The Squid's Ear
Writing about improvised, contemporary, experimental and unusual music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear




Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  Ornette Coleman 
  Ornette At 12, Crisis & Man On The Moon, Revisited
  (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd.) 


  
   review by Ken Waxman
  2023-06-22
Ornette Coleman: Ornette At 12, Crisis & Man On The Moon, Revisited (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd.)

Listening to Ornette Coleman sessions from a half century ago, a few questions come to mind. Why was the multi instrumentalist considered so avant-garde? In 2023 what's most clear on the 11 selections is how jazz-like his music is. With his inimitable alto saxophone cry and unmistakably joyful compositions inspired by blues and marching bands, the undulating melodies don't sound far out. Also why were so many listeners & critics down on Denardo Coleman's drumming? He was 12 to 14 years old here and no Ed Blackwell — who replaces him on two brief, spacey tracks with the band and pioneering electronics player Emmanuel Ghent — but his variegated cadences are more sophisticated than any rock drummer's. More crucially he categorically creates the needed rhythms to mesh with inventions from his father, Dewey Redman's tenor saxophone; Don Cherry's trumpet and Charlie Haden's bass. As well, "Trouble In the East", with Cherry's wood flute peeps, siren cries from the reeds and buzzing spiccato from Haden and Coleman's violin presages the ethnic/electric sounds Coleman would soon make with Prime Time.

Redman and Cherry are the decisive factors here. Redman's pressurized split tones, scoops and smears match Coleman's almost unstoppable reed multiphonics tone-for-tone creating broken octave unity. Yet Redman adds ambulatory maturity to tunes like "Broken Shadows" that confirm their moderated traditionalism. When Coleman emphasizes screaming trumpet triplets (on "Rainbows") or pointed fiddle squawks (on "Bells and Chimes"), Redman's near-mellow cadenzas steady the performance. Haden's unassailable pulse and attention to rhythmic kinship is coupled with ability to intensify tension with multiple-fingering, tensile string vibrations. His power plucks reoriented the head of "Comme II Faut" impelling the three horns into a high-pitched lyrical variant. His own "Song For Che" mixes corrido melancholia with flamenco-like string reverberations, ending with slow horn harmonies that enhance themes of sadness and defiance.

Despite his importance, Coleman's discography is surprisingly sparse. This nearly 80-minute remastered disc reissues notable additions.







Comments and Feedback:



More Recent Reviews, Articles, and Interviews @ The Squid's Ear...


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Sifter (
w/ Lisa Mezzacappa):
Flake/
Fracture
(Queen Bee Records)



Jean-Marc Foussat:
Abbatage
(Fou Records)



Chester Hawkins:
Apsis
(Intangible Arts)



Jean-Jacques Avenel/
Daunik Lazro:
Duo
(Fou Records)



Karl Evangelista's
Apura + Andrew Cyrille:
Bukas
(577 Records)



Frode Gjerstad/
Alexander von Schlippenbach/
Dag Magnus Narvesen:
Seven Tracks
(Relative Pitch)



Georg Graewe/
Brad Jones/
Hamid Drake:
More Than Anything
(Random Acoustics)



Kaze (
Fujii/
Tamura/
Orins/
Pruvost) with/ Koichi Makigami:
Shishiodoshi
(Circum-Libra)



Koenjihyakkei:
Live at Club Goodman
[2 CDs]
(Skin Graft)



Sun Ra:
Sleeping Beauty
[VINYL]
(STRUT)



Earle Brown/
David Ryan/
Christian Wolff/
Morton Feldman/
Thanos Chrysakis/
Tim Hodgkinson:
Music for Guitars,
Bass Clarinets &
Contrabasses
(Aural Terrains)



Joe McPhee & Strings (
w/ Maneri/
Lonberg-Holm/
Bisio):
We Know Why
The Caged Bird Sings
(RogueArt)



Nakatani Gong Orchestra:
NGO, Live in Ojai,
California
[VINYL GOLD]
(Weird Cry Records)



Mats Gustafsson/
Ken Vandermark/
Tomeka Reid/
Chad Taylor:
Pivot
(Silkheart)



Lance Olsen Austin:
Death in
the Urban Jungle
(Confront)



John Butcher/
Phil Durrant/
Mark Wastell:
Poznan:
Appropriate Density
(Confront)



Kassel Jaeger:
Fernweh
[VINYL 2 LPs]
(Black Truffle)



Marteau Rouge (
Foussat/
Pauvros/
Sato)/
Evan Parker:
Gift
(Fou Records)



Sun Ra:
Nuits de
la Fondation Maeght
[4 CD BOX SET]
(STRUT)



John Zorn (
Hashimoto/
Gosling/
Smith/
Roeder/
Mori):
Fantasma (
Illusions From
A Surrealist Mirror)
(Tzadik)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (21856)