Ornette Coleman - Dancing In Your Head: Classic or Dud?

"I also agree 100% with everything o. nate said."

"I think the real reason that people think this is monotonous is because they don't know how to listen to music that doesn't have a conventional tonal structure. These same people would undoubtedly find Debussy monotonous as well."

Please.

it’s a bit of a dirty secret that this year has sucked for albums, for me. (a secret because my inner rockist still worries about this sort of thing. it took SEVEN CDs to fill up all the singles I heard this year that were good-to-great-to-fucking-amazing. I have three albums that are fer shure best-of at the end of the year [streets, immer, 2 many djs] and about a dozen that are bubbling under, that I just can’t commit to [outhud, black dice, horsepower, farben, total 4, digital disco, sonic youth, cee-lo, mri, wire, etc etc etc…]. last year it took definite effort to list 20 great singles, and my fave albums list was hard to whittle down to 50.) because while I’m firmly convinced that this is a great time to be alive and listening to pop music, I’ve also been listening to more old shit in the last few months than can possibly be healthy for this mindset.

maybe it’s the change in the weather (after a blazing hot summer, it is officially cold and rainy for the next 6 months in the pacific northwest), but my attention seems focused more these days on not only the old but also the “difficult.” (all that Wire Music I listened to between 18-21 when I was trying so hard to be hard.) I don’t think this is forever (one thing re-listening for the first time in 5-6-12 months or more [some of it I don’t think I’ve listened to ever] shows is that much of it is [still] the musical equivalent of reading theory: perhaps beneficial but at what cost?) but here we are, trawling through my (surprisingly large!) catalog of krautrock, 70s miles & related, free jazz, modern classical, old blooze, indie hiphop/turntablism, modern “difficult” rock…

one of the records that has caught & kept my attention is ornette coleman’s dancing in your head, his 1973 experiment with fusing miles funk with Jajoukan dervish. I’ve never heard much ornette. I know some people rate him highly, and of course I’m well aware of his Importance and that Aptly Titled Record with the double quartet (quintet?). I gather that this record remains relatively unknown/underrated becuz, like miles in his way, the free jazz apostates didn’t like him dropping the pugilistic front: the gusts of black nationalist rhetoric, the displays of preternatural skillz presented as brute force, the Serious as Yr Life burden. and unlike miles, who actually threw OFF the yoke of dogged uncle tomming accusations when he started fucking betty davis and listening to her [far more advanced?] record collection, there’s no physicality, sexiness, acid-blotting or dashikis to go along with the ride.

on the one hand, it’s not Jazz: hard-scrabble chicken scratch, electric bass with plenty of ga-dunk-a-dunk-dunk in its trunk, syncopation (sorta, kinda.) but there’s none of funk’s singularity of purpose (moving asses), if plenty of its more tangential concerns (freeing minds). it’s not sexy: there’s a curiously sterile grind to the bass at times, but the fragmentation makes it a teasing come on with no resolution. and I know nothing about time signatures, but no one is playing on the one and EVERYONE is playing on the one, all at once. on the other hand, this is very much jazz: melodic themes are stated at the beginning and then improvised on for the duration. all of the “funk” elements are quoted out of context, like the moments where trad folk forms pop up mirage-like in, say, derek bailey’s playing. and it’s very Free Jazz: everyone’s playing by themselves and trying to hog the ball.

the result is like super-imposing a half dozen full-color photos of “funk” on top of one another. squint hard enough and you can make out the contours of what everyone’s playing. relax your eye/ear and a quavering approximation of groove appears outta nowhere. look away for a moment & when you return the whole thing is a blazing riot of tone & color. coherent as you make it, then; it ain’t music for walking, talking, working, driving, dancing. it is a free jazz record after all. if this is what “harmolodics” means, then I’m that much closer to understanding. here’s a more important question, though: okay, possible failed experiment, yes yes. but why would ornette want to trade this shaking death rattle of neon colored stupidity for the respectful coffin of Modern Composer? because it owes more to (or, maybe more accurately, presaged) DNA or pigbag or “the flowers of romance” than duke or even charles ives?

