Sunday, August 06, 2006

Ornette's grammar


Yes, the waiting period is almost over. On September 12 Ornette Coleman will release Sound Grammar on his own label, also called Sound Grammar. The record was recorded live in Germany in 2005 with his current band whom he has been touring and gigging with for quite some time. I saw them at Kongsberg Jazz in 2004 and thought they were excellent. The band was and is Ornette Coleman on saxophone, trumpet & violin, his son Denardo Coleman on drums, and acoustic bassists Tony Falanga and Greg Cohen. Cohen in particular impressed me at Kongsberg. I'd only heard him on Tom Waits recordings prior to that, where his role had been more restrained.

The title, Sound Grammar, suggests to be yet another one of Ornette's theories on music. Remember, this was the guy who released jazz from a more constricted state in the late 50's, thus creating the rather mis-used term "free jazz" (which was an imperative sentence in 1960). Ornette says about Sound Grammar: "Sound grammar is to music what letters are to language. Music is a language of sounds that transforms all human languages." (Quote taken from Big Hassle) Classic Ornette. The record is also rumored to be one of his most melodic and accessible to date, but that makes me think when has an Ornette Coleman record not been melodic? Melody is what the guy is about. Oh, well. September 12 it is.

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