Ornette COLEMAN - Tivoli Koncertsal, Copenhagen Nov.30 1965

Ornette COLEMAN - Tivoli Koncertsal, Copenhagen Nov.30 1965
Bootleg

Jazz

Ornette Coleman-Tenor, Alto Sax, Violin
David Izenson- Bass
Charnett Moffet-Drums
**
01. Lonely Woman 12:50
02. Clergyman's Dream 19:03
03. Sadness 3:55
04. Falling Star 14:25
05. Interview 3:13
**

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Ornette COLEMAN Double Quartet - Free Jazz ( A Collective Improvisation) 1961

Ornette COLEMAN Double Quartet - Free Jazz ( A Collective Improvisation) 1961
1990 Issue.
Jazz

By 1961, when Free Jazz was released, alto saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman was infamous in the jazz world. His searing alto sax and full-ensemble take on melody were assailed by critics. Free Jazz only furthered Coleman's infamy, with its seamless, seemingly atonal high energy and wholesale lack of a melodic or harmonic center. For the session, Coleman assembled two complete quartets and had them play the same music opposite each other, with diving power and a kind of strange grace usually associated with acoustic blues. The music is raw and incisive, with sharp tones and biting solos appearing amidst propulsive rhythms that still seem whispery in their swishing shuffle. This recording helped cast the 1960s--and every decade since--in jazz. It drew a line in the sand, and critics, fans, and musicians are still haggling over the line today.
By Andrew Bartlett.
**
Cover of "Free Jazz" (1960) featured a reproduction of one of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, "White Light." The reference is an apt one--like Pollock, Ornette has always had faith that out of chaos, intuition and freedom, beauty will emerge. For the recording session of "Free Jazz," Ornette brought with him two quartets (each with bass drums, and two horns) and had them play simultaneously, giving them only a few very vague directions.

What emerged was, like a Pollock painting, a thing of primal beauty and power, formally strange and surprisingly dance-like. It is also (like a Pollock) better experienced than described.

Each quartet occupies their own stereo channel (Ornette, Don Cherry, Scott LaFaro and Billy Higgins are on the left channel; and Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell are on the right). The music that comes out of the speakers is much more than an experiment; it's also much more than just the collective sound of all these wonderful musicians. It's an ecstatic work that has been an inspiration to creative musicians for over 40 years, and it will continue to be for many years to come.
**
Let's get rid of some myths about this great Album.
First of all, "Free Jazz" is NOT CHAOS. Listening to this all the way proves it; "First Take" is the same piece, and if you compare "Free Jazz" and "First Take," you will see similarities and structure. So let's get rid of the idea that this was "totally improvised" first. There is an underlying structure to this piece, and you can figure it out if you try.

Secondly: it is NOT ATONAL. What is happening here is that several different melodies are going on all at the same time, but each melody that each musician plays is meant to interact with the melodies the other musicians are playing. There are no chords, and there is no ESTABLISHED, FORMAL tonal center. But just because there is no FORMAL tonal center, doesn't mean there isn't one.

Third: It is NOT AMELODIC. There are lots of melodies here. If you listen to it, you can find lots of melody. They may be odd melodies, but they are there. In particular, everything that Eric Dolphy plays and everything that Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman play makes perfect sense melodically. You may not agree with their tone choices or with the concept of "harmolodics" that underlies this piece, but listening to it, you will find melody.

Fourth: IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO LISTEN TO. The other reviews compare this music to higher mathematics and imply that listening to this is impossible unless you're an intellectual. The best way to approach this music is with NO PRECONCEPTIONS, including the preconception that you have to be an "intellectual" to appreciate this music. "Free Jazz" is a futuristic version of the early jazz bands, where everyone played solos all the time over a melody that was not played but generally understood. The only difference is that here, there are several melodies, all of which interact, and the piece is set free from strict 4/4 time.

