Ornette Coleman, the master musician, died on June 11, 2015 at the age of 85. In 1958, before Amazon there were neighborhood record stores -- Sears, department stores, appliance stores &c. sold vinyl recordings. In Highland Park, Mi. at that time neither Sears nor any of my vinyl-record suppliers were apt to stock Ornette Coleman's debut recording Something Else. So I had to special order it. There have been only two occasions, prior to the Compact Disc Era, on which I special-ordered vinyl disc: the Something Else! and David Murray's 1976 debut recording Low Class Conspiracy (Columbia Record Club orders don't count).
Touching on People and Places
In the summer of 1961 I went to New York City to stay with a former high school friend who, with another artist, had an artist loft located at 326 Bowery. This address was across the street from the famous and fabulous Five Spot Café. When I went out on my first evening in NYC the first person I ran into was Barry Harris, the renowned Detroit piano master. We were both on our way to hear Ornette Coleman at the Five Spot. I returned many times to the Five Spot during Ornette Coleman's engagement there. The trumpet chair in the Coleman group was held by Bobby Bradford, Charles Moffett, was the drummer. The bassist was, I believe, David Izenzon. I had never heard Ornette Coleman in person before. The music was, needless to say, breathtaking. I had a number of talks with Bobby Bradford, who was very kind to me.
The next time I heard Ornette Coleman in person was on a very hot June 1973 afternoon at the Strata Concert Gallery, 46 Selden St. I was there with my friend Jim Murphy and I recall the artist Ellen Phelan being there too. It was a trio setting this time with Charlie Haden on bass and Ed Blackwell on drums -- totally sublime music making.
In the fall of 1980, I heard Ornette Coleman with the Pat Metheny group at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit. I don't remember much about this event -- that's the way I am with guitars, usually.
February 18, 1982, my friend, the writer Bill Harris, and I heard a performance by Ornette Coleman's Body Meta/Dancing In Your Head/Prime Time group -- Charles Ellerbee and Bern Nix, guitars, the amazing Jamaaladeen Tacuma, bass guitar, and two drummers. This fantastic music took place at the Power Center at the University of Michigan.
The last time that I heard Ornette Coleman in person was March 19, 2004 in Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan. I was with Peter Fylonenko and Jim Murphy. The group consisted of two basses, one of whom was Greg Cohen and Mr. Coleman's son Denardo on drums. The music was very lamentation-like, a hymn to the all the artists; rather like Ornette Coleman's pre-Skies of America writing for his group and a small set of strings. A beautiful evening of music.
Ornette Coleman appeared many times at the Minor Key in Detroit in 1961. I don't recall hearing him there. I think I was in New York at the time.
Ornette Coleman's music has meant a great deal to me during the past 50+ years of listening to his wonderful music. Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk were the record holders at the Five Spot Café for the number of weeks of continuous performances. Charles McPherson who had performed at the Five Spot as a leader and with Charles Mingus told me something that I didn't know about this venue's policy: performers were able to perform at the Five Spot as long as the audiences supported the musicians, i. e., Ornette and Monk were all-time drawing cards at the Five Spot Café.
Let's listen to this music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0sAuMPhFt8
