Ornette Coleman (1930–2015)

Coleman plays free jazz with a small combo.

2/4 (Indifferent).

It's deliberately hard to listen to, without much reward for the effort. It's only avant-garde in terms of negatives (no explicit harmony, very little structure). But it doesn't do anything new of its own; it's just bop solos, only played in a vacuum. All that said, it's not bad music; but it is Not For Me.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
The opportunity to possess--in one convenient package--every recording Ornette Coleman made for Atlantic is an opportunity most fans of modern jazz would be hard pressed to turn down. (It must be noted, however, that many jazz fans would have a very easy time turning down anything Ornette recorded, thank you very much). But for Coleman fans, this collection is an embarrassment of riches. Arranged chronologically by recording date, the set show more collects music from 1959 to 1961, the period many consider Ornette's most vital. Included are sessions from Free Jazz, Ornette!, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Twins, The Art of the Improvisers, Change of the Century, To Whom Who Keeps a Record, and This Is Our Music. As a bonus, producers have also included a handful of previously unreleased tracks. Packaged with gorgeous photos, terrific liner notes from Robert Palmer, as well as copious discographic information, Beauty is a terrific package. As for the music, the recordings are clean, with excellent stereo separation (usually featuring Ornette in one channel and pocket trumpeter Don Cherry in another). But what really sets this collection apart is how clearly the spirit of the music is visible. Beauty bristles with that coiled, edge-of-the-chair excitement that Ornette could so easily summon, capture, and manipulate. And while Coleman's horn playing here is genuinely pulse-quickening and vital, what also emerges from this set is the strength of his band. While Ornette was tensed and ready to pounce, the more esoteric Cherry was able to float and drift with the currents of music's emotion. Behind them, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ed Blackwell could roar like an open-throttle race car or purr like an idling sedan. But no matter what speed, this is music that gives the listener the impression it is going somewhere. And, of course, for Ornette Coleman, the destination isn't the point, it's the journey. S. Duda

Amazon.com
The most astonishing thing about hearing Ornette Coleman's Atlantic recordings today is how accessible they seem. Back in the early '60s, when they were first released with immodest titles like "Change of the Century" and "The Shape of Jazz to Come," all we could hear was the way the alto saxophonist and his quartet felt free to disregard the usual bounds of keys and measures in their solos. Because Coleman's music was, in fact, the shape of jazz to come, his innovations don't seem so novel now. What we hear instead are the beauty of Coleman's melodies and the passionate bluesiness of his quartet's playing. --Geoffrey Himes show less

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