Tomorrow is the Question! (Ornette Coleman)
September 21, 2007 at 5:29 pm
[...] I think that every person, whether they play music or don’t play music, has a sound–their own sound, that thing that you’re talking about. You can’t destroy that. It’s like energy. Your sound, your voice, means more to everyone that knows you than how you look tomorrow. You might grow a beard or shave your hair. They say, “I can’t recognize you.” But as soon as you talk, “Oh yeah, it is you!” It’s the same thing. If it’s that distinctive, then there must be something there. It’s amazing that everyone has their own sound. Only actors are the one that try to cover–when they imitate somebody–but then they’re imitating that sound. - Ornette Coleman.
“Tomorrow is the Question!”
01. Ornette Coleman - Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch OST (1992)
02. Ornette Coleman - Focus on Sanity
The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
03. Carl Cox - The Latin Theme
Phuture 2000 (1999)
04. LFO Demon Aka Mental Hell - Empire
Genocide memoria (Sprengstoff Recordings, 2004)
05. Carl Cox - Black Shaolin
Phuture 2000 (Moonshine Music, 1999)
06. Alice Coltrane - The Ankh Of Amen-Ra
Universal Consciousness (1971)
07. Ornette Coleman - Tomorrow is the Question!
Tomorrow is the Question! (Ojc, 1959)
08. Ornette Coleman - Peace
The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
note: An Ornette Coleman request. It’s a difficult list to make since I only know two of his well known albums and not intimately. (Tomorrow is the Question! and The Shape of Jazz to Come). Within these two album I can say I “listen” and like the slower songs. My free jazz taste is downright pedestrian. Everything feels out of place and directionless, except for very few pieces that I feel connecting. (Anthony Braxton’s No.23J, Ornette Coleman’s Lonely Woman, few of Vandermark) Onto the list: My impression of free jazz/Coleman in general. Sort of undescribable melancholy, grasping toward a grand future that no present thinking can capture. Like asking, what is the color of dark sun going nova. It can be written in certain form, but never fully seen. Metric, dynamic, compositions are all over the place. So, anyway, this is my simplistic exaggeration of what a short moment in free jazz sounds like. enjoy. (maybe?)
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see also: Ornette Coleman (wiki), Alice Coltrane
image: aliasgrace, [1, 2, 3], [Seite-3, 3]
I was searching for alice coltrane clip, I found this instead. Amazing rendition of “My Fav. Things, in Bossa Nova style)
Linda Sandiford & Nico Vlahavas “My Favourite Things”
John Coltrane Quartet - My Favorite Things
(of course Coltrane himself. never get tired listening to his take. A million miles per hour stream of notes )
If you were to own just one Ornette album, the best choice would be Science Fiction.
Beautiful description of coleman’s music and great set of songs.
eidth,
hey thanks.
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gg,
haa haa, I definitely need more tips from the experts. :D
I listened to science fiction, btw. I like “Law Years”
Catchy opening bass, and the brass isn’t turning my head into fried dumpling. I think my problem with free jazz, I only know so few of them. I don’t have enough to compare. for eg. I don’t know the “frame” of listening. I don’t know to listen it like “noise art”, very dense avant rock, modern classic, or very colorful minimalist electronica. Of course free jazz is none of them, but when I listen to music I have a tendency to chop it up into “phrases” or frame. for eg. a sentence of a lyric, a melody, one repetition, one theme, etc…
with free jazz, I don’t know if I have to listen to it very very loud and only pay attention to split seconds of pitch then move to next one .. or concentrate for long period of time. which after awhile turns my head into fried dumpling, everything sounds the same.
With more standard form of jazz, everything is comfortable. the “swing” feeling, phrasing, taking turns, etc. a lot of hints and I can bop my head along…
of course it’s hard to generalized complex genre like free jazz into simple listening tips. And I know one just listen and ask. But really free jazz is pretty tough all around. (It doesn’t help that albums are hard to get.) but I can’t help ranting.
also, I like ‘virgin beauty” (Virgin beauty, 1988)
I’m actually no Ornette expert; you’re probably as familiar with his discography as me. But Science Fiction is commonly singled out as an especially good session, it’s a personal favorite, and when I recommended it to a friend who was curious about Ornette, it blew him away.
There are a lot of different styles of free jazz, so you can’t really generalize about it. Most of my favorite stuff is Ornette derived; I think his general conception is particularly rich, and it’s still about melody and swinging and blues, in a twisted fashion. I like his general conception and some of his sidemen maybe better than his sax playing, though I like that fine. Some people have taken his music farther than him, it seems to me.
A lot of my favorite free jazz is from L.A.-based artists, such as John Carter and James newton in the ’80s, and nowadays a lot of Cryptogramophone stuff, which I know you’re familiar with. Partly it’s just because I am an Angelino, but somehow there’s a certain balane of prettiness, earthiness and weirdness that I find in a lot of local out jazz. Something in the smog? And of course Ornette formed his early groups here before he took them back east and got famous.
BTW, I’ll tell you who is an Ornette expert: Ethan Iverson of the Bad plus. I’d especially recommend this post on Ornette and this one on Dewey Redman. Both include well-chosen sound samples.
Shape of Jazz to Come… what an ambitious album title. Only thing is he was absolutely right. definitely within my top 3 Jazz records. Essential. Great post.
Hey, if you got something to say, say it loud right? lol. I like daring move.
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PS GG,
thanks for the bad-plus links. I enjoyed reading them.
(I think I am going to make a rant-post about free jazz soon. … (watch ignorant me being dangerous, haaa)