Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar
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CD Details
Artist: Ornette ColemanEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-09-12
Music Label: Sound Grammar
Soundtracks:
- Jordan (after introducing the band members)
- Sleep Talking
- Turnaround
- Matador
- Waiting for You
- Call to Duty
- Once Only
- SONGX
Music reviews of Sound Grammar
Music Review: Exciting but apart from 3 cuts it's far from top rate Ornette
Rating: 4 Stars
1. The sound quality is sometimes poor, particularly the drumset, with the sounds of the individual instruments merging together in an indistinct mess. The audience applause after solos irritates me too.
2. The music is typically Ornette: as he's said in the past, in a sense he's been playing the same tune most of his career. In this live performance he continues the tradition, re-using his elegant licks: a type of bebop as a previous reviewer stated. Sure it may seem very old-fashioned by now but the soulful execution is usually timeless. (Mozart used an already well established musical language but trancended any need to develop it.)
There's very little of Coleman's idiosyncratic trumpet and violin work which after my 30 years as an Ornette fan I find generally more exciting than his sax playing. (For example the cut Falling Star from a live concert in Copenhagen 1965 has some delicious offerings of both: see "all my reviews".)
3. With regard to the drumset work by Denardo, as well as being poorly recorded it tends to a busy, unrelenting style often with simplistic cymbal sizzle overkill which for me is often quite irritating. If only he could appreciate silence and more of a sense of space - in some of the more reflective passages I longed for a total absence of percussion. Still, as Coleman often seems to favor what some people have unflatteringly called "scrambled egg music", the drumset style and arrangements may be at Coleman's direction.
The good:
5 stars for the beautiful rendition of "Sleep Talking" which makes this CD a must have for my collection of about 30 albums under the Ornette name.
5 stars for the elegantly arranged "Waiting for You" which also has tasty individual performances, particularly the arco bass work and Coleman's sax work.
5 stars for "Once Only", again an elegant arrangement which tells a story over time.
Overall, for those new to Ornette: there are much better Coleman albums available with superior drumming and groove. (E.g. Ornette! recorded Jan 1961 with drumming to die for by Ed Blackwell, very tasty bass playing from the brilliant Scott LeFaro and some excellent work by Don Cherry on pocket trumpet.)
Description of Sound Grammar
When so much jazz is recycled or reissued, a new Ornette Coleman album is cause for celebration. But Sound Grammar, the free-jazz legend's first release in a decade, is special even by his lofty standards. Coleman was 75 when this live-in-Italy set was recorded in 2005. But he sounds pluckier than he has in years. Pared down to its eloquent basics, the music has a rare combination of beauty, power, lift, and melodic immediacy. With two bassists providing contrasting textures and internal drama--Greg Cohen plucks his acoustic instrument while Tony Falanga bows his--Ornette plays with his usual songful brilliance on alto saxophone and also sounds great on trumpet, a secondary instrument on which he usually demonstrates yeoman skills. (He also dabbles on violin.) Sound Grammar could be better engineered--the astute catchall drumming of Ornette's son Denardo Coleman is too far back in the mix and the basses frequently don't have enough presence. But this album stands with Ornette's best. Two of the songs, "Turnaround" and "Song X," are remakes; the rest of the material is just as good. --Lloyd SachsAvant Garde & Free Jazz CDs
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