The Shape of Jazz to Come
| The Shape of Jazz to Come | ||||
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| Ornette Coleman studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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admission |
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| Label (s) | Atlantic Records | |||
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Title (number) |
6th |
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running time |
37:59 |
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Studio (s) |
Radio Recorders, Los Angeles |
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The Shape of Jazz to Come is the second studio album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman , which documents the transition to free jazz and avant-garde jazz . Recorded on May 22nd, 1959, the specialty of this album was the lack of conventional "chord changes" (harmony changes). In part, the music is breaking away from the traditional jazz formal scheme for the first time.
The album
The Shape of Jazz to Come is Ornette Coleman's first production on Atlantic Records , a label Coleman came into contact with through the mediation of pianist John Lewis . Nesuhi Ertegün came to an agreement with Lester Koenig, the head of Contemporary Records in California , that Coleman should change labels because his career could not be adequately supported from California. At the same time, it is the first recording on which, in addition to Don Cherry , the rhythm section of his classical quartet with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins is also involved.
All six tracks on the album are original compositions by Coleman. What the titles have in common is that they are still based on the traditional sequence of jazz pieces ( theme / improvisation / theme), but they break away from the harmonic structures that were common at the time , thanks to the communicative musicality of Haden and Higgin, the unconventional lines of Coleman and Cherry to follow was made possible. As a result, the soloists are not bound by harmonic guidelines and enjoy much greater freedom in dealing with their own sound material. This concept was a decisive step in the development of free jazz, even if the term was coined later based on another Coleman album .
Lonely Woman ignores the rules of bebop. Higgins sets a fast rhythm, but the two winds place the idiosyncratic theme over it in a slow rubato and sound it out; Haden tends to play accents on the bass rather than following a metric orientation. The melody is hardly taken up in the solos and the basic mood of the piece fluctuates between different emotions: worry, sympathy and resignation. The piece now enjoys the rank of a standard and is probably the composition of Coleman that is most often played by other jazz musicians.
Peace is also a slow piece and contains a duet by Cherry and Haden, with the cornet almost disappearing behind the irregular tones of the double bass.
Eventuality is partly based on a three-tone lick by Coleman, which is initially repeated ten times and taken up again and again in his solo.
For Coleman biographer Litwiler, Focus on Sanity with its three fanfare themes and several tempo changes is the most remarkable piece on the record; there, a quiet solo by Haden is abruptly replaced by a shrill solo by Coleman, which is partly played in double-time , before Cherry's solo leads back into calmer waters, but horror continues to penetrate there as well. Coleman originally wanted this to be the title track on the album.
Congeniality and Chronology are played at high speed throughout. Congeniality moves between restlessness, scratchiness, happiness and sadness; the piece allows the soloists to feel these feelings, which Coleman manages in a particularly humorous way.
The photo on the cover, a portrait of Coleman, was taken by Lee Friedlander .
reception
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
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The album and Coleman's concept sparked heated controversy when it was released. Unlike the album Something Else! Recorded in 1958 for the Californian contemporary label. which was only marketed to a limited extent and was ineffective, it was clearly noticed. The jazz audience initially found it difficult to recognize structures in the free improvisation, which led to accusations of arbitrariness and a lack of skills. Jazz greats like Miles Davis also refused to give Coleman's music artistic recognition at the time. Down Beat was appropriately titled "The Controversial Mr. Coleman" in late 1959. Nevertheless, the album received a lot of attention and the positive voices of Coleman's supporters took hold over time. Although the controversy over tradition and avant-garde in jazz continues to this day, The Shape of Jazz to Come is today mostly perceived as a classic in jazz history. Allmusic awarded the album five stars.
The British magazine Jazzwise leads The Shape of Jazz to Come at # 3 of 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World .
The American music magazine Rolling Stone chose the album in 2013 in its list The 100 best jazz albums at number 9. It also ranks 248 of the 500 best albums of all time .
In 2012 the album was inducted into the National Recording Registry and in 2015 the Grammy Hall of Fame .
Trivia
Based on the title of the album, the Swedish hardcore punk band Refused released the album The Shape of Punk to Come in 1998 .
Tracklist
All compositions are by Ornette Coleman .
Page 1:
- 1. Lonely Woman - 5:02
- 2. Eventually - 4:22
- 3. Peace - 9:04
Page 2:
- 4. Focus on Sanity - 6:52
- 5. Congeniality - 6:48
- 6. Chronology - 6:03
Bonus tracks (CD):
literature
- Joachim-Ernst Berendt: The Jazz Book . Frankfurt am Main: Fischer (2001) ISBN 3-596-10515-3
- John Litweiler: Ornette Coleman. A Harmolodic Life . New York: Morrow & Cie (1992)
Remarks
- ↑ Litwiler, p. 66
- ↑ a b Review of the album at Allmusic
- ↑ a b c cf. Litwiler, p. 67
- ↑ a b See Litwiler, p. 68
- ↑ Review by Steve Huey on allmusic.com (accessed May 17, 2018)
- ↑ Despite some excellent reviews and the enthusiasm of a small group of avant-garde listeners, after the release of Something Else! Coleman's mood and income increased only to a very limited extent: in a good year he only had a six-week engagement (as a sideman !). See Nat Hentoff , Liner Notes on Tomorrow is the Question! Contemporary Records
- ^ The Controversial Mr. Coleman ( Memento of November 25, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) Down Beat, November 1959, p. 17
- ↑ The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World on jazzwisemagazine.com (accessed May 17, 2018)
- ↑ Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
- ↑ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time on rollingstone.com (accessed May 17, 2018)
- ↑ “Shape of Jazz to Come” - Ornette Coleman (1959) on loc.gov (PDF) (accessed on May 17, 2018)