The best way to listen to this is to forget what everyone tells you about it, and just let it happen in the room. Let it play all the way out, even the "dissonant" parts, and listen to it. Listen for the funny parts, the humorous asides, the way Ornette's wry lemony sax contrasts with the dry growl of Eric Dolphy's bass clarinet and Don Cherry's rounded trumpet. And please, don't miss Scott LaFaro and Charlie Haden having a bass conversation, or the way that Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell interact with each other; these four people are counted among the best on their instruments, ever, and what they do here counts.

Don't treat this as abstract, intellectual, "weirdo" music. Listen to it without any preconceived notions. Don't compare it to anything else. Let "Free Jazz" be free; that's part of the meaning of it. Just listen. Then listen again. Then you'll get it. Promise.
**
Ornette Coleman- (Alto Sax);
Freddie Hubbard- (Trumpet);
Don Cherry- (Pocket Trumpet);
Eric Dolphy- (Bass Clarinet);
Scott LaFaro, Charlie Haden- (Bass);
Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell- (Drums).
**
01. Free Jazz
02. First Take
**
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Ornette COLEMAN & the Grateful Dead live 23rd February 1993

Ornette COLEMAN & the Grateful Dead live 23rd February 1993
Bootleg
Ornette Coleman sitting in with the Grateful Dead at the 'Mardi-Gras' gig from the 23rd of February 1993 at the Oakland Colisseum.
All Credits Go To *Mona*
Ornette's son Denardo is also sitting in on percussion in this set.

Jazz

01. Space
02. The Other One
03. Stella Blue
04. Turn On Your Lovelight
05. Brokedown Palace
**
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Ornette COLEMAN - Body Meta 1976

Ornette COLEMAN - Body Meta 1976

Jazz

One of the most important jazz albums of the 1970s, BODY META arrived at a time when many had declared jazz to be dead, and innovations in the form seemed few and far between. During this period, some jazzmen, like Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, had turned to fusion, but Ornette Coleman, in his typically idiosyncratic way, found a different path to explore.
Ever the trailblazer, Ornette unveiled a new band (Prime Time) giving full voice to a new style of music with BODY META, one he'd been developing and had dubbed "harmolodic." Not only did he meld genres (jazz, funk, rock, R&B, world music), he reinvented the very structural template of musical laws. The cyclical, churning tracks on BODY META redefined the functions and relationships of melody, harmony, and rhythm, making them all interdependent in a completely new way. Coleman's saxophone picks up where Coltrane left off in the late '60s, and moves out into the stratosphere, egged on by the idiosyncratic guitar work of Bern Nix and pumping bass lines of Jamaaladeen Tacuma, not to mention the polyrhythmic percussion of Ronald Shannon Jackson and Ornette's son Denardo. After BODY META, no one with ears could ever think of jazz the same way again.
From Muze.
**
The establishing of Ornette Coleman's self-determining Artists House label and his electric double-trio Prime Time coincided with the release of Body Meta, which changed many of the business and musical contours of jazz in the mid- to late '70s. Coleman proved that jazz musicians could determine their own fate and market their music without a major-label contract. He also advanced the orientation of jazz away from swing rhythms and into a deeper blues driven by funk and angular electric guitars inspired by the precepts of Thelonious Monk. A music that turned out to be crazier than most while attempting to be more people-oriented resulted in controversy. It was an indisputable new music amalgam that Coleman could claim as his own, yet which sprung forth into the so-called M-Base music movement of New York City. Jamaaladeen Tacuma on electric bass guitar, Bern Nix and Charlie Ellerbe on electric guitars, drummers Denardo Coleman and Ronald Shannon Jackson comprised the first Prime Time band heard here. They are loud, boisterous, imaginative, unfettered by conventional devices, and wail beyond compare with Coleman within relatively funky, straight beats. "Voice Poetry" sets the tone, a boogaloo funk with an unmistakable kinship to the churning Bo Diddley beat, Coleman's obtuse alto sax between the guitarists' obtuse castings create incessant, passionate, and obsessed music. Where "Home Grown" uses the same wall-rattling sound within repeated lines, there are dense and bulky layers embedded deeply in the thick rhythms. Fans of Coleman will relate more to "Macho Woman," which spurs on a sound similar to his style from years past, as the brief melody gives way to solos. "Fou Amour" is a soulful, off-minor, bitter, and soured ballad, while "European Echoes" is a militaristic waltz — hardly a traipse through flowers — with various free sections. As every track is different, Coleman's vision has a diffuse focus, but it's clear that things have changed. Even his personal sound is more pronounced, unleashed from shackles, and more difficult to pin down. In addition, the CD version has updated liner notes written by Coleman that were not included on the original LP. Whether this was a breakthrough recording or an example of cliff diving is solely up to the listener. Either way, this is a stunning example of modernity taken to the extreme, and Coleman gets sole credit for this direction in modern creative music. The first acid jazz?
By Michael G. Nastos. AMG.
**
Ornette Coleman- (Alto Sax);
Charlie Ellerbee, Bern Nix- (Guitar);
Jamaaladeen Tacuma- (Bass);
Ronald Shannon Jackson, Denardo Coleman- (Drums).
**
A1. Voice Poetry   8:00
A2. Home Grown   7:36

