Sunday, March 09, 2014

The Birthday Meta: Ornette At 84

watersheds birthed from
skies of America; the
endless wet depths kept

like baseball and jazz...
one's about hits; the other
can't get in the charts
baseball came at 2
but jazz took til 22
catching up to do

when first this music
found me, one jam stood out: The
Shape of Jazz to Come
the twisted, taut lines...
where did the theme end and the
solo begin? Wow.

fast forward: finding
free-funk, Dancing In Your Head
perspective switch flipped

harmony motion
melody, careen forth on
shards of cracked rhythm

ev'rything at once
song, beat, contrapuntal time
simultaneous
commercial crass cash
considerations excised,
cutting-room floor false

diamond flawless raw
the tensile dense sense the lens;
balance mends the fence
destined to perfect;
vibratory skill reveals
the Art that remains

no wonder when he
first hit the scene, the critics
wanted to kill him.
Ornette Coleman & Prime Time
1981/1987

Moers International Jazz Festival
Moers, Germany
6.8.1981

 01 Impro One
02 Nightwork
03 Asia
04 Song X

 Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone
Bern Nix - guitar
Charles Ellerbee - guitar
Al MacDowell - electric bass
Jamaaladeen Tacuma - electric bass
Denardo Coleman - drums

FLAC from pre-FM reels
Total time: 53:27
~~~
Stadtgarten
Köln, Germany
3.26.1987

01 In All Languages
02 Song X
03 Story Tellers
04 Latin Genetics
05 Mothers of the Veil
06 Dancing In Your Head
07 interview with Ornette and Denardo Coleman
08 Space Church


 Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone, trumpet
Bern Nix - guitar
Charles Ellerbee
- guitar 
Jamaaladeen Tacuma - electric bass
Al MacDowell
- electric bass 
Denardo Coleman - drums
Grant Calvin Weston - drums and electronic percussion

PAL DVD from 2005 German TV rebroadcast
Total time: 58:30

both zipped together
1.7 GB/March 2014 archive link
Ornette is looking
at you like this so you'll dig
 that it's his birthday