Once Again Working on The Enigma off Ornette Coleman

February 28, 2024

By Kim Kleinman, Contributing Writer

When he invited me to this birthday party for Ornette Coleman, Fritz wrote, “…I’ve loved his music since I got the ears to hear it correctly, and now I’m convinced I’ve underestimated his brilliance and the sheer beauty of his music.”

“The ears to hear it correctly” captures my efforts too. I dutifully read Martin Williams as a new jazz fan in the late 1960s or early 1970s and saw that Ornette Coleman was not only NEW, but IMPORTANT. I think I snatched up the Atlantic Best of collection from the Columbia Record Club. It was new, important, but not really much fun. Still, it would come out for at least one side from time to time in those days of vinyl LPs as the soundtrack to underaged beer and the deep but tedious thoughts of young people trying to figure out the world. Like the world itself, this music was mysterious, challenging, and a little scary.

I kept returning to Coleman, though far more often than other avant-gardists, even late-era John Coltrane. There was brilliance and sheer beauty, plus a vulnerability that kept drawing me back. A.B. Spellman’s Four Jazz Lives showed Coleman to be shy and brave, thoughtful and enigmatic. Later I saw Shirley Clarke’s documentary “Ornette: Made In America,” which conveyed an overwhelming sense of loneliness. It was with that impression in mind that I walked into the green room after a 1981 concert with Prime Time when I began to get the ears to hear him correctly. Shy myself, I shook Coleman’s hand to say thanks, for that night and all the years before. It was easier to talk to bassist Jamaaldeen Tacuma, who asked what I played. We both heard me blurt, “Er, stereo.”

In 1981, over the two drums, two basses, and two guitars with the leader, I heard just how Ornette sang, not just on alto but on trumpet and violin. Somehow the lack of technical prowess on the latter instruments expressed that vocal element of his art. That’s what he’d been doing all along; I finally had the correct ears to hear him singing brilliantly and beautifully.

With that insight, I could go back to those early Atlantic albums and really hear them for the first time—the coherence and poignancy of the melodies, the rich interplay of the voices, the harmonies that are there even without a chordal instrument to frame them. The previously daunting “Free Jazz” had a logic and opportunities to triangulate Coleman’s music with the more familiar voices of Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, and Scott LaFaro, a chance to hear how they played this music.

Coleman composed some wonderful tunes—my favorites are among the obvious ones: “Ramblin’,” “Una Muy Bonita,” “Peace,” “Lonely Woman.” Other musicians have covered these and a few other gems, but they aren’t really part of the canon. Still, the lead sheets of his that I’ve seen in fake books are straightforward, but his highly personal concept of “harmolodics” was not widely developed by others. He certainly contributed to the shape of jazz that came along in the 1960s with terse snarling lines and swoops of sound, but to parse out the Coleman from the Shepp, the Ayler, the Dolphy, the Coltrane, in an adventurous young saxophonist of today is difficult.

Yet his sound is distinctive and I do revisit it often enough. Usually it’s the Atlantic albums from the early 1960s, though I have a selection from the late-sixties Blue Note sides and I paid attention to his work with pianist Geri Allen in the mid 1990s.

As part of the Jazz Spectrum birthday bash for Ornette, I once again have listened to those favorite early albums this time around, including the one standard that Coleman covered, which is included in this week’s Song of the Week segment, “Embraceable You.” It’s a chance to test his approach with a recognizable point of reference. In the same vein, I also returned to his contribution to “Sonnymoon for Two” from Sonny Rollins’s September 2010, 80th birthday concert at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan, which is collected on Road Shows, Vol. 2. It is, in the end, not all that good. For one, it is way too long, though to be fair Coleman doesn’t start playing until the nine-minute mark. They solo only serially in two- or three-minute segments over the remaining 12 minutes with little direct interplay. They certainly listen to one another but the interaction is passive. Coleman does invoke the theme at least tangentially in one solo, but more revealing is the way his improvisatory approach rooted in melody and theme has an affinity to Rollins’s and yet is so different. They each hear those intersections and lean into them.

It doesn’t quite work, but I am glad I listened. Coleman’s music does work, brilliantly and with sheer beauty. I am glad I have listened to it again and again and again.

