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Ornette Coleman: To Whom Who Keeps a Record
One of those three later albums, To Whom Who Keeps a Record was released in Japan in 1975 and was unavailable in the US prior to the box set and only now as a single CD. Coleman's work was so solid during that time that this collection is hardly the mismatched-socks drawer that so many "rarities" collections are. Nor is it an epiphany. It casts no unexpected light on the man, the aesthetic or the times. It is simply another great record, most notable for including "Blues Connotation No. 2," or as it is properly titled, "P.S. Unless One Has (Blues Connotation No. 2)." The dogged chronologism of the box set robbed the album of its titling. The tracks as they appeared on the original release (and here) read as a sentence: "Music Always," "Brings Goodness," "To Us," "All," "P.S. Unless One Has (Blues Connotation No. 2)," "Some Other" and "Motive for its Use."
Chronologically, then, it falls between Change of the Century (1959) and This is Our Music (1960), with Don Cherry (trumpet), Charlie Haden (bass) and Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell (drums). The record invites comparison between Higgins and his replacement, the more off-kilter Blackwell. But those comparisons have been made before and weighing the historic importance of To Whom Who Keeps a Record is rather beside the point. It stands up to Coleman's other work of the time, which means it stands up to the greatest records in the jazz canon. What more could be said?
Track Listing
Music Always; Brings Goodness; To Us All; P.S. Unless One Has (Blues Connotation No. 2); Some Other; Motive for its Use.
Personnel
Ornette Coleman
saxophone, altoOrnette Coleman: saxophone; Don Cherry: trumpet; Charlie Haden: bass; Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins: drums.
Album information
Title: To Whom Who Keeps a Record | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Water Music
About Ornette Coleman
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