Ornette Coleman Ornette! CD

Additional Tracks

Personnel: Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone); Don Cherry (pocket trumpet); Scott LaFaro (bass); Ed Blackwell (drums).
Recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York, New York on January 31, 1961. Originally released on Atlantic (1378). Includes liner notes by Nat Hentoff and Gunther Schuller.
Personnel: Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone); Don Cherry (pocket trumpet); Ed Blackwell (drums).
Liner Note Authors: Gunther Schuller; Nat Hentoff.
Recording information: Atlantic Recording Studios, New York, NY (01/31/1961).
Photographers: Guy Lequerrec; Bob Parent.
Recorded a little over a month after his groundbreaking work Free Jazz, this album found Coleman perhaps retrenching from that idea conceptually, but nonetheless plumbing his quartet music to ever greater heights of richness and creativity. Ornette! was the first time bassist Scott LaFaro recorded with Coleman, and the difference in approach between LaFaro and Charlie Haden is apparent from the opening notes of "W.R.U." There is a more direct propulsion and limberness to his playing, and he can be heard driving Coleman and Don Cherry actively and more aggressively than Haden's warm, languid phrasing. The cuts, with titles derived from the works of Sigmund Freud, are all gems and serve as wonderful launching pads for the musicians' improvisations. Coleman, by this time, was very comfortable in extended pieces, and he and his partners have no trouble filling in the time, never coming close to running out of ideas. Special mention should be made of Ed Blackwell, with one of his finest performances. Ornette! is a superb release and a must for all fans of Coleman and creative improvised music in general. ~ Brian Olewnick
Originally issued in 1961 on Atlantic Records, ORNETTE! (recorded shortly after the revolutionary FREE JAZZ album) finds Ornette Coleman and company at the peak of their powers. Trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell are on board--both would continue playing with Coleman off and on for decades to come--but the wild card here is the legendary bassist Scott LaFaro, who earned his reputation with the equally innovative (albeit quieter) Bill Evans Trio, here taking the place of Coleman's then-regular bassist Charlie Haden. LaFaro's style is more hard-driving (in the traditional, hard-bop sense) than Haden's warm, buoyant approach, inspiring the soloists to feverish heights. Though considered very "avant-garde" at the time, Coleman's solos crackle with the essence of the blues, while Cherry plays with a brassy, rippling tone, and Blackwell's crisp, propulsive drumming is rich with rhythmic echoes of New Orleans and the Caribbean. Vibrant and immediate, ORNETTE! is a classic in Coleman's voluminous recorded history.
Recorded a little over a month after his groundbreaking work Free Jazz, this album found Coleman perhaps retrenching from that idea conceptually, but nonetheless plumbing his quartet music to ever greater heights of richness and creativity. Ornette! was the first time bassist Scott LaFaro recorded with Coleman, and the difference in approach between LaFaro and Charlie Haden is apparent from the opening notes of "W.R.U." There is a more direct propulsion and limberness to his playing, and he can be heard driving Coleman and Don Cherry actively and more aggressively than Haden's warm, languid phrasing. The cuts, with titles derived from the works of Sigmund Freud, are all gems and serve as wonderful launching pads for the musicians' improvisations. By this time, Coleman was very comfortable in extended pieces, and he and his partners have no trouble filling in the time, never coming close to running out of ideas. Special mention should be made of Ed Blackwell, with one of his finest performances. Ornette! is a superb release and a must for all fans of Coleman and creative improvised music in general. [Ornette! was reissued in 2004 with "Proof Readers" added as a bonus track.] ~ Brian Olewnick