Ornette Coleman: Ramblin'
Musicians:
Ornette Coleman (alto sax), Don Cherry (trumpet), Charlie Haden (bass), Billy Higgins (drums).
Composed by Ornette Coleman
.Recorded: Hollywood, October 9, 1959
Rating: 100/100 (learn more)
"He plays all the notes Bird missed," some fool says about a character modeled on Ornette Coleman in Thomas Pynchon's novel V. (1963). Another character then goes "silently through the motions of jamming a broken beer bottle into the speaker's back and twisting." The twisting part is especially satisfying because Coleman was at heart a Texas bluesman, not the second coming of Bebop. "Ramblin'" proves it. Besides Ornette's soulful sax, this lowdown blues features Charlie Haden, whose roots were in country & western, strumming his bass from hog heaven. Forget bebop. This is American folk music at its most convincing.
Reviewer: Alan Kurtz
Tags: alto sax · avant-garde
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