In celebration of what may claim the top spot for my 2006-list, Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammar, the mp3 for today is "Sleep Talk" from Ornette's Of Human Feelings (Antilles, 1982).
Of Human Feelings is Ornette's harmolodic funk at its very best. Warm, bouncy, catchy, highly melodic. That last bit tend to escape many critics of Ornette's music, his attention to and skill in creating melodies. Of... was recorded in 1979 with then up-and-coming musicians such as bassist Jamaladeen Tacuma (seek out his album Show Stoppper from 1983, but beware of the cover art), and Ornette's son Denardo Coleman on the drums.
I've chosen "Sleep Talk" today for two reasons. One, like I said above, it relates to this year's Sound Grammar. It seemed to skip the attention of most critics - much due to a faulty fact sheet from Ornette's record company - but there is a beautiful reworking of "Sleep Talk", retitled "Sleep Talking", on Sound Grammar.
The second reason is to note the web-based effort to establish a post-70's jazz canon as mentioned in the New York Times. It culminated last week with the opening of behearer.com, where you can log on and enter your own suggestions to the list. Many of my favorite jazz albums were released during this "lost" era of jazz history (all three of the mp3's I've posted here so far have been lifted off records released in the 70's and 80's), and it is nice to see that other people are giving post-70's jazz some much needed attention. Read more about it here and here.
* I have finished my exams now, and I will devote much of my newly acquired spare time to revisit the records on my 2006-list, which hasn't seen much action since early November.
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