Ornette Coleman, 1930-2015: a few words, with a helping hand from Robert Palmer

Photo: Michael Hoefner / Wikimedia Commons

No single musician changed the way I hear, approach, perceive, feel, appreciate and think about music the way Ornette Coleman did. His music was... is mind expanding and profoundly touching. It can be relentless in its conviction, but also communal in its approach. Inclusive, even. "Friends and neighbors, that's where its at." It can be deceptively complex yet also alluringly simple, and vice versa. It is all of that, and so much more. And it has a democratic principle at its very core.

This democratic principle to music making has been a cornerstone for me for many years. It is one I see mirrored in so much of my fave music, both in jazz and beyond. Even in rock music, such as in the set up and approach of groups like Gang of Four (particularly the early version) and the Minutemen. I've written about this topic previously (e.g. ENO #1), and will likely return to it again.

Today, I'm feeling too sad to do much writing at all. The news of Ornette Coleman's death -- although I like many others had heard rumors his health had been poor -- has devastated me. Instead, I'll leave you with some words by the late, great Robert Palmer, who wrote about Coleman as well as any I've read.

"The Ornette Coleman quartet that debuted in New York at the old Five Spot, in the fall of 1959, approached the void and, at times, tumbled into it. The listeners that first night included Leonard Bernstein, Gunther Schuller, Neshui and Ahmet Ertegun, John Hammond, and almost every musician in town. Some heard formlessness and chaos, others a sound that would radically alter the course of jazz and inform the work of a generation of musicians to come.

"In the music we play,'" Ornette said, "no one player has the lead. Anyone can come out with it at any time."

 This new approach to group playing looked ahead with its polyrhythms, geared to exploration rather than to predetermined patterns, and its melodies that proceeded through a complex of unstated modulations rather than riding on a cushion of traditional chord progression. But the music also looked back through the jazz tradition with its collective improvisation and its personal, speechlike approach to intonation and phrasing (...)" -- from "Ornette Coleman and the Circle with a Hole in the Middle," reprinted in Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer (Scribner, New York, 2009)

R.I.P. Ronald Shannon Jackson

Albert Ayler, Charles Tyler, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, James Blood Ulmer, and again with Ulmer in The Music Revelation Ensemble, Last Exit with Peter Brötzmann, Sonny Sharrock and Bill Laswell, Power Tools with Bill Frisell and Melvin Gibbs, John Zorn, and not least his very own The Decoding Society.

That's some resumé. And those are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head, just after the incredibly sad news of Ronald Shannon Jackson's passing ticked in via Vernon Reid on Twitter last night. Reid was a follower, fan and friend of Jackson, and played with him in The Decoding Society. I think it's fair to say that some of that experience seeped into Reid's music with Living Color, too, which indicates that Ronald Shannon Jackson's legacy is not solely tied to the realm of the avant jazz/rock/harmolodic funk/noise amalgam that he had helped shape ever since he supported Albert Ayler's spiritual cries some time in the mid '60s.

Jackson's playing was both joyous and ferocious, mirrored in his music as well as that of his collaborators: from Coleman's harmolodic masterpiece Dancing In Your Head to Last Exit's violent and confrontational skronk. His discography contains many highlights: Albert Ayler Quintet's Live at Slug's Saloon, recorded in 1966 and released on various labels over the years, Ornette Coleman's aforementioned Dancing In Your Head (Horizon/A&M Records, 1977), Cecil Tayor's Cecil Taylor Unit (New World Records, 1978) and 3 Phasis (New World Records, 1979), James Blood Ulmer's Are You Glad to Be InAmerica (Rough Trade, 1980), Music Revelation Ensemble's No Wave (Moers Music, 1980), Eye On You (About Time, 1980), Nasty (Moers, 1981), Man Dance (Antilles, 1982) and Decode Yourself (Island, 1985) with his The Decoding Society, Last Exit's self titled debut (Enemy, 1986), John Zorn's Spillane (Elektra Nonesuch, 1987), Power Tools' Strange Meeting (Antilles, 1987). And yet we've only scratched the surface.

Below are a few videos of Jackson with various collaborators, most of the uploaded to an account attributed to Ronald Shannon Jackson (whether the account was genuinely his or merely set up in his honor, I do not know).

 Ornette Coleman & Prime Time

Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society

Power Tools (Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Frisell & Melvin Gibbs)

Last Exit

R.I.P. Cedar Walton

News filtered through on Twitter today that the much loved hard bop pianist and composer Cedar Anthony Walton jr. passed away this morning. Born on January 17, 1934 in Dallas, Texas, Walton played as a leader and sideman on over 200 recordings (discogs.com has him credited 239 times as a performer, even more as composer and arranger, and even that may be missing a few). He has played with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Abbey Lincoln, Clifford Jordan, Hank Mobley and many others.

To say I have a grasp of his discography would be lying. In fact, I got into him fairly late, and so am in reality only beginning to dig into his work. But I do have my faves from what I've heard, topped by the first epynomous record by the band Eastern Rebellion, which in addition to Walton consisted of George Coleman, Sam Jones and Billy Higgins.

