Ornette Coleman: To Whom Keeps A Record
Author: Kevin Le Gendre
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
This Is Our Music: The Complete Sessions
Musicians: |
Ed Blackwell (d, perc) |
Label: |
EJC |
Magazine Review Date: |
July/2014 |
Catalogue Number: |
55633 |
RecordDate: |
July-August 1960 |
Musicians: |
Ed Blackwell (d, perc) |
Label: |
Warner Atlantic |
Magazine Review Date: |
July/2014 |
A classic case of record company reissue overlap leaves Ornettophiles with a dread dilemma. Grab the single CD, To Whom Keeps A Record, which actually comprises the outtakes of the landmark This Is Our Music or put their hands on the double CD of the complete sessions of the aforesaid? The answer may come down to budgets but each option is attractive. Though shorter, the single album has the advantage of presenting all the pieces in their original sequence, conceived around the clever conceit of having the words in the sentence ‘Music Always Brings Goodness To Us PS Unless One Has Some Other Motive For Its Use’ broken into groups of two, four and one to create song titles (i.e. ‘Music Has’… ‘All’… ‘Motive For Its Use’). There is indeed a suite-like quality to the work, which simply emphasises Coleman's ability to merge composition and improvisation so well, yielding music that has a joyous, bucking swing. In Blackwell and Haden he had one of the best drums-bass units that jazz has ever known, and hearing the same music within the wider context of the complete sessions is stimulating for the way it shows how much discipline and precision Coleman had in terms of structuring a songbook. Whether this is abstract music or not, there is a brilliantly coherent thread running through all the tracks that makes them unique pieces in what is a wholly unique puzzle.

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