Ornette Coleman: The Art of The Improvisers

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Billy Higgins (d)
Ed Blackwell (d, perc)
Jimmy Garrison (b)
Don Cherry (c)
Charlie Haden (b)
Ornette Coleman (as)

Label:

Atlantic Warner

Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Catalogue Number:

81227966904

RecordDate:

1961

Although the title is a manifesto for the soloist, and there are passages aplenty that show Ornette (and Don Cherry), at the top of their extemporising game, this music is also about the art of the tune. One of the alto saxophonist's signes particuliers is the high tempo short theme, where the notes that bebop packed into 16 bars might be crammed into two, which is played just once or twice, almost like an accelerated fanfare, before the solos kick in over the whizzing bass and drums of Haden and Higgins or Blackwell. Perhaps because they fly by so fast those melodies are easily overlooked, but some of them are terrific for their mercurial dot-dash quality, and one of the best examples here is ‘Moon Inhabitants’. But Ornette also writes deeply moving laments and romantic themes and there are a couple of corkers in the shape of the ‘Just For You’ and ‘The Legend Of Bebop’. They swing so jauntily it's hard to stop singing them after a few plays.

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