June’s playlist is a tribute to the timeless music of Ornette Coleman*Ornette Coleman: Lonely Woman*
Plenty of eloquence has greeted the death of the musical visionary Ornette Coleman but six words from New Yorker writer Alex Ross – “no better definition has been devised”, in response to Coleman’s contention that “composing is a way of not repeating” – get close to the heart of the matter. Coleman was a hero to improvisers from many genres and cultures, and an extraordinary spontaneous player himself. Yet he saw his work primarily in composition, albeit a non-dictatorial version aiming in each piece to catch a mood and establish a tonal palette that would oblige improvisers to play and listen to each other without recourse to habit. Since the most selflessly democratic of musical kings is dead, I therefore make no apology for starting June’s playlist with the same theme – Coleman’s Lonely Woman. This raggedly ecstatic classic was first played by Coleman, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins in 1959, revisited here by its composer in 2008.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.
Plenty of eloquence has greeted the death of the musical visionary Ornette Coleman but six words from New Yorker writer Alex Ross – “no better definition has been devised”, in response to Coleman’s contention that “composing is a way of not repeating” – get close to the heart of the matter. Coleman was a hero to improvisers from many genres and cultures, and an extraordinary spontaneous player himself. Yet he saw his work primarily in composition, albeit a non-dictatorial version aiming in each piece to catch a mood and establish a tonal palette that would oblige improvisers to play and listen to each other without recourse to habit. Since the most selflessly democratic of musical kings is dead, I therefore make no apology for starting June’s playlist with the same theme – Coleman’s Lonely Woman. This raggedly ecstatic classic was first played by Coleman, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins in 1959, revisited here by its composer in 2008.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.