aworks :: "new" american classical music

Klactoveesedstene (1947). Charlies Parker /as played by Ornette Coleman/

The Bad Plus on the early recording of Ornette Coleman and Paul Bley playing a Charlie Parker tune:

Ornette and Don play the same intro, head, and tempo that Bird played. Ornette solos first, on the form, with Bley laying out. Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately? --Bley comes in on the third bridge in the wrong place, and the form is kind of a free-for-all afterwards, although they don’t leave Bb much, and there seems to be at least one more clear bridge. Cherry’s brief comments behind Ornette’s solo include the melody of “Congeniality.” The most astonishing moment is the rubato unison line that Ornette and Don play to conclude the solo. It is significant that on his versions of other people’s music, Ornette always includes some original written material.

Parker and Coleman both being musicians who couldn't help but play what was in their heads.

And John Litweiler in his Ornette Coleman biography asserts that Parker and Coleman (along with Buddy Bolden and Louis Armstrong) provided the "major turning points in the course of jazz history."

I'm fascinated by this intersection of two jazz legends, although frankly, this particular song is not all that great.

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• The Bad Plus For All I Care Heads Up - JazzTimes Magazine (netnewmusic.net)

Zig Zag (1966). Ornette Coleman /zig meets zag/

Coleman Image by Getty Images for Tribeca Film Fe via Daylife

I'm listening to Ornette Coleman this weekend. For the first time, I've encountered the John Zorn album of Coleman songs. Crazy, frenetic versions of crazy, frenetic songs. Fun...

Zig Zag - John Zorn

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When Will the Blues Leave? (1958). Ornette Coleman /!!!!/

Cover via Amazon

Whew. After a couple hours with a broken Internet connection, we're back.

The most important issue I had during the outage was determining Ornette Coleman's first album.

Wikipedia:

Something Else!!!! (sometimes called Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman) is the 1958 debut album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman. According to All Music, the album "shook up the jazz world", revitalizing the union of blues and jazz and restoring "blues to their 'classic' beginnings in African music".

Ok, anything that accomplishes all that deserves four exclamation points in the title.

The Music Of Ornette Coleman: ...

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by the way, those born before ornette coleman's debut may be ok regarding swine flu. unfortunately, this late boomer just missed possible immunity. on the other hand,  i heard some great jazz while still in the crib.

Focus on Sanity (1959). Ornette Coleman /landmark jazz/

Cover of The Shape of Jazz to Come

Martin Johnson in the Wall Street Journal:

As years go, 1959 was a landmark for jazz recordings. Miles Davis created his "Kind of Blue" and John Coltrane made his "Giant Steps." But the most influential jazz album made in 1959 came from Ornette Coleman, then an outcast in that musical community. It was called "The Shape of Jazz to Come."

The Shape Of Jazz To Come - Or...

Skies of America (1972). Ornette Coleman /reality-based thinking - harder than it looks/

Image via WikipediaI'm not one who uses music to manage my mood. Hmm, maybe that explains why I never listen to the relaxing local classical music station. In fact, I may do the opposite, i.e. rather than listen to sounds that appealed to 19th century Europeans, I have a need to find music that captures our current civic mood.

And although I happen to like I Kissed a Girl, for better or worse, the most compelling music I've heard this week is Ornette Coleman's Skies of America. It's a mess of a symphonic piece but yet captures the energy and tension of American life. Especially these days.

Skies of America track listing:

1. "Skies of America" — 2:49
2. "Native Americans" — 1:10
3. "The Good Life" — 1:33
4. "Birthdays and Funerals" — 3:13
5. "Dreams" — 0:51
6. "Sounds of Sculpture" — 1:20
7. "Holiday for Heroes" — 1:10
8. "All of My Life" — 3:08
9. "Dancers" — 1:17
10. "The Soul Within Woman" — 0:47
11. "The Artists in America" — 3:54
12. "The New Anthem" — 0:31
13. "Place in Space" — 2:44
14. "Foreigner in a Free Land" — 1:19
15. "Silver Screen" — 1:10
16. "Poetry" — 1:15
17. "The Men Who Live in the White House" — 2:48
18. "Love Life" — 4:34
19. "The Military" — 0:32
20. "Jam Session" — 0:39
21. "Sunday in America" — 4:29

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• skies of america: lala
• on the other hand, i greatly rely on blog reading to get a grip so here's a site both financial and humorous: dealbreaker

Change of the Century (1959). Ornette Coleman /or at least for this week/

My experiment with next.lala.com continues.

I current have 737 songs queued up to hear for free. I've "purchased," at a nominal ten cents each, continued streaming rights to 49 songs. I've found old favorites, albums from that past that I somehow never heard, new ones that looked interesting, and at least one that turned out be dreadful even though I thought I liked the artist. Having completist tendencies, I also listened to a dozen versions of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed by the Allman Brothers.

The list of popular classical "songs" is not particularly thrilling and the 20th/21st century list is sparse in actual number of plays by the community. But via site recommendations based on some jazz listening I had done, I just found and queued up 57 tracks by Ornette Coleman.

The fidelity is not really good enough for concentrated listening but for background streaming and exploration, I'm hooked.

Turnaround (1959). Ornette Coleman /marian, ornette, orrin et al/

Amidst all the social and political commentary this week surrounding the "all-white" Yoshi's commemorative jazz CD, Orrin Keepnews makes a harsh aesthetic judgment:

With all due respect to the venerable Marian McPartland, whom I love and have always loved, there's nobody on that record of major current importance," said Keepnews. "The club put out an anniversary record that was thoughtless and not very well put together. They limited themselves to material recorded live at the club. You have a half-dozen things here that don't have the making of a significant or representative record, regardless of what color anybody is.'

• McPartland's Turn Around: Rhapsody. eMusic. Yoshi's torrent.
• Coleman's Turnaround: Rhapsody. eMusic.
• Ornette Coleman at Bonnaroo 2007 (billed after The Police, Tool, Widespread Panic, White Stripes, Ben Harper, Wilco, Flaming Lips, Manu Chao, String Cheese Incident, and Franz Ferdinand but ahead of Bob Weir, Damien Rice,  DJ Shadow, Lily Allen, Feist, Pete Yorn, David Cross, Don Byron playing Junior Walker featuring Chris Thomas King, Ravi Coltrane, Richard Thompson, James Blood Ulmer and others)