B1. Macho Woman   7:35
B2. Fou Amour   8:31
B3. European Echoes   7:40
**
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Ornette COLEMAN - Town Hall, 1962

Ornette COLEMAN - Town Hall, 1962

Jazz

A really unique chapter in the career of Ornette Coleman -- an album that he produced by himself in 1962, away from any other label -- as an effort to showcase the newly freer sounds of his music! The recording's the first in a really groundbreaking stretch for the 60s -- and it was fortunately finally issued by ESP Records a few years after the recording -- providing a nice link between Coleman's earlier experiments and the sound of the younger generation usually showcased by the label. The group's a trio, with a sound that's quite different than the more rhythmic modes of Coleman on Atlantic Records -- a freer, less structured lineup that features percussion from Charles Moffett and bass from David Izenzon. One track also adds in a string quartet -- making the record one of Coleman's first experiments with this format -- and titles include a 23 minute recording of "The Ark", plus "Doughnut", "Sadness", and "Dedication To Poets and Writers".  © From Dusty Groove.
**
Ornette Coleman- (Alto Sax);
Selwart Clark, Nathan Goldstein- (Violin);
Julian Barber- (Viola);
Kermit Moore- (Cello);
David Izenzon- (Bass);
Charles Moffett- (Percussion).
**
A1. Doughnut 9:00 
A2. Sadness 4:00 
A3. Dedication To Poets And Writers 8:50 
     Cello - Kermit Moore
     Viola - Julian Barber*
     Violin - Nathan Goldstein , Selwart Clarke 
B.  The Ark 23:24
**
Recorded live Dec. 21th evening 1962
Tracks A1, A2 and B: Trio only
Track A3: String quartet only
**
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Ornette COLEMAN - Sound Grammar 2006

Ornette COLEMAN - Sound Grammar 2006

Jazz

Sound Grammar was recorded in Germany in front of a live audience in October of 2005 with his new quartet -- Greg Cohen (bass), Denardo Coleman (drums and percussion), Tony Falanga (bass), and Ornette (alto, violin, trumpet) -- it's the first "new" product from Coleman in ten years. That said, with the exception of "Song X," the last song on the program, the other five tunes are new, seemingly written just for this band. The use of two bassists here is not only a rhythmic consideration, but a sonorous one. Cohen picks his bass, while Falanga bows his. This heavy bottom and full middle, as it were, leave room for Denardo to interact with his father. While one can make somewhat logical comparisons to Coleman's At the "Golden Circle" in Stockholm recordings on Blue Note from four decades ago with Charles Moffett and David Izenzon, these are only logistical. This time out, Coleman's band is rooted deeply in modal blues -- check the slow yet intense "Sleep Talking." The intensity level is there but it's far from overwhelming, since this band plays together as one. Nothing is wasted, either in the heads of these pieces or in the solos. This band plays together literally as one, no matter what's happening. Listen to the interplay between the basses on "Turnaround," as Coleman finds his unique place in blowing the blues and melding harmolodically with his instantly identifiable lyric sound. As all these sounds blend together, they become, in their order to one another, grammar. And each member finds a unique place in the conversation in this ordered sonic universe.

