Ornette Coleman shines with his playing and his compositions. Don Cherry is outstanding, especially his muted solo on "Una Muy Bonita." Charlie Haden is inside the music weaving, pulsing, and pushing his way along with Billy Higgins (check out "Ramblin'"). Higgins drumming would be a great cd all by itself. These musicians communicate on the deepest level and it is evident in the workings of this recording. A new discovery is made with each visit. I come back to this one again and again.

This disc contains Ornette Coleman's pioneering 37-minute 'Free Jazz' PLUS 40 minutes of shorter pieces recorded in the same year. So for a little less money than the American release of 'Free Jazz' you get about twice as much music, and the title track is the final piece, a fitting climax to a great set of music. That said, the jazz on this disc may be more challenging than some listeners would like, but among the extended collective improvisations of the sixties, besides being the first, this one is more immediately accessible, because it SWINGS and it COOKS! And you can tell the musicians are actively listening to each other and responding to each other's work, not just showing off or venting their emotions. So in a nutshell, 'Free Jazz' is less cosmic than Sun Ra's 'Magic City', less cerebral than Cecil Taylor, and less primal than Coltrane's 'Ascension', but probably more likely to hook you into an intensely brilliant musical world.

I picked this cd up @ the markets for a very reasonable sum, having only heard FREE JAZZ itself before but had been immersing myself in that & was flabbergasted to see that as merely 1 track [all 37 minutes of it] on this collection of material from 1960, & decided it was very much worth the purchase + I could see what his regular songs sounded like. The packaging looked slightly 'unofficial', a multicoloured drawing of the man & his sax & obnoxious writing over it. I love Revolving Doors where you can picture Ornette running about the city w/ a briefcase in a mad rush. I tried to find out what albums this & tunes like Rise & Shine were from only to find most of them were previously unreleased until the 1993 box set Beauty Is A Rare Thing & it would be very tempting to invest/indulge in that set which this would then seem to be a sampler of. There are liner notes giving a timeline of Ornette's life from being born in Forth Worth, Texas in 1930 to having his instruments damaged by angry crowds in 1950 who couldn't handle his playing to heralding a new era w/ his avant-garde stylings. It goes on to say nowadays he is accepted & the music not too controversial, well this is hardly true when you play it & find ignorant idiots commenting "oh is that Lisa Simpson & friends? haha". The reason these comments annoy me is because Ornette Coleman is a true artist w/ a vision & the ability to craft something beautiful & unique, here being helped by players such as Don Cherry, Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard & more. This music comes thoroughly recommended from me & as another Ornette fan Captain Beefheart said "IF YOU GOT EARS, YOU GOTTA LISTEN!".