Free jazz: «The Face of the Bass» y «Forerunner» [ESP/ENG]

Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist and trumpeter, and composer. He was one of the founders of free jazz and won both followers and opponents when he appeared on the scene in 1959. Although he and Don Cherry played the opening and closing themes together in their original quartet, their improvisations were not harmonic and didn’t use chords. Instead they played with total freedom according to the mood of the composition. Coleman’s tone surprised some listeners and his solos were emotional. Eventually his approach would be quite influential and the quartet’s first records still sound advanced many decades later. Born in the city of Fort North, Coleman started playing the alto saxophone at fourteen and after two years the tenor saxophone. At first he played in rhythm and blues bands such as Red Connors and Pee Wee Clayton, with whom he traveled to Los Angeles.

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After a performance in Louisiana, Coleman was attacked and his tenor saxophone was broken, so from then on he used only the alto saxophone. He first played with it in New Orleans and later became a member of blues and rhythm and blues singer and guitarist Pee Wee Crayton’s group and traveled with them to Los Angeles. There he met other musicians with his same interests, such as trumpeter Don Cherry, double bassist Charlie Haden and drummers Charles Moffet, Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins. In 1958 he recorded his first album Something Else!!!! and played with pianist Paul Bley in a New York club. When in 1959 he recorded Tomorrow is the Question, his strange music had already shaken the world of jazz. Some musicians considered it a fraud, while others praised it. That same year he also recorded The Shape of Jazz to Come and was hired for two months at the Five Spot club in New York. Vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, pianist and composer Leonard Bernstein, and the group The Modern Jazz Quartet were impressed and encouraged him. His unique sound was because he played with a plastic saxophone, but later he acquired a metal one. His following albums with Atlantic Records influenced other musicians, such as tenor saxofonist John Coltrane, alto saxofonist, flutist and bass clarinetist Eric Dophy, and trumpeter Miles Davis.

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The theme is very short and sounds strangely traditional, and after having being exposed, Haden plays a concise passage. Then Cherry plays several phrases and then Coleman does the same to give way to Haden, who makes a well thought out solo with silences and double notes. All of a sudden Cherry enters making a determined, but casual solo that then complicates using different motifs. Now it’s Coleman’s turn, who offers a changing and interesting speech with unusual and surprising phrases. Next Haden intervenes again and Coleman and Cherry play a final sentence.

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Translated with the help of DeepL

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First the group plays a few lines, let Higgins make some drumrolls and repeat it again, but this second time Higgins extends more in his intervention, and the group sounds again. The first to enter is Coleman at a chilling speed inspired by blues and gospel. His phrases are unstoppable and overwhelming introducing strange effects. He is followed firmly by Cherry, who presents an unusual and daring discourse full of twists and turns while Haden holds the tempo steady. To finish, the band does the same as at the beginning.

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℗ Atlantic Records