The playfulness in "Matador" is infectious as the entire band walks through a sideways version of "Mexican Hat Dance" along with the sound of the crowd at a bullfight. As the work unfolds, it becomes clear that the struggle of species, blood, and passion is taking place in the ring of death and victory. The work ends back on the theme, with the crowd cheering (one assumes the matador won?). The rhythmic/melodic approach to improvising and timekeeping the bassists take is one of close listening, and carrying Coleman's harmolodic theory to its most beautiful and lyrical extreme. The place the blues inhabit in this working order is a special one, as Coleman is able to engage them at any time, pull them out, speak from them, and turn them inside out with his own linguistic and playfully melodic method of playing. This is no less so when he pulls out his trumpet, as he does on "Jordan," with the hardest-driving rhythmic setting of the disc. This also happens on "Call to Duty," where Coleman once again plays both instruments. The bassists push one another incessantly here -- and Cohen with this rhythmic attack can push any musician to his best performance -- while Denardo steps back and folds into the middle; he actually allows Ornette to slow time down somehow, no matter the pace. The deep blues are expressed in Falanga's solo in "Once Only," as he plays a doleful melodic line and moves off from it in bits and pieces. The violin comes out again in a ten-and-a-half-minute "Song X," which closes the concert. The playing is out and edgy, but never goes to the extremes it once did, in part due to Falanga's ability to create harmolodic counterpoint and pace Coleman's solo on the instrument into a great lyric context. Sound Grammar is one of those records that makes the listener realize just how much Ornette Coleman means to jazz, and how much he is missed as he releases something new only once a decade.
By Thom Jurek, All Music Guide.
**
Ornette Coleman- Sax, Violin and Trumpet
Denardo Coleman- Drums and Percussion
Gregory CVohen- Bass
Tony Falanga- Bass
**
01. Intro 1:15
02. Jordan 6:32
03. Sleep Talking 8:55
04. Turnaround 4:07
05. Matador 5:57
06. Waiting for You 6:50
07. Call to Duty 5:34
08. Once Only 9:41
09. Song X 10:22
**
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Ornette COLEMAN - The Shape Of Jazz To Come 1959

Ornette COLEMAN - The Shape Of Jazz To Come 1959
Label: Atlantic / Wea

Jazz

As the 50s ended, Ornette Coleman became the new herald of the future of jazz, surpassing for a time, even John Coltrane. Intent on feeling and with often scant regard for technique, he plunged headlong into a musical form that defied categorization ...    Full Descriptionand dismayed orthodox musicologists. Especially aware of the blues, Coleman eschewed a rigid structure in the music and favoured instead explorations of its poetic content. Free jazz to Coleman and his followers was jazz freed not only from musical restraints but also from sociological and cultural parameters. This album demonstrates his radicalism and his awareness of both past and future jazz.
**
On this highly influential 1959 album, Ornette Coleman's unique writing style and idiosyncratic solo language forever changed the jazz landscape. On classics such as "Lonely Woman," "Congeniality," and "Focus on Sanity," Coleman used the tunes' moods and melodic contours, rather than their chords, as a basis for his improvisations. In so doing, he opened up jazz soloing immensely and ushered in new freedoms--both individually and collectively. Lest these innovations sound too dry or abstract, it must be noted that both Coleman and trumpeter Don Cherry play with a deep-felt emotion and joy that is as infectious today as it was then. This is truly an essential jazz recording, marking the end of one era, providing the blueprint for the next.
By Wally Shoup.
**
Ornette Coleman: alto sax
Don Cherry: trumpet
Charlie Haden: bass
Billy Higgins: drums
**
01. Lonely Woman  4.59
02. Eventually  4.21
03. Peace  9.04
04. Focus On Sanity  6.52
05. Congeniality  6.48
06. Chronology  6.03
**
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