By Joel Roberts
Listening to these three newly reissued Blue Note albums, it's easy to forget that they were all recorded some 37 years ago. The three discs - two live Ornette Coleman titles and Bobby Hutcherson's Blue Note debut - sound more vital, ambitious, and modern than most anything being done today.
The Coleman sides, At the Golden Circle, Vols. One and Two, were recorded over two nights in Stockholm in December 1965, and document the free jazz pioneer's exciting new trio featuring longtime partner Charles Moffett on drums and innovative bassist David Izenzon. Just back on the scene after a two-year "retirement," Coleman is a sheer force of nature on alto saxophone, offering one powerful, surprising and memorable improvisation after another, mixing his harmolodic advances with a healthy dose of down-home blues and an infectious joy in music-making. The rhythm section improvises brilliantly too and displays an uncanny sense of anticipation and interplay - both with each other and with the leader.
A highlight of Volume One is a previously unreleased tune, "Doughnuts," plus new alternate takes of "Faces and Places" and "European Echoes." Volume Two features some of Coleman's somewhat basic - though effective within its limts - trumpet and violin playing on "Snowflakes and Sunshine." New alternate takes of three tunes round out this CD as well.
Taken together, these two Ornette Coleman discs make for still exciting, still challenging and still rewarding listening.
Dialogue, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson's first recording as a leader, remains one of his finest ever - which is saying quite a lot for an artist who's been the premier performer on his instrument for four decades now. The sextet is a who's who of the '60s jazz vanguard - mostly in their twenties at the time, with the exception of veterans Sam Rivers, the great saxophone experimentalist, and master bassist Richard Davis.
Though it was Hutcherson's album, and his creative touch on the vibes lends the recording its unique sound, the date belonged just as much to pianist Andrew Hill, who provided four of the adventurous compositions, and drummer Joe Chambers, who provided two. The soloists are all in top form on this set of complex, yet accessible music, with fine contributions from Hutcherson, Rivers, Hill and fiery trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, certainly no stranger to the avant garde (see Coleman's Free Jazz and Coltrane's Ascension).
Refreshingly, given the tragedies that befell so many jazz performers of the period, all six musicians in the group are still alive and kicking today, most of them producing outstanding, often cutting-edge music. That's especially true for Hill and Rivers, both of whom released some of their finest albums in recent years, and Chambers, whose own Blue Note debut as a leader, remarkably, came just three years ago.
The Ornette Coleman Trio, At the Golden Circle, Vol. One
Personnel: Ornette Coleman - alto sax, trumpet, violin; David Izenzon - bass; Charles Moffett - drums.
Track listing: Faces and Places, European Echoes, Dee Dee, Dawn, Faces and Places, European Echoes, Doughnuts.
The Ornette Coleman Trio, At the Golden Circle, Vol. Two
Personnel: Same as above.
Track listing: Snowflakes and Sunshine, Morning Song, The Riddle, Antiques, Morning Song, The Riddle, Antiques.
Bobby Hutcherson, Dialogue
Personnel: Bobby Hutcherson - vibes and marimba; Freddie Hubbard - trumpet; Sam Rivers - tenor and soprano sax. bass clarinet, flute; Andrew Hill - piano; Richard Davis - bass; Joe Chambers - drums.
Track listing: Catta, Idle While, Les Noirs Marchant, Dialogue, Ghetto Lights, Jasper.