Recorded and released in the mid 70s on Timeless, it comes from an era where my jazz interest have always tended towards the avant-garde (e.g. New York loft-jazz, AACM, European freejazz), so it's perhaps no surprise I discovered it late. But Eastern Rebellion is a damn fine piece of hard bop, beatutifully recorded and masterrfully played, and both the compositions and the individual intstrumental contributions are tastefully inventive yet at the same time devoted to no-nonesense, purposeful, straight ahead jazz. The record also includes a fine cover of John Coltrane's "Naima", yet it is the opening track, Walton's own "Bolivia", I would pick as the album's highlight. R.I.P Cedar Walton:

Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris Feb. 10 1947 - Ja. 29 2013

I received the sad news late last night that cornetist, arranger and "conductionist" Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris passed away only 65 years old, succumbing to cancer which he was diagnosed with last year. A fiercely original musician, he had worked closely with saxophonists Frank Lowe during the 70s, and David Murray for much of the 80s and early 90s some of it along with Butch's brother, Wilber, on bass.

"Butch" Morris developed a way for large ensembles to play improvised music using what he called conducted improvisation, or conduction for short. The resulting music straddled and blurred the lines between avant garde jazz and new music. The 1985 album Current Trends in Racism in Modern America was the first recorded example of Morris' conduction.

Ben Ratliff has written a fine obituary for "Butch" Morris in the New York Times.

Here's a lovingly put together video example of Morris' music, "The Composition of Conduction".

R.I.P.

R.I.P. Dave Brubeck

The iconic jazz pianist Dave Brubeck has passed away, aged 91. Far better obits than I can whip up on the fly are already available elsewhere on the web, for example on BBC here or even better, Ben Ratliff's obit for the NY Times. I will say this, though: Time Out and "Take Five" are monumental, but Brubeck had much more to offer than that.

R.I.P. Ted Curson

News have been circulating on Twitter these last few hours that trumpeter Ted Curson has passed away at the age of 77, most citing a French website as a source. Sad news indeed. Curson is perhaps best know for his tenure with Charles Mingus, although he also played with such luminaries as Archie Shepp (Fire Music), Cecil Taylor and Andrew Hill, as well as recording a dozen or so records as a leader or co-leader.

Curson can be heard at the paek of his powers on "Folk Forms No. 1" from Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid, 1960), together with Mingus, Eric Dolphy and Dannie Richmond. Some band, that.

R.I.P. David S. Ware

I woke up today to the sad news of David S. Ware's passing. As you may know, Ware had a kidney transplant a few years back, but recovered and made something of a triumphant comeback with a handful of records, including a solo recording, and a return to the quartet format that used to be his primary vehicle throughout his career.

I will try to write a more thorough post about his recordings and career later. For now, I'll copy and paste what I wrote on Twitter about "Aquarian Sound", one of Ware's best known compositions, earlier today:

"David S. Ware's "Aquarian Sound" is, to my mind, one of the most powerful pieces of music, never mind jazz, of the past 20 odd years. William Parker plays the bass riff as if plucking at your heart strings, Mark Edwards (on the album version) enters next, carefully hitting the ride cymbals as if for comfort. A few bars in, Matthew Shipp joins laying down four plaintive chords and sounds crestfallen. Next, Ware enters, doubling Parker's bass lines on his tenor and then... just... soars (pic and sound slightly out of sync. on the video):"

o):

David S Ware - Aquarian sound by MrDrive

R.I.P. Adam Yauch aka MCA

Very sad to learn that Adam Yauch has passed away. Not sure I how to process it at the moment, bar spinning old Beastie Boys tunes. LOUD!

“I’m gonna die gonna die one day 
Cause I’m goin and goin and goin this way 
Not like a roach or a piece of toast 
I’m going out first class not going out coach"


EDIT: Sasha Frere-Jones has a lovely, and personal, piece up on his New Yorker blog.

R.I.P. Levon Helm

Just got that news that drummer, singer and mensch Levon Helm, "[T]he only drummer who can make you cry", has passed away. It was to be expected, perhaps, considering the recent news about his deteriorating health. I'm nevertheless devastated. R.I.P.

R.I.P. Sam Rivers

The sad news broke today of the passing of saxophonist, composer, "free bopper" and Loft Jazz great Sam Rivers. In the wake of some Twitter and Facebook rumors, Peter Hum was one of the first to write about it on his Ottawa Citizen jazz blog. Sam Rivers deserves more time and space than I'm able to give him now, so I'm hoping to return at a later time with a lengthier post, remembering some of his great and, sadly, largely forgotten musical output. R.I.P.

EDIT: More from Nate Chinen in the NY Times and from others via Chinen's blog.

R.I.P Graham Collier

Sad to hear that English bassist, bandleader and composer Graham Collier passed away recently. More here.

