Ornette Coleman: Classic Or Dud?

Now that you say it I think it may have been in Giddens' Visions of Jazz. It's been a while (xpost)

Oh yeah, I'll have to dig up my Giddins books, maybe not today though...

Ornette Coleman's Beauty Is A Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings box is being reissued on 3/31, in less-lavish packaging (a clamshell case, with the discs in slim cardboard sleeves). You do get the original booklet, though, and Amazon's got it for $40. If you don't already have it, it really is a must-own.

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Sunday, March 15, 2015 1:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh sweet! I want that.

A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Ornette Coleman against Jordan McLean of the band Antibalas and Amir Ziv. The complaint alleges that McLean and Ziv recorded Coleman, then age 79, at his home in 2009, and then recently released these recordings to the public without his consent or knowledge as the album New Vocabulary on System Dialing Records.

Coleman, who is now 85 years old, was introduced to the band Antibalas and their trumpeter McLean through their association with the Broadway musical Fela, which Coleman attended. The complaint asserts that, following the introduction, McLean asked Coleman if he would talk to him about music and Coleman graciously invited him over to his house to share his knowledge. McLean brought his partner, drummer Ziv, whom he introduced as a teacher at the New School. Years after making the recordings of Coleman's teaching sessions, McLean asked if he could release them. Coleman denied the request both directly and through his attorney and asked that the material be turned over to him. McLean instead released the recordings, forcing Coleman to seek legal recourse.

The complaint further alleges that:
An individual not recorded at the sessions is credited as having participated
Music was added to the recordings after the fact
The public is likely to be misled into believing that Coleman approves of, or is affiliated with, the public release of these recordings.

Last year's Celebrate Ornette tribute concert that featured Sonny Rollins, Patti Smith, Flea, Savion Glover and many other artists including a performance by Coleman himself, is being readied for a fall 2015 deluxe box set release. This official and authorized release by Coleman will be his first since 2006's Pulitzer Prize-winning Sound Grammar.

weird

The "special thanks to" for this record includes Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard...closet Ornette fanatics?

http://systemdialingrecords.com/market/albums/new-vocabulary/

If Maggie did her own playing in Frank, she'd be a fine Free Jazz keyboard player.

I noticed that Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal contributed to the press release and are thanked on the LP. I'm curious about their involvement—are they just friends of yours/Ornette's, or did they have some hands-on role in New Vocabulary?
We have been friends with them for years and they love Ornette's music (DROID [which features McLean, Ziv and Holzman] was probably Peter's favorite band for a while there). Thanking them and including their thoughts on the music in our press release is recognition of the moral support they have loaned us through everything. This is the case with all of the other folks mentioned in our thank yous and who have contributed various press quotes. None of them is more or less important than the other.

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/blog/a-new-ornette-coleman-album-our-exclusive-q-a

just seems like there must be some misunderstanding behind the scenes -- would someone really just release a new ornette coleman record w/o his permission, pretending as though they had his blessing? maybe, who knows.

Yeah, it seems pretty weird. Ornette doesn't seem like the kind of artist who'd consent to a low-key release of 5-year-old home-recorded casual rehearsals.

The question comes to mind---as with Harper Lee---is the elderly, perhaps infirm artist being manipulated by one side or the other? Both sides, maybe? A musician here, an attorney there? Or is there honest misunderstanding? Apparently the resulting album is fairly good, whatever the backstory.

But I'm not going to buy it 'til this is straightened out.

some new info: http://www.npr.org/2015/05/27/410065414/ornette-coleman-sues-over-new-vocabulary

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in White Plains, N.Y. last week by Coleman's son, drummer Denardo Coleman, who has been his father's guardian since 2013. News of the suit was announced in a press release today by Coleman's representatives. The filing includes claims for injunctive relief, actual damages, punitive damages and attorney fees for violations of both the federal Anti-Bootlegging Act and a section of the federal Lanham Act, which concerns trademarks.
...
Update at 6:40 p.m. ET: Defendants' Response:

