Ornette in Minneapolis in April....

[Miles251]

Does anyone have any info on this??? Sounds interesting....

[WD45]

It is the "Dancing in Your Head: Ornette at 75" festival. 3 days long! One day of Ornette;'s music as interpreted by others, a second evening featuring The Ornette Coleman Quartet [feat, Denardo on drums, and Greg Cohen, and Tony Falanga on basses. A third marathon session the next day will feature other artists again interpreting Ornette's music. [bad Plus, Anthony Cox, plus a wold premier of a Bang on a Can comissioned piece.]

More info at the Walker Art Center web site.

I am going. Woo! Tickets for the Ornette performance are $39.50-$49.50. Yow!

[WD45]

Could it be a MSP board hang?

[Miles251]

Sounds like as hang to me WD45!

[DTMX]

I've got a 5th row concert ticket and a 36th row airplane ticket. I'll be flying up Friday at noon and heading back to Atlanta Saturday morning. All I can say is: this show better be fucking great!

[Guest ariceffron]

WHY IS ORNETTE ALWAYS PLAYING IN MINNEAPOLIS?? ISNT THAT LIKE THE 4TH TIME HES PLAYED THERE IN THE PAST 2 YEARS. ORNETTE WANTS TOO MUCH MONEY TO COME TO SEATTLE AND PLAY FOR EARSHOT JAZZFEST. IF SEATTLE DOESNT HAVE THE MONEY HOW CAN MINNEAPOLIS?

[Guest che]

He will be coming to the UK for the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, I booked my spot this morning.

Can't wait!

Che.

[WD45]

WHY IS ORNETTE ALWAYS PLAYING IN MINNEAPOLIS?? ISNT THAT LIKE THE 4TH TIME HES PLAYED THERE IN THE PAST 2 YEARS. ORNETTE WANTS TOO MUCH MONEY TO COME TO SEATTLE AND PLAY FOR EARSHOT JAZZFEST. IF SEATTLE DOESNT HAVE THE MONEY HOW CAN MINNEAPOLIS?

We are just lucky, I guess.

[WD45]

Just bought my 8th row ticket. Woo!

[WD45]

Me and at least one other board member are planning on meeting up at the show. Miles 251, DTMX, you still game? Anyone else? Bueller?

[DTMX]

Yeah, I'm up for it. Anybody got an idea for where to meet?

[WD45]

Three of us will be there tomorrow. Anyone else game?

[WD45]

This show was positively killer.

More later, but I just wanted to post a pic.

I got to shake hands with him, and he autographed my Rhino edition of Free Jazz!

[DTMX]

Oh, man! Yes, the show was incredible. Sorry I couldn't hang out after the show WD45 but I was sick as hell, almost nodded off during Lonely Woman. Had to beat it back to the hotel before I went under. All totaled, this concert cost me about $600 and it was worth every penny. All the new material was great, their reworking of Mob Job blew me away, and Ornette's violin playing was amazing (not in terms of technique, but rather in application). Those times when he would get the string trio thing going with the two bassists was way cool. And Denardo - never liked him before but I have a much greater appreciation for him after seeing him live. Somebody needs to get these guys into the studio and get this stuff down on tape.

And even though I didn't get to meet Ornette after the show, when I got back to my hotel, the lobby, floors, and elevators were filled with girls in town for some volleyball tournament, running back and forth between the pool and their rooms - bikinis everywhere. Some nights are just perfect like that.

[sidewinder]

I'm booked in for his Cheltenham Festival appearance next weekend and looking forward to it. Sounds like it's going to be unmissable, from these reports.

[7/4]

Sun, Apr. 24, 2005

Ornette Coleman keeps creative juices flowing

BY DAN EMERSON

Minneapolis Pioneer Press

The writer who once summed up the appeal of jazz as "the sound of surprise"

could have been writing about Ornette Coleman.

Friday night at the University of Minnesota's Ted Mann Concert Hall, the

avant-garde saxophonist and composer showed that, even at the age of 75, he

hasn't lost his penchant for constantly surprising his listeners.

Coleman, whose disregard for the normal rules of jazz - following written

chord changes, for example - once inspired anger and ridicule even among his

fellow musicians, has evolved into the role of honored elder statesman, now

that the rest of the world has caught up with his once-radical ideas.

