Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation
| Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation | ||||
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| Ornette Coleman studio album | ||||
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| Label (s) | Atlantic Records | |||
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37:10 |
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A&R Studios, New York City |
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Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation is a jazz album by Ornette Coleman , after which an entire jazz genre, free jazz , was ultimately named. The album was recorded by Tom Dowd in New York City on December 21, 1960 and released by Atlantic Records in September 1961 .
Concept of plate
A double quartet plays Coleman's music on the album : each of the two quartets with woodwinds , trumpet, bass and drums was assigned to one of the stereo channels. The composition was a six-part suite with collective improvisations, structured by thematic inserts in the form of short, sometimes fanfare-like unison themes or by wind clusters, and was largely based on a shuffle rhythm played by the doubled rhythm section . Functionally harmonious ties are abolished. The principle of largely free improvisation gave the musicians a lot of freedom to implement their ideas and feelings independently. Phases in which all musicians played together alternated with solo sequences in which the respective musician responded to previous motifs or could introduce a new topic himself, while the other musicians orientated themselves on the motif of the solo and commented on or paused: " The most important thing for us was to play together, all at the same time, without getting in each other's way, and also to have enough space for each player at will - and to follow that idea for the duration of the album. When the soloist played something that inspired me to a musical idea or direction, I played that in my style behind it. Of course he continued his solo in his style. ”As soloists, it was the wind instruments first, then (as a duo) the two bassists and then the two drummers. The composition went - what no one had dared before - on both sides of the LP.
The album was recorded continuously on December 21, 1960. The group had recorded a first take immediately before, but it was not released on the record.
Although Coleman and Tonmeister Dowd made innovative use of stereophony , Free Jazz appeared in both stereo and mono versions. On the album cover, Coleman is not given as the artist, but is given as the namesake of the "Ornette Coleman Double Quartet".
Pieces
Page 1:
- 1. Free Jazz (Part 1) - 19:55
Page 2:
- 2. Free Jazz (Part 2) - 16:28
CD bonus track:
- First take - 17:02
The CD release contains Free Jazz in its original form as a continuous improvisation (37:03).
analysis
In his analysis of the piece, Peter Niklas Wilson emphasizes that some of the hierarchies that were later overcome in free jazz are still present: On the one hand, there is still a classical rhythm section with a "priming function of bass and drums". The band leader is also privileged in the design of the piece: "The leader Ornette Coleman is granted a solo of almost ten minutes, the other three wind instruments and the two bassists four to five minutes each, while the drummers each have to be content with just one minute."
Due to the traditional role assignment of the instruments, the bassists and drummers can “hardly ever question the established tempo beyond their solos. Since they also play non-stop, there is a priori a certain level of density and attractiveness that only occurs during the course of the piece little is. varies wealth "but" "So the play despite missing" more exciting details dramaturgy of tension and relaxation. "Ultimately, it is" more of a big sound condition as a detailed sound process , "but" nevertheless a fascinating piece. "
effect
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
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With the album, the cover of which featured a reproduction of a painting by Jackson Pollock ( The White Light , 1954), Coleman broke new ground. Correspondingly, the publication (Atlantic LP 1364) in September 1961 was followed by “violent controversies and misunderstandings”. For example, John Tynan wrote a total slogan for the Down Beat : “ Collective improvisation ? Nonsense. The only collectivity is that these eight nihilists appeared at the same time in the same studio with the same goal: to destroy the music to which they owe their existence. "
Some of the proponents also had problems understanding the dawn of a new music-making attitude: “The planned disc was so confusing that it was used as an excuse for unplanned music-making. One of the biggest jazz misunderstandings. ”Possibly the album also developed an effect as a blueprint in jazz history, after which further free jazz records were later recorded with groups of medium size, such as John Coltrane's Ascension and Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun .
From a historical distance, the record, which the All Music Guide rated with 5 stars, appears to be a modern classic: “It was not planned to break into chaos here, but rather a (one-time) attempt to release polyphony in freedom,” judged 2006 Konrad Heidkamp . Ultimately, the record acted as a "manifesto of the softening of tradition that had in mind not destruction, but expansion of the musical language."
The music magazine Jazzwise chose the album at number 19 in the list The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World ; Keith Shadwick wrote:
- " This one turned everyone around. Ornette set the musicians up in two parallel quartets, arranged some loose themes and collective playing to book end the entire performance as well as section off each solo, then let the musicians loose for a collective bout of improvisation that lasts well over half an hour reinventing the possibilities of jazz as it does so. The overall marvel of this record is that, while it proved to be so pregnant with ideas for those who followed in the next decades, the music grips the listener as excitingly as ever today “.
Rolling Stone magazine voted the album at number 30 in its 2013 list of The 100 Best Jazz Albums .
Pitchfork Media leading free jazz at number 106 of the 200 best albums of the 1960s.
literature
- Ralf Dombrowski : Basis-Diskothek Jazz (= Reclams Universal Library. No. 18372). Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-15-018372-3 .
- John Litweiler: Ornette Coleman. A Harmolodic Life Morrow & Cie, New York 1992
- Peter Niklas Wilson: Ornette Coleman. His life, his music, his records Oreos, Schaftlach 1989
Remarks
- ↑ O. Coleman in the liner notes on the plate. quoted n. Free jazz and improvised music
- ↑ He later appeared on the LP Twins (Atlantic SD 1588); see. Litweiler, Ornette Coleman, p. 214. According to the analysis by Peter Niklas Wilson ( Ornette Coleman , p. 121f.), This version of the piece is “much more concentrated” with the same order of solos and roles. This concentration has "advantages: the balance between the (sometimes more convincingly played!) Composed passages and the improvisations appear more successful." The version also contains an "adventurous solo" by Dolphy, which is highlighted as a "highlight".
- ↑ A Reasoned Cacophony: Ornette Coleman - "Free Jazz" on thejazzrecord.com (accessed June 4, 2018)
- ^ A b P. N. Wilson Ornette Coleman , p. 114
- ^ PN Wilson: Ornette Coleman , p. 115
- ↑ Review by Steve Huey on allmusic.com (accessed June 4, 2018)
- ↑ Dombrowski, Basis-Diskothek, p. 44
- ↑ n. Dombrowski, Basis-Diskothek, p. 44
- ↑ Time: Happy Tones (2006)
- ↑ Dombrowski, Basis-Diskothek, p. 45
- ^ The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World
- ↑ Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
- ↑ The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s on pitchfork.com (accessed June 4, 2018)
Web links
- Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation at Allmusic (English)