Literally half of my playlist is old romance songs not because I enjoy romance but because I can’t for the life of me find old jazz that ISN’T romantic, send help I need suggestions

“Hide and Seek” now on Spotify.

For the whimsical lovers.

How long have you identified as asexual (or on the asexual specrrum)?

Hi all! I'm doing a poll just to get an idea of the breakdown of how long most of us have been here

If you also want to rb and comment how you found out about asexuality, that would be cool! If you're one of the rare ones who has been around since before AVEN, I'd love to hear your story

Thinking back on it- im like 80% sure i was just /LH Annoying for my art teachers to deal with back in Highschool- Like yeah I draw, ALOT and I did my art and projects in the class and outside of said classes. But now Im starting to realize that my teachers wanted me to make more "Meaningful" art, rather than just what I usually did and drew OC's or like Fungi and buildings. They wanted to push me to make art that had a more deeper purpose and feeling, ya know art that's like trying to say "Heres my struggles and anxieties." or "a representation of my fear for this reality" and jazz like that- but that all completely flew over my head. /Gen I was so oblivious to what they were trying to push me to do. They didn't Tell me out right "Draw what you feel/Make something about some struggles you have", of course not, but BECAUSE they didn't like tell me at point blank that's what they wanted me to try and make, I just drew OC's KJHSDGKJGHVKJSGJK. I don't know WHY all the little nuances they were trying to give me, just completely phased through me and left me with Nothing- but i think it's silly. After I finish a few projects, i'll try to draw more "purposeful" art. But not for me directly, it'll ofc still be OC/Characters from media based ahahah-

Stupid Blurr headcanon: his full name is actually Blueshift.

Core Skills info-dump:

So, in this chapter we have Jazz getting fusilli (short pasta) aglio olio (with oil, garlic, salt) - that's bc as autistic, new foods are hard and weird. For most of the autistic ppl I know, things like plain bread, pasta, etc. Are "Safe Foods". It has little taste, and usually feel, amell and taste the same (very neutral).

I choose oglio bc I HC Jazz not to use many spices. Also, not knowing WHAT is in the sauce is a big no-no with new foods. Jazz not using spices come from 3 main places: her being a main cook, so simple comes first. my autistic experience - I like the taste of food, and barely use anything but salt and garlic. And third - the fic "Neighborhood friendly vigilant" that has Jazz not using spices, and Jason fricking out (one of the cutest scenes, honestly). Short so she won't slurp/drop things on her date.

Jason order Carbonara, that is another italian dish. It also contains meat, so I didn't dig dipper. I assume he eat a lot of protein bc muscles and energy. Also a little food snob.

Also!!

The blender-metaphor is something I actually told my therapist (minus the Alfred part). It's... Really weird for me and I'm still figuring things out (or not. Bc, like a blender, it's not on the top part of my list).

I always wondered why I related to Abed from Community because OBVIOUSLY there’s no way I’m autistic too HAHAHAHA!!! But I was autistic.

41 years have passed since the world lost karen carpenter 💔😔🙁

SUZY EDDIE IZZARD Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens

We need to become more open minded to the idea that many of us exist on a spectrum - a continuum - of gender. That for some of us the choice isn't just one or the other - completely male or completely female - but often a combination of both. In fact, it seems there are three different lines on the sexuality spectrum: how you self identify, who you're attracted to, and what you look like. And it seems the dial can be at any place on any of those three lines.

anyone else have like. a stim song? mine is take five by dave brubeck. hits in all the right tingles and i start bouncing and tapping and rocking and it’s just. it’s wonderful

this is the song if anyone wants to hear it

JAZZ SPECTRUM’S SONG OF THE WEEK, 23 SEPTEMBER 2023, “Dedicated to You”

I got the chance to contribute to my good friend’s show with this third hour (9-10 pm CDT) this weekend. I wrote the following note which is published here https://www.wgte.org/blog/this-weeks-song-of-the-week-dedicated-to-you-notes-on-the-eight-versions and follows below.

“Dedicated to You”

That descending figure and resolution over a I-IV chord pattern is what grabbed me when pianist Randy Ingram played “Dedicated to You” on a Small’s Live Stream from Mezzrow’s recently. I played Name That Tune with my usual level of success until Ingram announced it afterwards.

Fritz offered me the chance to pick this week’s song; the choice was easy. Choosing versions was less easy, but more fun.

