TT 422: Ornette, Dewey, Charlie, Blackwell

video from 1971 surfaces at last

A tantalizing excerpt of this concert was seen in the Charlie Haden documentary Ramblin’ Boy. Now 44 minutes of this Berlin concert is finally on YouTube.

Ornette Coleman, alto sax, trumpet + violin
Dewey Redman, tenor sax + musette
Charlie Haden, bass
Ed Blackwell, drums

“Whom Do You Work For?”
“Broken Shadows”
“Street Woman”
“Song for Che”
“Rock the Clock”
“Happy House”

The set list is reasonably familiar with the exception of “Whom Do You Work For?” (Previous bootlegs have given that title, but since the other titles on bootlegs are frequently incorrect, I’d like independent verification. So far I haven’t found this melody on any studio recording.)

On “Whom Do You Work For?,” “Street Woman,” and “Happy House,” the melodies are catchy, the improvisations are robust, and the swing undeniable. There are no preset chord changes, it is up to Haden to harmonize the sax solos with pedal points or walking. Ed Blackwell delivers his peerless uptempo jazz drumming; Max Roach meets NOLA parade.

“Broken Shadows” was the only AABA form in the Ornette book (where the form stays for the improvising). It pairs with the other ballad “Song for Che” by Charlie Haden, which was the only non-Ornette composition in the book. During “Song for Che” Charlie always strummed his bass like a flamenco guitar, this was a set special effect. “Rock the Clock” was another set special effect, an amusing ABA palate cleanser. It begins with musette/trumpet, before switching to tenor/electric violin. For this B section Blackwell plays a beat and Dewey delivers the blues in G; on the studio recording Charlie ups the vibe with loud fuzz-tone bass. They then return to musette/trumpet. It must be said that Ornette really commands trumpet and violin, and that Dewey owns the musette.

Ornette just starts and the band jumps in. He doesn’t even give a nod. His mouth is on the mouthpiece, and then the sound begins. Dewey has to keep close watch on the leader.

(For conventional jazz musicians, the way the band stopped and started on a dime — with no cues — was one of the most exotic aspects of the original Ornette Coleman quartet at the Five Spot a dozen years earlier.)

During the first song, Dewey is definitely yelling “Fuck you! Fuck you!” to the Berliners through his horn, after which Ornette goes to Blackwell to (probably) joke about it. Haden is having some trouble with his bass set-up which seems to resolve about 15 minutes in (after a howl of feedback during Dewey’s solo on “Street Woman”).

The band is loud. They couldn’t play this way in a jazz club. However, the expanded dynamic range of a concert hall suits the naturally epic music of Ornette Coleman. (This unlike bebop or hard-bop, two genres that are almost always best-suited to a close and contained environment.)

Ornette is about drive and forward motion. This whole wonderful concert offers a headlong tumble of melody and blues. To state the exceptionally obvious, this quartet is also a collective of unique personalities. Change any player and you drastically change the music. When Ornette broke up this quartet, it only made sense for the other three to bring Don Cherry onboard for Old and New Dreams.

I saw Blackwell live a few times; there is also a fair amount of Blackwell on video. But I don’t think I ever got to see him play an open Ornette/Charlie ballad like “Broken Shadows” or “Song for Che” before. He rattles around, flams some rudiments, starts and stops African patterns, and (uniquely to this video) hits an absurd gong or two. Blackwell is listening and smiling. So are we all.

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Every Ornette Coleman record is great, every bootleg has some magic, but 1971 is from my favorite Ornette period.

1958-1959 Somethin’ Else and Tomorrow is the Question! The first two records are fun but it’s just getting going. Don Payne or Shelly Manne aren’t really Ornette musicians.

1959-1961 The Shape of Jazz to Come, Change of the Century, This is Our Music The first peak. Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and either Billy Higgins or Ed Blackwell.

1961 Free Jazz noisy love-in.

1961 Ornette on Tenor and Ornette! Two other great bassists (Garrison and LaFaro) take over for Haden. Eminently worthy but inevitably less magical.

1962-1969 Town Hall 1962, At the Golden Circle, London Concert, Forms and Sounds, The Empty Foxhole, New York is Now, Love Call, Ornette at 12!, Crisis, and a few other pre-1970 items The great expansion! Ornette adds European modernism to his Texas blues via violin, explores a few other collaborators (some famous like Elvin Jones), opens up the sound to a raging rubato thanks to his young son Denardo, finds a worthy replacement for Don Cherry in Dewey Redman.

THE PEAK: 1970-1972 Friends and Neighbors, Science Fiction, several bootlegs of European concerts including this video The core quartet is Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell. Science Fiction adds guests. From the earth to the sky.