o yes

it's exactly what i was expecting, except for the short (34min?) length. that does kinda suck.

the tracks with the Master Musicians of Jajouka sound kinda like a more together Archie Schepp "Live at the Pan-African Festival" (which i really dislike)

i've only listened to it once so far though

I would start with "Body Meta." I've always liked "Dancing" but it drives a lot of people I know crazy. Personally I hear some cool stuff in the guitar interplay, I'm a Bern Nix fan. I also like Beefheart, so maybe I'm warped...but I actually don't hear Ornette or Van Vliet as "difficult" artists, it sounds pretty normal to me, pretty much like r&b and blues. I think it's just a gentle leap from the most extreme hard-ass funk music like James Brown to Colman or James Blood Ulmer.

I've been going back and listening to Ulmer lately, in the wake of his good blues album cut down in Memphis a couple of years back. I really like "Black Rock" the best, it's the most accessible of his records; I also like "Are You Glad to Be in America" and a few of the cuts on "Free Lancing," esp. "High Time." "Odyssey" is a unique record; funny, I was listening to it the other day and my wife said, "What the hell, are you listening to CELTIC MUSIC now, have you gone nuts?"

Anyway, I like Ornette..."Tone Dialing" is nice too. What he does is hip, it swings, and I think you have to just go with it rhythmically to really appreciate it. Some days it doesn't sound right but I think that's OK...

love this, so would you suggest body meta, science fiction, or skies of america next

Science Fiction, which is his "pop" album and also IMO his best and most complete - the theme of "School Days" leads to "Theme From A Symphony" in Skies Of America (his "classical" album) leads to DIYH, king of '77 punk records.

Agree with Marcello - Science Fiction is his best. Get the complete sessions.

from an old interview in the wire I was reading:

"The 1984 disco-fied version of Dancing In Your Head" that appears on Jamaaladeen Tacuma's Renaissance Man offers a tantalising glimpse into how Ornette might sound if he opted more directly for the funk market. Supported by congas and a DMX drum computer plus Jamaal and Charlie Ellerbee (the funkiest Prime Timers) Ornette puts more of an R & B spin on the melody. Terrific, frankly.

Anyone heard it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gyfk1KLz7s&sns=em

didn't read the thread yet but CLASSIC is my answer for this album. my favorite ornette album

It is a beautiful album. I am drunk and am gonna blast it through the headphones when I go to bed.

This is pretty great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3kDvw2VBGY

my favorite ornette album

― Treeship, Thursday, 27 June 2013 22:27 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You ridiculous hipsters.

- ― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Thursday, 27 June 2013 15:40 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what is the ornette album of choice for non-ridiculous hipsters?

Jazz:

Change of the Century

Prime Time Fusoid:

Of Human Feelings

Listening to the PT version of "Mothers of the Veil" on In All Languages, it sounds like Sting's Bring on the Night band doing a soundcheck in Chile. The way the drums come in and out of a big stomp and the guitars are meandering around while Ornette plays that heartrending melody is just perfection. I love it.

In related news, IAL has some of the most digital production of any record in the 80s – all those chilly digital reverbs. Even the quartet stuff sounds like it was recorded in a meat locker. Somehow it seems...appropriate and alien.

Think I might be about to go on a big PT run. Help me.

from an old interview in the wire I was reading:

"The 1984 disco-fied version of Dancing In Your Head" that appears on Jamaaladeen Tacuma's Renaissance Man offers a tantalising glimpse into how Ornette might sound if he opted more directly for the funk market. Supported by congas and a DMX drum computer plus Jamaal and Charlie Ellerbee (the funkiest Prime Timers) Ornette puts more of an R & B spin on the melody. Terrific, frankly.

Anyone heard it?

― artdamages, Thursday, October 18, 2007 7:45 PM (ten years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

comes on like early Whodini right down to the DMX & slap bass intro and then and then everyone starts right in

added as a bonus track to a bootleg CDR edition of 'Of Human Feelings' I found used, 'Times Square' ended and this electro track came on and I couldn't have been less prepared

It’s great- totally agree with the descriptions

It’s great- totally agree with the descriptions

Classic.