R.I.P. Jerry Leiber & Nick Ashford

(50 Coastin' Classics, Rhino 71090)

Jerry Leiber, one half of songwriting duo Leiber & Stoller, passed away yesterday. Probably most famous for hits like "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock" and "Stand By Me", I loved him most for his work with The Coasters, for whom Leiber & Stoller wrote clever, playful and often funny tunes with theatric elements, some of which mocked elements of mainstream America's popular culture -- see "Along Came Jones" -- and some that had underlying serious themes; for every "Yakety-Yak" there was a "Shopping For Clothes."

On the same day, Nick Ashford passed away. Ashford, along with partner Valerie Simpson, wrote huge hits for others, such as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "You're All I Need To Get By" and "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing". But they also performed as a popular R&B duo, and had hits with such great songs as "Is It Still Good To Ya" and 1984's "Solid".

R.I.P. Poly Styrene, Hazel Dickens & Phoebe Snow

I haven't got much to say. Incredibly sad. Tom Hull has a good post up on his webpage, and also some nice words for Hazel Dickens and Phoebe Snow, who both recently passed away too.

R.I.P. Billy Bang

I was truly saddened to learn that Billy Bang passed away yesterday, April 11th, 2011. Free jazz violinists don't grow on trees, but between him and Leroy Jenkins, some truly amazing music has been created. Ottowa Citizen has more. EDIT: Tom Hull has a mini CG and more links here. Post on npr's A Blog Supreme.

Billy Bang played on many great records, both as leader and with people like Sun Ra, William Parker, Kahil El'Zabar, Marilyn Crispel, William Hooker and Bootsy Collins to name a only a few. Below, some picks of my favorite Billy Bang recordings, off the top of my head and probably missing a few gems:

• Billy Bang Quintet: Rainbow Gladiator (Soul Note, 1981)
• Billy Bang Sextet: The Fire From Within (Soul Note, 1985)
• Billy Bang: Bang On! (Justin Time, 1997)
• Billy Bang: Vietnam: The Aftermath (Justin Time, 2001)
• William Parker Violin Trio: Scrapbook (Thirsty Ear, 2003)
• Sirone-Bang Ensemble: Configuration (Silkheart, 2005)
• Billy Bang: Vietnam: Reflections (Justin Time, 2005)
• Billy Bang Quintet feat. Frank Lowe: Above and Beyond: An Evening in Grand Rapids (Justin Time)

Never got a copy of Prayer for Peace, Bang's last record and one much praised by Tom Hull.

EDIT: Finally got a digital copy of Prayer... yesterday. Also, if this happens to be your first visit (thanks to Hull for the link), please note that my jazz library/list/grades haven't been properly updated in ages. Hoping to sort this out sooner rather than later.

EDIT 2: Thanks to Destination: Out!'s lovely Billy Bang farewell post, I came across the rare album Intensive Care, released under the group name Jazz Doctors in 1984, a one off project with Bang, Frank Lowe, drummer Dennis Charles and bassist Rafael Garrett. It's a highly well-played and enjoyable record that deserves a mention among those above (see my Jazz pages for grades).

My smile is stuck, I cannot go back to your frownland.

R.I.P. Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart

Marion Brown, R.I.P.

Just learned that altoist Marion Brown passed away on Oct. 10th last week. One of the (many, admittedly) forgotten men of the 60s avant garde/New Thing movement, he is perhaps best know for having played on Archie Shepp's Fire Music (1965) and Attica Blues (1972), as well as John Coltrane's Ascension (1965. All on Impulse!), but he had a substantial career as a leader, too. Though as with so much important avant garde jazz from the late 60s, 70s and onwards, the recordings are hard to come by. His very fine album Why Not?, recorded for ESP in 1966 with such notables as Rashied Ali on drums, Sirone on bass, and Stanley Cowell on piano, has just recently been re-released on CD, and is well worth checking out. The only other records that seem to be in print is his debut, Three For Shepp (Impulse!), an ECM release with Anthony Braxton, among others, and Offering from 1993.

Clifford Allen has posted an interview with Marion Brown on his blog, and there is also an interview form 2003 on All About Jazz.

Edit: WKCR are currently having a 24 hour memorial broadcast in Marion's honor.

R.I.P. Fred Anderson

More from the Chicago Tribune.

R.I.P. Bill Dixon

Sad to hear Bill Dixon passed away yesterday, June 16th, apparently after long time illness, which has not prevented him from making music: His last album, Tapestries For Small Orchestra, came out as recently as late last year. Stumbled accross the clip below, which was record during his residency with Firehouse 12 (the label that released Tapestries...).

R.I.P. Arne Nordheim

R.I.P. Hank Jones

Pianist Hank Jones, older brother of trumpet player Thad jones and drummer Elvin Jones, passed away on May 16th, aged 91.

My knowledge of his work as a leader is sketchy at best: only The Hank Jones Quartet-Quintet is listed in my jazz section (which needs to be updated, btw), but his work as a sideman is pretty impressive, having played with Charlie Parker, and on Coleman Hawkins' Hawk Flies High, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk's We Free Kings to name only a few. Tom Hull has a longer list.