Sound Grammar

by

Ornette Coleman

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Jazz legend Ornette Coleman has returned with his first new album in over a decade, "Sound Grammar". Recorded live in Germany in October 2005, "Sound Grammar" is a major throwback to the sound that made Ornette famous in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Here, he performs the music in a stripped down quartet setting consisting of himself on alto sax, trumpet and violin, his son Denardo on drums and a dual bass section of Gregoary Cohen and Tony Falanga.

As you would expect, the performances are loaded with Ornette's freeform interplay with plenty of jolts and surprises. The opening track "Jordan" would not at all sound out of place alongside Ornette's classic album "The Shape of Jazz To Come" while "Sleep Talking" is a haunting mood piece that features an excellent spotlight on the two bassists - Tony Falanga is especially impressive with his ghostly bowed strokes.

Elsewhere on the album are intense moments such as those heard in "Matador" and "Waiting For You". "Once Only" is just plain bizarre with its sax lead lines that don't stick to any one key accompanied by equally meandering bass lines and rhythmless drumming.

The highlights of the album will no doubt have to be the two piece which will be familar to longtime Ornette followers. "Turnaround", while presented in a slightly different context here, is a classic Ornette blues originally from 1958. The rhythm is less straightforward here than on the original version and almost tends to go into doubletime without actually fully going into it. "Song X" was originally from 1985 and was the title track to his classic collaboration with guitar great Pat Metheny. Ornette's version here extends the piece to 10-minutes and includes great solo spots from everyone. Denardo's drum solo is a real standout here as is Ornette's shreiking violin solo which follows the drums.

After over a decade of absence from the spotlight audio-wise, it's great to finally have a brand new CD by Ornette Coleman after a long wait. This CD presents Ornette in a revitalized manner and is probably his best work in years. As mentioned above, the music is similar to his classic early work and has plenty of energy and surprises.

For the diehard Ornette fan, "Sound Grammar" is a definite must and dare I say it, this is also recommended as a great first buy for those just discovering Ornette's music despite it being a brand new CD.

Classic Ornette for the 21st Century!!!