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Ornette Coleman: Sound Grammar
Recorded live in concert in Ludwigshafen, Germany in October 2005, Ornette is joined by his regular partner, drummer Denardo Coleman (looks like the "airmail express has worked to both their advantage), and bassists Tony Falanga and Greg Cohen. They perform eight originals, including two classics, "Turnaround and "Song X. From "Lonely Woman onward, Ornette Coleman has certainly shown a preoccupation with time; pluralities of tempo place creative activity firmly in the direct present, rather than moving toward resolution, making one hyper-aware of oneself in the eternal now (to reference Don Cherry).
An example of this aural "presentness" is Ornette's use of two bassists in subtle opposition to one another, one bowing dusky horn-like lines in melodic conversation with his alto or playing dervish-like underneath, the other turning rhythmic anchor into melody. Falanga and Cohen are somewhat reminiscent of the David Izenzon/Charlie Haden duo that Coleman employed ca. 1968-70. Like Falanga, Izenzon was a classically-trained bassist who tended to stick to the high register, bowing contrapuntal lines somewhere between Coleman's trilling vocalizations and the unrelenting drum choruses.
As Free Jazz was a double quartet, Sound Grammar is in a sense a double duet. Ornette and Falanga stitch a discourse of joy and sorrow, keening poems of timeless cries and ebullient child-song, as Cohen and Denardo swirl about, dissecting galloping funk into sea-swells of contrasting rhythm. But as with Jackson Pollock, an overlapping of gestures and contrasting lines creates its own rhythmic flow; what at first may seem a visual assault becomes a meditation on action and experience. Ornette Coleman is a master at feeding collectivity and plurality—grammar and language, after all, never result from the one, but from the many.
Track Listing
Intro; Jordan; Sleep Talking; Turnaround; Matador; Waiting for You; Call to Duty; Once Only; Song X.
Personnel
Ornette Coleman
saxophone, altoOrnette Coleman: alto saxophone, violin, trumpet; Denardo Coleman: drums; Gregory Cohen: bass; Tony Falanga: bass
Album information
Title: Sound Grammar | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Sound Grammar
About Ornette Coleman
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