His Twin Cities appearance, a rare event, was part of the three-day Festival

Dancing in Your Head the Walker Art Center staged to celebrate its grand

reopening.

The Walker's choice of Coleman, the archetypical art prophet who stays true

to his own creative vision even in the face of daunting obstacles, was

apropos.

The Coleman compositions the quartet played Friday night were shaped around

lengthy, complicated melodies that confounded listeners' natural tendency to

try to guess where the music was going. With the mind's impulse to seek the

familiar and find something congruous among unfamiliar sounds, Coleman's

music has a way of grabbing and holding the audience's attention.

It creates a meditative feel, even when the music becomes intense and

features abrupt tempo changes, stops and starts. And the voice-like sound of

Coleman's alto sax (he achieved a similar effect Friday when he picked up a

violin and trumpet) intensifies the effect.

Coleman's current quartet is as unconventional in its instrumentation as in

the music it plays. Besides the leader and his son, Denardo, on drums, the

combo includes two acoustic bassists, Greg Cohen and Tony Falanga. The low

tones of the basses complement and set off the midrange sound of Coleman's

horn the way a white background sets off a painting or photo.

The quartet played about a half-dozen Coleman compositions during the course

of its approximately 90-minute set. Coleman didn't identify any of them,

except the finale, called "Song X." His reticence might be part of his

long-standing tendency to avoid doing anything that might create

preconceived notions in the minds of his audience. Like most great artists,

Coleman prefers to present his art "as is," and let others make comparisons,

apply value judgments and try to explain its meaning.

Dan Emerson is a freelance writer and musician in Minneapolis.

[WD45]

Somebody needs to get these guys into the studio and get this stuff down on tape.

Denardo told Spoontooneous and I that the quartet has material in the can and it is ready to be put out.

I would buy that!

Before the concert, I listened to Ornette's Columbia Records album Science Fiction to get energized. Upon entering, I discovered a hefty crowd of people. More than I thought I ever would. The ratio of men to women was somewhat off balance, noted Dave King, drummer of The Bad Plus, as we stood in line at the men's room. He said "We should have had a tailgating party." I would have been down for that. Why don't we do that at jazz concerts?

It is interesting to note how the two bass players navigated what could have been a muddied aural situation. Falanga played arco for almost the entire show, putting down the bow to play pizzi but a couple of times. In that regard, he reminded me of David Izenzon. Not just because he was playing arco, but the contributions were similar -- he was able to play in the 'cello range high enough to stay out of the way of Greg Cohen, the other bass player that was walking most of the time. Falanga has some astounding ideas. I cannot believe this is the first time I have heard of the guy. By staying in the range above Cohen's walking basslines and below Ornette's arsenal, He was able to make the ensemble sound quite rich.

Flanaga was a very kind man; when I spoke with him afterwords, I thanked him for a great performance [which sometimes I think would be tiresome to hear night after night]. He replied with the deepest sincerity, "Thank you for being a part of it."

I haven't heard a great deal of Denardo Coleman's playing. My only point of reference comes from two recordings: The Empty Foxhole[i/] and Ornette at 12 performed at ages 10 and 12 respectively. He is not out of the metronome school of playing, nor the Buddy Rich chops monster school. His more relaxed approach to rhythm was befitting of the concept at hand. I'll just say that Dave Weckl would have been out of place. Stylistically, his playing reminded me of Sunny Murray. Ambitious, but not over-the-top.

I am terrible with song titles, and I know only that the last tune was "Song X" and the encore was "Lonely Woman." Many of the melodies were familar, or perhaps almost familiar, knowing some of his musical devices. Very little was said. He thanked the crowd for coming out, and said how grateful he was for the musical happening the night before when several ensembles got together to play the music of Ornette Coleman.

As noted earlier, some of the most interesting moments were when they came together as a string trio. Cohen did pick up the bow for one portion. Ornette has both an unusual musical vocabulary on the violin and an unusual physical manner of dealing with the instrument. If I recall, he was playing left-handed on a right-handed instrument. To these ears, his string chops are in quite great shape. [Having spent more time with recordings of African and Middle-Eastern violin players than Western "classical" players.]

