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- Verified Buyer
Ornette Coleman has long been a man far ahead of his time in his artistic endeavors. Some of his more accessible tunes were selected for this "best of". One of them "Old Gospel" actually comes from a Jackie Mclean album where Ornette joined him playing trumpet (Mclean plays alto) on this one cut. The Broadway Blues is most certainly a wonderful piece that is ever so easy to want to hear again and again. Yet, Ornette's music, as the man himself, has never been truly comprehended even now as I write this in 2011 by what I'd call a meaningful number of jazz fans. He seems as distant now as he did in the 1950's when he appeared on the scene in suit and sunglasses. It grieves me to see any of his works being sold as all but 'dirt' or at least at 'dirt cheap prices' in the Marketplace. None know what the future holds, but personally I'm going to hold on, and keep listening from time to time to even what may be the hardest to reach of his albums which is certainly "The Illinois Concert." ** I never thought I'd write a piece like this. I thought it would be for somebody I could personally go wild over in the present, and to date seems vastly under appreciated of which we have far too ample a supply in popular music in jazz, R&B, Rock, Soul...you name it, and especially it seems, if they have Afro-American roots. Yet I could not resist putting in a word for Ornette here and now as I perused the lowly prices that his ever so special works sell at. Many years ago in the 1980's I was waiting for a connection for a flight in the airport in Amsterdam, and the music of Ornette Coleman was being piped through the corridors. What did they hear then that we are missing to this day? All I can think, and this is no answer, is that Ornette Coleman was born at the wrong time for the listening public in this nation. I suspect his music will be heard long after this writer is gone, and long after Ornette himself has as well. And here I can but think to myself borrowing the words of a close friend on this subject spoken of all too many of our greatest artists who lamented to me one day paraphrasing the words Jimmy Cliff sang in "The Harder They Come" - ".....man, how many rivers do some of these guys have to cross".** Error - The Illinois Concert was Eric Dolphy's work. You may want to fill in "Science Fiction" or some other that Ornette did that you found, shall we say 'challenging' to the listener?
