The Shape of Jazz to Come

Ornette Coleman: Lonely Woman and Peace
From The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic, 1959)

Long before I gave two farts about beats, breaks, or who sampled what, this record rocked my 13 year old world. I played drums in our jr. high school jazz band (because that was the way you got to play the school's Gretsch drum set) and most of the time the teacher made us play wack Abersol music and listen to other stuff destined to rock multi-purpose room recitals for years to come. But that summer I got to study with Tootie Heath (by the way, Heath Brothers got more heat than just "Smilin Billy Suite," see future post) who put me up on this record and pretty much opened me up to what "real" jazz could be.

Though Coleman is pretty much widely regarded as an innovator today, people used to front on him pretty hard in his day, and to some extent they still do. The guy was one of the first dudes defining free jazz (a term which I believe he coined with the album of the same name) and yeah, a lot of inferior musicians get over these days by calling their work avant garde or free, but at least in today's light Coleman's music is clearly not making any excuses.

Blah blah, I don't really have a strong enough knowledge base in jazz to write about it well, but the fact is this music is haunting. Play it at the right time and you'll see what I mean.