tonight in Chicago
These guys are playing at Constellation.
Trio 3 (Oliver Lake, alto saxophone; Reggie Workman, bass; Andrew Cyrille, drums), live, c. 2008
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lagniappe
random thoughts: riding my bicycle
After a while, there’s no bicycle. No me. Only riding.
Back to Brooklyn.
Trio Caveat (James Ilgenfritz, bass; Chris Welcome, guitar; Jonathan Moritz, saxophone) with Mat Maneri (viola), live, New York (Barbes), 2012
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Too much music suffers from too little mystery.
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reading table
[T]hose who know her [nature], know her less / The nearer her they get.
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #1433 (Franklin)
This guitar player gets around. Last weekend Wilco—he’s been a member since 2004—headlined Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival. Here he’s playing a small performance space in Brooklyn.
BB&C (Tim Berne, alto saxophone; Jim Black, drums; Nels Cline, guitar), live, New York (Shapeshifter Lab), 2012
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday morning
Columbus Park, Chicago
Here’s more of drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and reed player Ken Vandermark—this time together.
Live, Romania (Oradea), 2012
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lagniappe
reading table
These Songs are not meant to be understood, you understand. / They are only meant to terrify & comfort.
—John Berryman (1914-1972, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Dream Song 366
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random sights
last night
Columbus Park, Chicago
timeless
Otis Redding (with Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Sam & Dave), live, 1967
One. One. Then two.
Nate Wooley (trumpet), Ken Vandermark (saxophone), live (studio performance), Pittsburgh, 2015
tonight in Chicago
This saxophonist will be playing at Elastic Arts.
Jon Irabagon Trio (JI, tenor saxophone; Mark Helias, bass; Barry Altschul, drums), live, Austria (Ulrichsberg), 2013
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), Texas Department of Corrections (Walls Unit), Huntsville, Texas, 1968
More of Ornette.
Ornette Coleman Trio (David Izenzon, bass; Charles Moffett, percussion), playing and talking, Paris, 1966
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009; MCOTD Hall of Fame), New York, c. 1940
More of Ornette.
Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone) with Don Cherry (cornet), Charlie Haden (bass), and Billy Higgins (drums), The Shape of Jazz to Come, 1959*
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s memorial broadcast continues until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.
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*Track list (courtesy of YouTube):
00:00 Lonely Woman
05:01 Eventually
09:24 Peace
18:25 Focus on Sanity
25:18 Congeniality
32:07 Chronology
passings
Ornette Coleman, saxophonist (trumpeter and violinist, too), composer, bandleader, March 9, 1930-June 11, 2015
Today we remember him by revisiting earlier posts.
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3/9/11
His sound—his whole approach (simple melodies, vocal phrasing, off-center intonation)—is drenched in the blues.
Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone) with The Roots
Live, London (Meltdown Festival), 2009
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The tenor player at the end—that’s David Murray.
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3/9/12
Ornette Coleman Quartet with guests Joshua Redman (tenor saxophone), James Blood Ulmer (guitar), Charlie Haden (bass), live, Netherlands (North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam), 2010
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6/16/14
Ornette, at 84, still plays some of the most haunting blues I’ve ever heard.
Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone), with Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone; MCOTD Hall of Famer), David Murray (tenor saxophone), Savion Glover (tap dance), et al., live, New York (Prospect Park), 6/12/14
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odds & ends (from posts featuring clips no longer available)
On the Ornette Coleman Quartet (OC, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell): The sounds you don’t hear can mean as much as the ones you do. Here, for instance, it’s hard to overstate the importance of what isn’t onstage—a harmony instrument (piano, guitar). Without it, the drums move forward in the mix. The bass has more space to fill. The sound of each instrument becomes clearer, more distinct. The group sound becomes lighter, more open.
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When we were on relief during the Depression, they’d give us dried-up old cheese and dried milk and we’d get ourselves all filled up and we’d kept this thing going, singing and dancing. I remember that when I play. You have to stick to your roots. Sometimes I play happy. Sometimes I play sad. But the condition of being alive is what I play all the time.
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You know what I realize? That all sound has a need. Otherwise it wouldn’t have a use. Sound has a use. . . . You use it to establish something—an invisible presence or some belief. . . . But isn’t it amazing that sound causes the idea to sound the way it is, more than the idea?
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Music has no face. Whatever gives oxygen its power, music is cut from the same cloth.
—Ornette Coleman
(The first and last quotes are from Ornette’s website. The second is from Ben Ratliff, The Jazz Ear: Conversations over Music [2008].)
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How can I turn emotion into knowledge? That’s what I try to do with my horn.
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It’s not that I reject categories. It’s that I don’t really know what categories are.
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You take the alphabet of the English language. A to Z. A symbol attached to a sound. In music you have what are called notes and the key. In life you’ve got an idea and an emotion. We think of them as different concepts. To me, there is no difference.
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The violin, the saxophone, the trumpet: Each makes a very different sound but the very same notes. That’s pretty heavy, you know? Imagine how many different races make up the human race. I’m called colored, you’re called white, he’s called something else. We still got an asshole and a mouth. Pardon me.
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I don’t try to please when I play. I try to cure.
—Ornette Coleman
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s memorial broadcast, where I spent much of yesterday, continues through Wednesday.
music clip of the day 