6/14/15
A few days ago Ornette Coleman died…a giant gone. That very Thursday evening I performed with the large group “12 Houses” at the Stone. The program was supposed to feature original music by Charles Waters but after the news reached us it was decided to forego those compositions and play an unscripted concert dedicated to Ornette Coleman. This because we are all influenced by this one of a kind man, his music, and humanistic/artistic truthfulness. Further, several people in the band knew him, especially the band leader Matt Lavelle. 2 nights later and the following morning I wrote to all the people performing that evening about my impressions of the special, extra emotional vibe that evening, and included some of my impressions of Ornette. Here is what it said:
“Hey everybody, that was a beautiful, joyous manifestation in sound…
The bittersweet, humane music OC produced was obviously overwhelming the room. As I’m sure many of you also have done, my dial has been and will be tuned to WKCR as much as possible ’til Wednesday. I had a long car ride alone to eastern LI yesterday and it struck me throughout one album after another how Ornette never lets anybody down. The music continues to be positive, truthful, serene, funky, bluesy, whilst abandoning any noticeable (to my ears and heart anyway) matrix, language/linguini, display, and show biz persona.
I’m happy he was relatively well recorded, and cared so much about the recordings left out there for the rest of humanity to hear and feel, roll with, engage in, potentially take further…in a personal way.
As we all know he was a poet in words and a tone poet on his chosen axes
I started listening to him before I was a high school student in Sweden in about 1989, when I was 15, the early stuff, well documented and long ago solidified as valid. A favorite alto solo of mine is found on the song “Tears inside”. When the stuff hits that emotional perfection and timing, magic occurs. Do yourselves a favor and listen to that piece (even if you know what I’m talking about). You won’t regret taking this diversion…
This evening I played a duo set with Ken Filiano at Barbes and while we had very personal stuff prepared I couldn’t stop feeling this grace and genuineness that OC represents for me. He is the very opposite of what I call “spiritual gentrification”, meaning he is staying truthful and disallowing trends and schools of thought to influence your own way of life. The artist’s life, or any questioning person’s life really, is ultra hard. I can only imagine what the added bs of racial US politics added to this reality in the people of his generation, position and skin tone. (I hope we get to the point of putting racism in the historical museums one day, however hopeless that hurdle may still seem).
I also thought the set we played was one of the more fun, free spirited, varied, collage-like realizations we’ve done to date, including “classical” sections, funky unison groove sections, back to back guitar duels, and so much more….”
& then the following day…
“Good morning, don’t mean to overstay my welcome in your inboxes but just a few more thoughts for what it’s worth ; In my humble opinion Ornette has the best song and album titles! They make you wonder and are often right on point with the music, respectfully avoiding ramming any agenda down the listener’s throat; “civilization day”, “tomorrow is the question”, “what reason could I give?” etc. This way of operating has contributed to my repeated listenings to his music over the years, and an ongoing fascination with how the music continues to process inside me for a long time afterwards.
My take on Ornette is that he was singing a song the way most people invent their own little melodies while singing in the shower, just that he never stopped until now he’s been forced to stop by life itself.
Have a good day,
-His Hotness