Shannon Jackson is the only drummer listed, but that can't be him playing all of that unless it's overdubbed. The out-of-time stuff sounds like it's on an inflatable plastic kit, and there are, like, shaker bells separate from what sounds like two drummers.

i recently found a nm copy of “renaissance man” for $5. it has a cool catalogue inside of weird corporate-looking new age jazz. tacuma looks quite corporate too, but the music is anything but. there’s nothing disco-fied about it except maybe the instruments. it’s weird fast-paced herky-jerky prog jazz jamming. i don’t really know how to describe it. it’s not super far from zorn’s 80s stuff or griot galaxy, but there’s none of the skronky blowing. anyway, it’s great. check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0_LJYychQ4

maybe imagine the herbie / laswell band trying to make a james blood ulmer album, that’s what it sounds like

that sounds great actually

I'm trying to stop being such a spotify parasite but it's frustrating how so much of this stuff is not so easy to hear. I do enjoy calvin weston's "of alien feelings" quite a bit although parts of it get more proggy than I tend to go for

whatever you call music in this lineage it seems to get brushed over far too often given its quality and influence, compared to both younger ornette and the more miles-adjacent electronic stuff. the relative lack of availability of much of it can't help

I always assumed denardo was the other drummer/percussionist but I guess there must be overdubbing unless the personnel list is incomplete. doesn't sound overdubbed to me (unlike some later stuff) but what do I know about recording

xp It's on Bandcamp (hopefully legitimately??)

https://jamaaladeentacuma.bandcamp.com/album/renaissance-man

awesome thx

No joke, I get this Jamaaladeen Tacuma track stuck in my head all the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ekyz6IDQlY

The tambourine and other rattling must be overdubbed; what sounds like "out-of-time stuff" might just be a product of a weird mix on different parts of the kit?

Also, the core of Prime Time worked with poet-performer Jayne Cortez, Ornette's ex-wife, Denardo's mother. She wrote several books, founded Bola Press, made an album with awesome bassist Richard Davis for Strata-East, and then

The first Bola Press recording, taped in October 1979, was called Unsubmissive Blues and included a piece "For the Brave Young Students in Soweto." Cortez delivered her poetry backed by an electro-funk modern jazz group called the Firespitters, built around a core of guitarist Bern Nix, bassist Al McDowell, and drummer Denardo Coleman. For years, the Firespitters and Ornette Coleman's Prime Time coexisted with Denardo as the axis and various players participated in both units.

During the summer of 1982, Cortez delivered There It Is, an earthshaking album containing several pieces that truly define her artistry. These include: "I See Chano Pozo," a joyously evocative salute to Dizzy Gillespie's legendary Cuban percussionist; a searing indictment of patriarchal violence called "If the Drum Is a Woman",[10] and, "US/Nigerian Relations," which consists of the sentence "They want the oil/but they don't want the people" chanted dervish-like over an escalating, electrified free jazz blowout. Recorded in 1986, her next album, Maintain Control, is especially memorable for Ornette Coleman's profoundly emotive saxophone on "No Simple Explanations," the unsettling "Deadly Radiation Blues," and the harshly gyrating "Economic Love Song," which is another of her tantrum-like repetition rituals, this time built around the words "Military spending, huge profits and death."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii3_MBXqAqU

And I think maybe all or several tracks from Bern Nix's Alarms and Excursions are on YouTube. He uses harmolodic elements in several ways, for inst:

