Ornette Coleman Music of Ornette Coleman Genre:Jazz These are tunes that Coleman wrote in his early 20s, that he finally got a chance to record in his late 20s, in 1958. He had, meanwhile, been leading the life of a musical maverick, often-fired by leaders perturbed by his ... more »idiosyncratic approach. He was, after all, intent on digging up and replanting jazz. Hearing the startling exuberance in Coleman's compositions, and in his own whinnying playing, one senses that--truly--an annunciation is being made: Here is Something Else. With sublime assurance, Coleman was breaking free from the dictates of chordal playing, in search of increased melodic and harmonic opportunities. Pianist Walter Norris obliges by generally staying out of the way, after session producers put him in it--it is clear that the piano was not the instrument that would assist Coleman's mission. --Peter Monaghan« less
These are tunes that Coleman wrote in his early 20s, that he finally got a chance to record in his late 20s, in 1958. He had, meanwhile, been leading the life of a musical maverick, often-fired by leaders perturbed by his idiosyncratic approach. He was, after all, intent on digging up and replanting jazz. Hearing the startling exuberance in Coleman's compositions, and in his own whinnying playing, one senses that--truly--an annunciation is being made: Here is Something Else. With sublime assurance, Coleman was breaking free from the dictates of chordal playing, in search of increased melodic and harmonic opportunities. Pianist Walter Norris obliges by generally staying out of the way, after session producers put him in it--it is clear that the piano was not the instrument that would assist Coleman's mission. --Peter Monaghan
"Ornette Coleman's tunes on this early album are bouncy and melodic. The overall mood is up-beat and optimistic. Purists will prefer "The Shape of Jazz to Come" and other recordings by his more austere pianoless quartet recorded a few years later. But for me the piano and bass playing fairly conventional jazz changes behind Ornette and Don Cherry "works"-- even if it really shouldn't. And Billy Higgins' light touch on the drums adds just the right tone: I can picture him smiling as he plays. "The Blessing" has become a jazz standard, and all the quirky melodies stay in your head for a long while. This should be in your Ornette collection, whether it is the first or last recording of his you buy."
This is a severely underrated album
Jonathan Mayhew | 10/05/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The piano sounds fine! This is rediculous. In fact, you hardly notice it. It's very low in the mix. What a great album! All the tunes are his, the saxaphone playing is excellent (incredibly smooth). The notes Coleman puts together on this album are definitely strange, but the overall effect is not overwhelming cacophony, like found on Free Jazz. In fact, it's an incredibly straight forward album. Coleman was an innovator, but sometimes you just want to relax and take a break from his edgier music, regardless of how innovative it may have been. In summary- the songs are relatively simple, but certainly not boring. The sax playing is EXCELLENT. I like it better than "shape of jazz to come" which, i think, is an overproduced album. What is that crappy treble sound in Atlantic Jazz recordings? Anyway, you won't find it on this album."
A Good Start For Ornette, But Not For You
Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 07/18/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
""Somethin' Else" might have been a good start for Ornette Coleman's recording career, but it is not the best place to start your Ornette Coleman CD collection. The tunes are good, and 3/4 of his classic Atlantic quartet (Ornette, Don Cherry and Billy Higgins) are present, but the album lacks musical cohesion. This is laregly due to the inclusion of piano in the group. While Paul Bley may have been able to accompany Ornette on some level, Walter Norris does not, and piano in general was not well-suited to Ornette's music. In fact, I'm not sure he ever recorded with a piano player again until recently with Geri Allen on the "Sound Museum" sessions. Ornette fans will certainly want to get this, but others should have a dozen other Ornette CDs under their belt before this one."
A breakthrough disc
N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 03/19/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I had this for years on tape, mislaid it, & now just got the CD. It's automatically a very important album because it's Coleman's first as a leader; but I'd never thought of it as a first-rank Coleman album--of his two Contemporary discs, probably I'd give the 2nd, _Tomorrow Is the Question_, the edge, & unquestionably the Atlantics are the peak of Coleman's early career. However, revisiting the disc I'm reminded of how sheerly enjoyable it is, & I think it deserves the full 5 stars. The "sound" of the disc is a surprisingly effective blend of brisk West-Coast swing & Coleman's already completely wayward, unorthodox sax. Don Cherry plays a normal trumpet (with a pronounced Miles Davis inflection) rather than the oddball "pocket trumpet" that sounds so marvellously alien on the Atlantics--he sounds basically like a confident bopper but already makes a few lateral swerves that suggest his future musical direction.Reviewers often blame the comparative conservatism of the music here on the presence of Walter Norris, a fine bop pianist but hardly a necessary presence given Coleman's later preference for pianoless ensembles. (Norris is reported in Litweiler's bio of Coleman as having been rather mystified by Coleman & Cherry's frequently ignoring the chord changes they'd decided on for the tunes during their improvisations.) But to criticize Norris is to miss the point: Coleman's music here is much more closely tied to bop orthodoxy than it would be in the following years. Tunes like "Chippie" & "Angel Voice" are straightahead "I Got Rhythm" variants, despite their nicely individual melodies ("Angel Voice" for instance has a calypso tinge to its A section). Even more surprising, "Jayne" turns out to be a variation on "Out of Nowhere", a Parker favourite. This last instance is certainly enough to scotch the idea that Coleman was ignoring standard 32-bar structures or chord changes.Anyway, why need we judge the music on how "advanced" it is? Sure, Ornette never sounded like this again, but it's still a solid, grooving jazz date. & it's got some of Coleman's greatest tunes on it--"The Blessing", "Invisible", "Chippie", "The Sphynx", "When Will the Blues Leave?"...all classics. The album is mostly uptempo swingers, carried along by Billy Higgins' springy drumming--it's a delight to listen to."
Good place to start
N. Dorward | 07/22/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I am a huge Ornette Coleman fan and I agree with the other reviewers in that this is not his finest work, especially since the piano sounds out of place in his music.However, if you are getting into free jazz, this is an album that is more straight ahead and less "out" than later work."