He spent more time on the violin than he did on the other secondary instrument, the trumpet. His chops here were also in decent shape. It did not sound as if he was struggling to get the notes he wanted to pass from him and through the instrument. When the secondary instruments were called upon, it was always after starting the tune on his white plastic alto.

And that alto is as strong as ever. The ideas, volume and speed Ornette still gets from his main axe on those breakneck portions of some of the tunes belie this giant's age, as celebrated that night: 75 years.

That same visceral blues energy was somewhat in contrast to the gentle handshake and paper-thin skin of the man in person. I was lucky enought to make it backstage to meet one of my heroes. Smartly dressed in a pale blue suite and colorful shirt, topped with a pork-pie hat and moustache, Ornette was ever the gentleman.

He asked if played an instrument, and I said "No sir, I just play records." He responds, "Well, you can sure do both." It was as if he was telling me what to do. I think it is great advice. I'll take it.

[sidewinder]

Caught Ornette's gig at Cheltenham last night and I'm very glad I did. Same group as per WD45's gig report with the two-bass powerhouse Tony Falanga and Greg Bowen. My sixth row centre seat gave me an excellent 'stereo sounstage' with Falanga on the left (concentrating on the arco work, strongly reminscent of David Izenzon as mentioned previously) and the 'walking' Bowen on the right. Ornette was in absolutely tremendous shape - executing his still breathtaking ideas at speed on the white alto. The group sound with the two basses is inspired. They set a powerful, driving sonic space which frames and focuses Ornettes statements. I liked the way that Ornette moved from trumpet and then back onto the alto, a transition which seemed to further 'energise' his alto playing. A bit of violin work too and that combination of the three strings was spellbinding - although brief. The main point of interest though was that sound on alto - and it is still spectacularly distinctive and soaked in blues feeling.

The band played for about 75 minutes straight through with one of the encore numbers being 'Lonely Woman' - Falanga was dripping wet by the end of it but Ornette hardly broke sweat. Incredible ! This ability to pace the performance and up a gear or two at will is one I associate with only the very greatest jazz musicians. The performance here at Cheltenham last night put paid to any possible doubts (at least in my mind) that that was the case.

Incredible !

Edited May 2, 2005 by sidewinder

[Alexander Hawkins]

The London gig on the 2nd was awesome as well.

[A Lark Ascending]

I was at Cheltenham too - sidewinder says it all. A great concert.

It was also great to see the audience reaction - a sold out hall who treated him like a returning hero from the moment he walked onto the stage. Quite tear-provoking.

[sidewinder]

a sold out hall who treated him like a returning hero from the moment he walked onto the stage. Quite tear-provoking.

It looked like he was genuinely moved by the reception. Great stuff !

The two guys from 'Vinyl Vault' (great store B-) ) who manned the vinyl stand at the festival by the way mentioned that they had got to meet Ornette backstage and got a signature or two as well. Very nice approachable guy by all accounts.

Only spotted their stand on the Monday but it came up trumps with the nice Miles items. How did I get to miss it on Sunday? ( ).

Edited May 4, 2005 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

I didn't even see it! However, I'm not a vinyl chaser so I'd probably have passed by. I'm always disappointed by the CD stalls at Cheltenham. Their stock seems so random (apart from the festival artists).

Sorry, I meant to mention to you last week so we could at least nod to one another. Last week was mad and it escaped me. Perhaps at Bath.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Bev, the same feeling was in the audience in London. A fantastic reception, and several ovations.

The support from Andy Sheppard, however...very weak, as far as I was concerned.

[sidewinder]

Perhaps at Bath.

In the middle of the scrummage at the CD counter perhaps? B-)

(I wonder if he will have the forthcoming Dutton Vocalions in stock?..)

Cheltenham was a bit manic for me I'm afraid. Didn't stay there, hopped back South each evening so it made for quite a bit of driving. Worth it though. I would have liked to have seen the Ingrid Laubrock and F-IRE on Saturday but I see that they are playing Bath so that's good.

[Lazaro Vega]

Within the pages of Ornette Coleman at Hill Auditorium you'll find a casual review written about this band. The return of Henry Grimes and the touring of Ornette Coleman are the biggest musical stories in the music right now. P.S. I never did hear from Denardo about that encore in Ann Arbor -- when the saints come marching in, or what it was....

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