In an email to NPR late Wednesday afternoon, Ziv wrote, "New Vocabulary is a collaborative, joint work by professional musicians Jordan McLean, Amir Ziv, and Ornette Coleman, made with the willing involvement of each artist. The album is the end result of multiple deliberate and dedicated recording sessions done with the willing participation and consent of Mr. Coleman and the other performers. Any suggestion to the contrary is unfounded and we deny any allegations of wrongdoing. For any further comment, we refer you to our attorney Justin S. Stern at Frigon Maher & Stern LLP."

hmm I would think Denardo's pretty trustworthy in regards to his father's wishes

Yeah, I would assume so. Also, the response only says Ornette was a willing participant in the sessions, not that he consented to actually releasing them.

my uninformed guess is that there's a dispute over royalties luring behind all of this

My uninformed guess (and this is based on an in-person interview with Ornette I did in 2006, as well as rumors I've been hearing for a while now) is that Ornette may not be in a condition to consent to things. Note that Denardo is his dad's guardian at this point. That seemed to be the case back in '06, too, even if it wasn't official.

yeah a bummer if true, but ornette is 85....
guess i just hope that these people aren't (knowingly at least) taking advantage of an aging free jazz legend

Maybe they're in cahoots with the guy that stole Cecil Taylor's Kyoto Prize money.

Good stuff on Denardo's Twitter feed. For instance:

Denardo Coleman
‏@denardocoleman

The Official Ornette Coleman Facebook page has been launched!
https://www.facebook.com/officialornettecoleman

And can't resist this:

Denardo Coleman
‏@denardocoleman

Ali Coleman (grandson), Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Denardo Coleman

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BrGGUBFCIAAUdqL.jpg:large

Sonny looks like Johnny Cash

ornette always has the best suits.

sonny looks like he should be in the matrix! almost looks like a leather shirt.

I'd really love for Denardo to write a book.

this hurts

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/12/arts/music/ornette-coleman-jazz-saxophonist-dies-at-85-obituary.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

OH NO!

oh fuck it. ornette, you were the best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJmk-2huoI

first ornette piece i ever heard :-(

If I were to choose a favourite piece of jazz music, it would almost certainly be Lonely Woman.

You are kidding me? What a day, RIP Ornette :(((

What a great body of work. RIP

RIP

;_;

RIP

Goodbye, Ornette.

the best -- we were all lucky that he shared so much with us.

(posted this to the obit thread, meant to post it here)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ornette-coleman-dead-20150611-column.html

This bears repeating, loudly and frequently:

“Now I didn’t call the music I was doing ‘free jazz,’” Coleman told the Tribune in 2003. “Someone [at the Atlantic record label] named it that, put a Jackson Pollack painting on it and called it ‘Free Jazz.’”

Thank you, Ornette, for everything.

holy shit, he obviously wasn't young, but I was not prepared for this. I love those Atlantic albums so much. Such a great and original musician.

RIP Ornette, decent innings but always sad to see such a brilliant musician pass.

RIP beautiful dude. v glad I got to see him play a few years ago at the Masonic Hall, incredible stuff.

more like ornot aliveman

this one trips me out, there's basically a full-on funk breakdown in the middle (in 1960!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=405MdvmBoAU

starting when the trumpet comes in at around 2:50

i LOVE the (not sure if terminology is right) coda thing (around 5:38)that brings una muy bonita to an end. a moment of pure genius imho

man, my facebook is wall to wall ornette. it's nothing but ornette clips and one video of a dolphin and a kitten.

sad that a dolphin and a kitten died

Sorry for lack of visual interest, but this was provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group, so won't be taken down, I hope. Ornette lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFCWU0n1jLE

I was at that show. The feeling in the room immediately before, and when, Ornette came onstage gives me goosebumps now, thinking about it.

Saw him at the Barbican probbaly ten years ago - lots of warmth, no imcomprehension.

:-(

This is fun: Ornette w Lou Reed and combo, on takes of Lou's "Guilty," with the words changing a little each time, along with the sax and one of the guitars, bass a bit less so. For total effect, my faves are the first and last versions---listen on headphones if you got 'em, but voice, sax and drums, or drum, come through even on tiny laptop speakers.
http://www.loureed.com/guilty/