The first recording of Sammy Cahn’s tune and our starting place is from Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy who made their name in Kansas City. It sets the mood with a concise big band recording from 1936. The middle of the first set includes pianists whom I want to know better: James Williams and John Hicks. Williams recorded “Dedicated to You” on his first solo album as he rose to prominence as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Hicks was everywhere in the 1980s, but my musical attention was being distracted from jazz and I didn’t get to fully appreciate him. His smart trio work here, with Buster Williams, and Louis Hayes, is familiar and right. The first set ends with a lush Sarah Vaughn/Billy Eckstine duet.

If I rediscovered the tune courtesy of a Small’s Live Stream, then it’s fitting to have musicians I see regularly there—Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, Steve Davis, David Hazeltine, Peter Washington, and Joe Farnsworth—work out on the tune, performing under the name of One for All. A very young Rachael Price performs what is the title tune to her 2008 album, reminding us that her prowess in Lake Street Dive builds on this serious jazz apprenticeship. “Dedicated to You” is just one luxurious melody Freddie Hubbard dug into on his “The Body and The Soul” albu, and that could be where we could leave things.

But, we wrap up on an even higher level with what, I belatedly remember, is the version I first heard—Johnny Hartman singing with John Coltrane, pushing the tune’s richness to exquisite limits.

After two sets of a beautiful but particularly slow ballad, it seemed like a palate cleanser of Count Basie and the Orchestra doing their rousing anthem “One O’Clock Jump” was in order. This version from Newport in 1957 features soloists Lester Young and Roy Eldridge before Illinois Jacquet rides it out with the throttle fully open. I close out the hour with Billy Childs, joied by the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, taking on Chick Corea’s “Crystal Silence,” another simple, delicate, beautiful tune.

Milt Ward & Virgo Spectrum - official reissue of 1977 private-press jazz LP (Frederiskberg Records)

It seemed trumpeter/composer Milton Ward had all he needed for a breakthrough in the world of contemporary jazz in the late 1970s. Blessed with a beautiful trumpet tone and an impressive work ethic, Ward found a home in Boston’s exploding soul and jazz scenes of the early 1970s. His star never joined the constellation of jazz luminaries, but Ward did leave one fantastic album of spiritual jazz that has become a collectors’ favorite: Milt Ward and Virgo Spectrum. Frederiksberg Records is proud to present the first and only authorized reissue of this funky jazz classic. The release includes remastered tracks from the original LP along with in-depth liner notes that provide a detailed account of Ward’s journey from his early years discovering music in the South to his toils finding a hold in the music business in Boston and New York City. Born in Michigan but raised in New Orleans, Ward came up through the Crescent City’s legendary musical education system. After a stint in the Air Force, Ward and his friend Stanton Davis (of Ghetto/Mysticism fame) looked to the Berklee College of Music in Boston for the next step in their development. Immediately, the two were immersed in Boston’s busy music scene, finding trumpet chairs in Herschel Dwellingham’s Orchestra at the Sugar Shack, where they backed up many of the day’s soul greats. Ward worked with many up-and-coming musicians emerging from Berklee’s nurturing arms. He recruited many to his projects, including his Ultra Modern Quintet Plus Two, which played regularly around Boston in the early 1970s. It was in the mid-1970s that Ward took it upon himself and his entrepreneurial spirit to start his own record label, Twin Quest, and record his stand-alone release. Milt Ward and Virgo Spectrum brought together great young musicians who would quickly make names for themselves within the jazz world, including keyboard wizard Delmar Brown and future Jazz Messenger saxophonist Billy Pierce. Saxophonist/flutist Eddie Alex is a standout, as is baritone saxophonist Glenn Barbour, who soon would head to Atlanta to join The Whole Darn Family. Percussionist Ignacio Mena, bassist Cucho Martinez, and drummer Hugh Petersen all hailed from farther south: Chile, Venezuela, and St. Croix, respectively. The recording also incorporated two bona fide New York jazz masters and veterans of the spiritual jazz movement, bassist Cecil McBee and saxophonist Carlos Garnett. The recording still stands as a hallmark to the creative music scene of Boston and New York City when soul and funk began to emmesh themselves in jazz. Milton Ward’s Milt Ward and Virgo Spectrum remains a youthfully vibrant recording that is ripe for rediscovery by a new generation of explorative listeners. Alto Saxophone, Flute – Eddie Alex Baritone Saxophone – Glenn Barbour Bass – Cecil McBee Drums – Hugh Peterson Electric Bass [Fender] – Coucho Martinez Electric Piano, Piano, Synthesizer – Delmar Brown Illustration, Art Direction – J.M. Wilson Percussion – Ignacio Mena Photography By – Harold Emerson Tenor Saxophone – Carlos Garnett Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Bill Pierce Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Liner Notes – Milt Ward Reissue Credits: Liner notes: Bret Sjerven Remastering: Greg Reierson Graphic Design: Javi Bayo Pressed at Pallas, Germany Special Thanks: Takayuki Fujikawa Under Exclusive License from Milt Ward’s Estate Produced for Reissue by Andreas Vingaard

