tebo@gatech.UUCP (08/09/83)
I'm interested in hearing from anyone with any opinions or information about Ornette Coleman's "harmelodics." I'm especially interested in hearing about any interviews with Ornette published in the last few years. The terse, cryptic statement he made on his "Dancing in Your Head" LP was of help in making this VERY different sounding music more accessible to me. It may be that trying to attain a better intellectual understanding of harmelodic theory is a bad idea: intellectual listening often makes the listener less open to emotional/aesthetic interpretation. Despite these fears, I'm still interested in any comments. I'd also be interested to see if there IS anyone out there with a taste for this sort of music. Ornette "alumni" are also of interest. Blood Ulmer and Shannon Jackson are the only other purveyors of the idiom I know of. Additional information and/or record titles and/or reviews would be appreciated.
tgd@floyd.UUCP (Tom Dennehy) (08/10/83)
About Harmelodics and Jazz:
First of all - let's hear Coleman's quote!! Asking for
a reaction without giving the source isn't fair to us. No
flame intended.
The Coleman influence on contemporary music is alive and
well on the ECM label. Manfreid Eicher (who produces 3/4 of the
releases) is committed to keeping this genre in the public ear in
many forms.
Among Coleman "alumni" the first who come to mind is Old and
New Dreams, consisting of Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman, Don Cherry, and
Ed Blackwell, all OC sideman in the early 60's. Each of their two(3?)
albums contains a few Coleman pieces, and his influence is clearly
heard in their own works. Notable titles are "Old and New Dreams" and
"Playing" (a live album).
The Art Ensemble of Chicago can be almost unlistenable at times,
they stray so far from any framework, but it's so sublime when they
reach you. Check out "Nice Guys" (the critics' ga-ga album of 1980)
"Full Force" and "Urban Bushmen". Trumpeter Lester Bowie of AEC has
released a couple of solo albums recently - "The Great Pretender" and
a new double album on which I think he is leading some sort of all-star
big band session in addition to solo improvisation. Can't think of a
title.
The Coleman influence on Keith Jarrett shows up mostly in his
recordings with his Scandinavian quartet - Panne Danielsson, Charlie
Haden and Jan Garbarek. His solo and orchestral recordings are more
evokative of nineteenth century classical idioms, which shouldn't surprise
anyone since he gave up his classical composition studies pretty early
in his career. Nonetheless, the "free jazz" movement certainly has helped
widespread acceptance of his strictly improvisational recordings and live
performances. Notable group recording are "My Song", "Arbour Zena" and
the live album "Nude Ants".
Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition has been turning out some
pretty special recordings in the last couple years, even after replacing
Arthur Blythe on sax with Chico Freeman. Always a couple of Coleman
pieces on board. Check out "Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition" (with
Blythe) and "Inflation Blues" (with Freeman). Bltyhe's recent group effort
merits a listen, if only for the fact that he's employing a tuba for his
base line and a cello for a second lead voice. Let's hear it for progress!
Cellist David Darling (while we're on the subject) is showing up
everywhere these days. His own album "Cycles" contains what may be my
favorite piece of music in the eintire world (Cycle Song) and he also plays
on the ECM album "Gallery" and on Glen Moore's (of Orgeon) first solo album.
We're seeing new compinations of lead and rhythm instruments, gears
turning at different frequencies guiding improvisation - these are the con-
tinuing influences of Coleman, and because it shows up mostly on one label,
it is now often called the ECM style of jazz - cool and detatched, sometimes
cryptic and random, but always making you think and wonderful when you under-
stand.
The recently published book "All American Music" (author escapes me -
I have to start writing these things at home) contains chapters on Coleman,
the Art Ensemble, and Keith Jarrett, along with Phillip Glass, Daniel delTredici,
John Cage, Steve Reich (CHECK OUT "Music for 18 Musicians" and "Music for Large
Ensemble"), Talking Heads, and Neil Young (among others). There was an
article on Coleman in The New Yorker god knows how long ago. I also think
he'll be appearing on an all jazz star Love Boat special next season.
To sum, let's see net.music.jazz, and what do we think about Wynton
Marsalis (critics' ga-ga of 1983 and with good reason)
Thanks for reading,
Tom Dennehy
Btl Whippany
{...floyd!tgd}tugs@utcsrgv.UUCP (Stephen Hull) (08/12/83)
Another Coleman alumnus (maybe that's not the correct word, as he's still
in the band) is Jamaaladeen Tacuma. He's done a solo album, I think, and
also has a group which I believe goes under the moniker "Cosmetic". I think
it's more of a straight ahead funk band, and I don't know how Harmelodic
his other stuff is, but it might be worth trying
steve hull
--
{ linus, ihnp4, allegra, floyd }!utcsrgv!tugs
{ decvax!utzoo, cornell, watmath, uw-beaver, ubc-vision }!utcsrgv!tugstgd@floyd.UUCP (Tom Dennehy) (08/17/83)
It shouldn't surprise Ornette Coleman that MOR groups are
making megabucks while he struggles to stay in the public ear.
His musical journey is that taken by European playwrights beginning
with Beckett in the early 50's. When an artist is radically inno-
vative, he must not only create at his own level, but must also
create the standards by which an audience can judge his work. When
the prevailing standard is "it's got a good beat, I give it an 85",
rejection of thinkingman's music can be swift and permanent.
The recreation of the dramatic form is still struggling to be
understood. Plays with few characters and wildly varying stagings
proliferate today, with results ranging from the critically successful
(night, Mother) to the marginal (K2) to the floppos (Edward Albee has
struck out three times running with Lolita, The Lady from Dubuque, and
The Man with Three Arms). However, the megabuck successes are always
the paegents (Annie, 42nd Street). Regional theaters are molding
audiences to new forms (it's unusual for a straight play to be produced
Broadway-bound today) but it's a slow painful process.
The recreation of the jazz ear can't be expected to be any easier.
For a look at the struggle, lend an eye to Julio Cortazar's
short story "The Pursuer", which looks at a sax player's life through
the eyes of the man making a great living writing his biography. It's
in the Cortazar collection End of the Game.
Tom Dennehy BTL Whippany {floyd!tgd}