While he was growing up Nix heard blues guitarist Freddie King play “Driving
Sideways.” Nix drew on the song's title to develop his harmolodic concept on “Driving
Sideways Backwards.” Employing his own melody, Nix juxtaposes his dark single lines
with bright playful refrains to develop motives, melodic paraphrases, and permutations
that give “Driving Sideways Backwards” a dense, rhythmical feel. Hopkins's bass
rumbles underneath Nix's scalar runs and the trio repeats refrains turned forward and
backward before restating the opening theme and slowing down at the end. “The tune has
some harmonic free association even though there was no coke or cigars on the date,”
laughs Nix.
Both “Pat's Theme” and “Ballad for L” were written from 1975 to 1976 when Nix
was living in a loft with Ornette Coleman on Prince Street in New York City's SoHo
district. “I dedicated 'Pat's Theme' to a friend who's been supportive of my artistic
development over the years,” Nix says. The trio plays out front before stating a melody,
with Hopkins's arco bass and Nix's pitch variations and bent notes. Nix combines single
note lines against scalar refrains and chordal strumming. The tone of the piece darkens,
punctuated with bright notes and descending chordal refrains. Baker's cymbal roars like a gong. “We play off the chord changes. It's a simple straight-ahead tune. We extend
melody and harmony. I like to integrate harmolodics with tradition. The song itself
sounds like an introduction to something. So you could think of it as an intro within an
intro,” Nix says.

oh yeah, here's the whole thing:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lF9Glu71ODlSTI09RkwQqJ7TUuGUfTuJ4

My dad had Dancing in Your Head when I was a kid. I found it absolutely hypnotic. When I found it years later, in a used record store in Boulder, I was beyond delighted.

100% classic.

I need to go back and listen to this record again. It's kinda always been my least favorite Prime Time album — Of Human Feelings is my favorite, followed by Body Meta, followed by the utterly bizarre '80s slickness and Fairlights of In All Languages. Even Virgin Beauty is pretty good. (I've never heard Tone Dialing.)

When I went to Ornette's apartment to interview him for The Wire, I saw the real painting that's on the cover of Dancing In Your Head. It was leaning against the wall on the floor of his rehearsal room, which had a heavy sliding glass door and a drum kit and keyboards set up inside.

Wow. Would like to see that.
Tone Dialing has some variety that the previous PT albums don't (and vice-versa, like Body Meta's bluesoid moves); anybody who likes them will prob like this. Opening the Caravan of Dreams is a rough-edged live album: not the one to start with, but good of its kind. Yeah, Vigin Beauty, with Jerry Garcia the guest whp earns his keep, is a relatively mellower side of Prime Time, with some good tunes. Tune dialing.

*Virgin* Beauty, geez. *who* earns his keep.

Naked Lunch was my gateway.

Yeah, that was good, with Howard Shore's scoring, and maybe OC wrote some of the string parts too? Anybody heard Prime Time/Prime Design, with Denardo and a string quartet? I've never even seen it. Enjoyed Skies of America, with the London Symphony Orchestra; one of the themes became the basis for Dancing In Your Head.

There's a CD of the Naked Lunch score on Howard Shore's own label, Howe Records, with a bunch of extra music included in the film but not on the original soundtrack release. It's worth picking up if you can find it.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81Jc+igfBpL.jpg

I've spent all week listening to Prime Time, Shannon Jackson, Blood, and Tacuma. I feel like we need a catch-all Prime Time tree thread.

Looks like this one is growing that way, but go ahead if you wanna, NTI.

(Tacuma mentioned recently on Twitter that he taped a bunch of his Prime Time gigs: noisy tapes, but he still listens.)

(Think it was his Walkman!)

That's so awesome. It's possible I mentioned this upthread or elsewhere, but bunch of years ago, Tacuma mistakenly emailed me asking if I could engineer a recording of his because he had flown a bunch of dudes out to do a record and the studio had double-booked with John Zorn. I told him he had the wrong me (I have kind of a generic email address) but that I knew who he was and was a big fan. He seemed kind of both shocked and touched.

Re. the thread, I may do that ... or not. I just feel like the harmolodic funk scene is on some level an important body of work that hasn't really gotten the full-on critical reassessment other records of the era have (I still remember John Litweiler in A Harmolodic Life hilariously describing Prime Time's drummers "emphasizing the two and the four" as if using terms like "4/4" or, gasp, "funk" was verboten).

(Maybe he got some pushback for describing, I think it was Of Human Feeling, as an amazing disco record in The Freedom Principle?)

Great story! Yeah, do the thread!

Or not---no pressure---but at least we got this one.