crows use tools and like to slide down snowy hills. today we saw a goose with a hurt foot who was kept safe by his flock - before taking off, they waited for him to catch up. there are colors only butterflies see. reindeer are matriarchical. cows have best friends and 4 stomachs and like jazz music. i watched a video recently of an octopus making himself a door out of a coconut shell.

i am a little soft, okay. but sometimes i can't talk either. the world is like fractal light to me, and passes through my skin in tendrils. i feel certain small things like a catapult; i skirt around the big things and somehow arrive in crisis without ever realizing i'm in pain.

in 5th grade we read The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-time, which is about a young autistic boy. it is how they introduced us to empathy about neurotypes, which was well-timed: around 10 years old was when i started having my life fully ruined by symptoms. people started noticing.

i wonder if birds can tell if another bird is odd. like the phrase odd duck. i have to believe that all odd ducks are still very much loved by the other normal ducks. i have to believe that, or i will cry.

i remember my 5th grade teacher holding the curious incident up, dazzled by the language written by someone who is neurotypical. my teacher said: "sometimes i want to cut open their mind to know exactly how autistics are thinking. it's just so different! they must see the world so strangely!" later, at 22, in my education classes, we were taught to say a person with autism or a person on the spectrum or neurodivergent. i actually personally kind of like person-first language - it implies the other person is trying to protect me from myself. i know they had to teach themselves that pattern of speech, is all, and it shows they're at least trying. and i was a person first, even if i wasn't good at it.

plants learn information. they must encode data somehow, but where would they store it? when you cut open a sapling, you cannot find the how they think - if they "think" at all. they learn, but do not think. i want to paint that process - i think it would be mostly purple and blue.

the book was not about me, it was about a young boy. his life was patterned into a different set of categories. he did not cry about the tag on his shirt. i remember reading it and saying to myself: i am wrong, and broken, but it isn't in this way. something else is wrong with me instead. later, in that same person-first education class, my teacher would bring up the curious incident and mention that it is now widely panned as being inaccurate and stereotypical. she frowned and said we might not know how a person with autism thinks, but it is unlikely to be expressed in that way. this book was written with the best intentions by a special-ed teacher, but there's some debate as to if somebody who was on the spectrum would be even able to write something like this.

we might not understand it, but crows and ravens have developed their own language. this is also true of whales, dolphins, and many other species. i do not know how a crow thinks, but we do know they can problem solve. (is "thinking" equal to "problem solving"? or is "thinking" data processing? data management?) i do not know how my dog thinks, either, but we "talk" all the same - i know what he is asking for, even if he only asks once.

i am not a dolphin or reindeer or a dog in the nighttime, but i am an odd duck. in the ugly duckling, she grows up and comes home and is beautiful and finds her soulmate. all that ugliness she experienced lives in downy feathers inside of her, staining everything a muted grey. she is beautiful eventually, though, so she is loved. they do not want to cut her open to see how she thinks.

a while ago i got into an argument with a classmate about that weird sia music video about autism. my classmate said she thought it was good to raise awareness. i told her they should have just hired someone else to do it. she said it's not fair to an autistic person to expect them to be able to handle that kind of a thing.

today i saw a goose, and he was limping. i want to be loved like a flock loves a wounded creature: the phrase taken under a wing. which is to say i have always known i am not normal. desperate, mewling - i want to be loved beyond words.

loved beyond thinking.