ORNETTE COLEMAN
The Complete Science Fiction Sessions
Columbia / Legacy
C2K63569

When I started listening seriously to music in my early teens, my choices were governed by two criteria (after I realized that commercial radio was utterly useless): interesting cover art, and good (or at least controversial) press. My first brush with the music of Ornette Coleman came via his 1977 recording Dancing In Your Head, which had, to my teen-aged senses, both good cover art and drew plenty of controversial press. I can recall being somewhat disappointed, but interested enough to file the LP away for future listening. Some months later, I heard Science Fiction at a friend’s house and was completely floored. I have been a dedicated Ornette fan ever since. Columbia’s long-overdue CD reissue of Science Fiction and Broken Shadows (which I did not hear until many years later) is every bit as essential as the mammoth six-CD set, Beauty Is A Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings. Clocking in at two complete CDs, it’s quite a bit cheaper as well. The Complete Science Fiction Sessions documents Ornette’s regular group at the time: tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ed Blackwell. Trumpeters Bobby Bradford and Don Cherry, drummer Billy Higgins, and a host of others augment the quartet on most tracks. Most notable is the inclusion of Bobby Bradford. A longtime associate of Coleman and the late clarinet giant John Carter, Bradford today stands as a living, breathing refutation of negative neo-conservative propaganda regarding so-called avant-garde musicians. His warm, fluid and knowingly off-center contributions provide interesting contrast to Cherry’s more incendiary, volatile improvising. Redman is a revelation: superficially his playing seems to be derived from Coltrane and Sanders, yet his heavily vocalized tone and avant-blues approach are immediately recognizable as his own. Blackwell, Higgins and Haden are, as usual, definitively swinging and utterly amazing. Blackwell and Higgins, completely comfortable playing as a tandem, also switch off to back different soloists on "Happy House" and the previously unreleased "Written Word" (both from Broken Shadows). Haden attacks the bass with alarming vigor throughout, yet never sacrifices beauty or articulation in the name of brute force.

In the late '60s and early '70s, Coleman was bursting with creative energy. He was already preparing the music for his orchestral concerto grosso, Skies of America and would soon depart to record with the Master Musicians of Joujouka. Here, his desire to try instrumental approaches beyond the usual two horn quartet format is evident from his use of numerous guest musicians: vocalists Webster Armstrong and Asha Puthli, a wind quartet, classical trumpeters Carmine Forarotto and Gerard Schwarz, pianist Cedar Walton (the first to record with Coleman since Paul Bley in the late '50s), and guitarist Jim Hall (who recorded Gunther Schuller’s Jazz Abstractions with Coleman in 1960). Science Fiction is the more satisfying of the two discs. The music has the colorful vitality and nervously energetic asymmetry that characterizes his best recordings for Atlantic. The two vocal tracks, sung by the astoundingly soulful and contemporary-sounding Asha Puthli, are stunningly beautiful. Though they seem intended to be ballads, Blackwell gives them a tumbling second-line feel. The title track and "Rock the Clock" are ostensibly free jazz pieces, yet close listening reveals subtle structures beneath the tandem drumming and Haden’s electronically processed bass. The poetry and crying baby samples on the former, and the fuzz-wah bass on the latter, may seem a bit cheesy to some... but what the heck, it was the '70s. "Civilization Day," "Street Woman," and "The Jungle is a Skyscraper" are flat-out bebop energy tunes: the musical equivalent of a high-performance drag race. "School Work," "Law Years," and "Country Town Blues", all upbeat tunes by anyone else’s standards, seem subdued and carefully-considered by comparison. Coleman was not shy about recycling his best material: the goofily exuberant theme from "School Work" appears as "The Good Life" on Skies of America and again as "Theme From a Symphony" on Dancing in Your Head. Bonus tracks include an alternate take of "Street Woman" and an alternate mix of "Civilization Day".

The second disc, recorded in 1971 and 1972, but not released until the early 1980s, has some of the power and exuberance of Science Fiction. The first four tracks, which came from the same sessions, are replete with oddball beauty. My favorites are the high-energy workouts: "Happy House" and "Written Word." These alternate with two of Coleman’s trademark dirges: "Elizabeth" and "Broken Shadows." "Elizabeth" has a stately beauty, though the piece erupts into fierce sparring between the four horns as Higgins and Blackwell push the tempo. Though it fared much better on "Crisis," Coleman’s second LP for Impulse, the title track is illuminated by fine solos from Bradford and Redman, in particular. "Rubber Gloves," from 1972, is a brisk workout for quartet with stunning solos from both Coleman and Dewey Redman, and breathtaking interplay between Haden and Blackwell. The remaining two tracks are oddities. Both feature an extended group featuring a resolutely average vocalist (Webster Armstrong), a seemingly extraneous wind quartet, plus piano and guitar. "Good Girl Blues" is the sort of jump-blues that Coleman must have played in Fort Worth back in the '40s and early '50s. "Is It Forever," a ballad, fares somewhat better. Though Jim Hall plays some interesting lines that somehow manage to cut through it all, these two tunes are more curiosities than vital documents from one of America’s greatest artists.

Dave Wayne

Track Listing: (CD #1) 1. What Reason Could I Give?; 2. Civilization Day; 3. Street Woman; 4. Science Fiction; 5. Rock the Clock; 6. All My Life; 7. Law Years; 8. The Jungle is a Skyscraper; 9. School Work; 10. Country Town Blues; 11. Street Woman (alternate take); 12. Civilization Day (alternate mix); (CD #2) 1. Happy House; 2. Elizabeth; 3. Written Word; 4. Broken Shadows; 5. Rubber Gloves; 6. Good Girl Blues; 7. Is It Forever?

Personnel: (CD #1) Ornette Coleman, alto sax, trumpet (Track 5), violin (Track 5); Charlie Haden, bass; Dewey Redman, tenor sax (Tracks 1, 4-9); Billy Higgins, drums (Tracks 2-4, 10-12), tympani (Tracks 1, 6); Ed Blackwell, drums (Tracks 1, 4-9); Don Cherry, pocket trumpet (Tracks 2-4, 10-12); Bobby Bradford, trumpet (Tracks 4, 7-9); Carmine Fornarotto, trumpet (Tracks 1, 6); Gerard Schwartz (Tracks 1, 6); Asha Puthli, vocals (Tracks 1, 6); (CD #2) Ornette Coleman, alto sax; Dewey Redman, Tenor Sax; Charlie Haden, bass; Billy Higgins, drums (Tracks 1-4); Ed Blackwell, drums; Don Cherry, pocket trumpet (Tracks 1-4); Bobby Bradford, trumpet (Tracks 1-4); Cedar Walton, piano (Tracks 6-7); Jim Hall, guitar (Tracks 6-7); Webster Armstrong, vocals (Tracks 6-7) unidentified flute, clarinet, bassoon, French horn (Tracks 6-7)