Ornette Coleman - Change of the Century

“Some musicians say, if what I’m doing is right, they should never have gone to school.

“I say, there is no single -right- way to play jazz. Some of the comments made about my music make me realize though that modern jazz, once so daring and revolutionary, has become, in many respects, a rather settled and conventional thing. The members of my group and I are no attempting to break-through to a new, freer conception of jazz, one that departs from all that is ‘standard’ and cliché in ‘modern’ jazz.

“Perhaps the most important new element in our music is our conception of -free- group improvisation. The idea of group improvisation, in itself, is not at all new; it played a big role in New Orleans’ early band. The big bands of the swing period changed all that. Today, still, the individual is either swallowed up in a group situation, or else he is out front soloing, with none of the other horns doing anything but calmly awaiting their turn for -their- solos. Even in some of the trios and quartets, which permit quite a bit of group improvisation, the final effect is one that is imposed beforehand by the arranger. One knows pretty much what to expect.

“When our group plays, before we start out to play, we do not have any ideas what the end result will be. Each player is free to contribute what he feels in the music at any given moment. We do not begin with a preconceived notion as to what kind of effect we will achieve. When we record, sometimes I can hardly believe that what I hear when the tape is played back to me, is the playing of my group. I am so busy and absorbed when I play that I am not aware of what I’m doing at the time I’m doing it.

“I don’t tell the members of my group what to do. I want them to play what they hear in the piece for themselves. I let everyone express himself just as he wants to. The musicians have complete freedom and so, of course, our final results depend entirely on the musicianship, emotional make-up and taste of the individual member. Ours is at all times a group effort and it is only because we have the rapport we do that our music takes on the shape that it does. A strong personality with a star-complex would take away from the effectiveness of our group, no matter how brilliantly he played.

“With my music, as is the case with some of my friends who are painters, I often have people come to me and say, ‘I like it but I don’t understand it’. Many people apparently don’t trust their reactions to art or to music unless there is a verbal -explanation- for it. In music, the only thing that matters is whether you -feel- it or not. You can’t intellectualize music; to reduce it analytically often is to reduce it to nothing very important. It is only in terms of emotional response that I can judge whether what we are doing is successful or not. If you are touched in some way, then you are -in- with me. I love to play for people, and how they react affects my playing.

“A question often asked of me is why I play a plastic alto. I bought it originally because I needed a new horn badly, and I felt I could not afford a new brass instrument. The plastic horn is less expensive, and I said to myself, ‘Better a new horn than one that leaks’. After living with the plastic horn, I felt it begin to take on my emotion. The tone is breathier than the brass instrument, but I came to like the sound, and I found the flow of music to be more compact. I don’t intend ever to buy another brass horn. On this plastic horn I feel as if I am continually creating my own sound.

“Now to the music. They are all originals. Each is quite different from the other, but in a certain sense there really is not start or finish to any of my compositions. There is a continuity of expression, certain continually evolving strands of thought that link all my compositions together. Maybe it’s something like the paintings of Jackson Pollock.

“‘Ramblin’’ is basically a blues, but it has a modern, moder independent melodic line than older blues have, of course. I do not feel so confined to the blues form as do many other jazz musicians. Blues are definite emotional statements. Some emotional situations can only be told as blues.

“‘Free’ is well-explained by the title. Our -free- group improvising is well demonstrated here. Each member goes his own way and still adds tellingly to the group endeavor. There was no predetermined chordal or time pattern. I think we got a spontaneous, free-wheeling thing going here.

“‘Face of the Bass’ begins as a vehicle for our bassist. Charlie Haden is from Missouri and he has a lot of heart. It is unusual to come across someone as young as he is and find that he has such a complete grasp of the ‘modern’ bass: melodically independent and non-chordal.

“‘Forerunner’ shows the interchangeability and flexibility of the component parts of the group. I like the way the melody here often runs through the rhythm instruments, with the melody instruments - the horns - providing rhythm accents (the traditional function of drums and bass).

“‘Bird Food’ has echoes of the style of Charlie Parker. Bird would have understood us. He would have approved our aspiring to something beyond what we inherited. Oddly enough, the idolization of Bird, people wanting to play just like him, and not make their own soul-search, has finally come to be an impediment to progress in jazz.

“‘Una Muy Bonita’, in Spanish, means ‘a very pretty girl’. I had no one in particular in mind. It is perhaps a little lighter in mood than some of our other pieces. It has a relaxed feeling and a more settled rhythm - and yes, I suppose, a ‘prettier’ melody.

“‘Change of the Century’ expresses our feeling that we have to make breaks with a lot of jazz’s recent past, just as the boppers did with swing and traditional jazz. We want to incorporate more musical materials and theoretical ideas - from the classical world, as well as jazz and folk - into our work to create a broader base for the new music we are creating.

“Every member of the group made an important and distinctly personal contribution to this album, which I think is the best we have made so far.” (Ornette Coleman, transcribed by Gary Kramer. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Ornette Coleman (a-sx), Don Cherry (p-tp), Charlie Haden (bs), Billy Higgins (dr)

A1. Ramblin'

A2. Free

A3. The Face Of The Bass

B1. Forerunner

B2. Bird Food

B3. Una Muy Bonita

B4. Change Of The Century

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Art Pepper - Living Legend

"Since this is my first album in fifteen years, I was very nervous when I went to the date. Fortunately, I had people behind me who enabled me to just relax and blow, and I had a number of originals I wanted to record.

"'Ophelia' was written in 1963 in San Quentin, and it's about women. It's supposed to be pretty like a woman, really sad like women make you at times, and unpredictable and changeable.

"I got out of San Quentin not long after I wrote 'Ophelia', but it was only a few months before I went back again. And that's when I wrote 'Lost Life'. I called it that because I'd spent over ten years in prison and felt like I was never going to get out for any length of time. I figured I'd blown any chance I might have had to make anything of my life. When I wrote it, I never dreamed I'd ever record 'Lost Life', or anything else for that matter.

"When I got out of San Quentin for the last time at the end of '66, it was hard to get any kind of jazz gig. I'd go out with my tenor to rock clubs and sit in with the bands. The only professional job I had was at Shelly's Manne-Hole. At that time I was playing very outside, and when I started blowing at Shelly's, I could feel the mixed reaction of the audience.

"I knew it was because I was playing tenor. I was an alto player and when they heard my records jazz fans could say, 'That's Art Pepper,' because I had a style and tone all my own on the alto. I had switched to tenor for two reasons. Rock was in vogue, and only tenor players seemed to be working. But the major reason was that after all my years of playing, I had been influenced to the point of imitation by another musician, John Coltrane. I felt what I wanted to say I could only say with the tenor.

"At the breaks people came over to talk to me. Most of them were very upset. Someone said, 'Man, what happened to Art Pepper? Where's the beauty? Have you gone crazy?'

"I was very discouraged when, in 1968, I got a call from Buddy Rich, asking me to play lead alto in his band. I borrowed a horn and, when I started playing alto again in that setting, everything fell into place for me musically. I discovered I was able to say everything I wanted to say and I didn't have to sacrifice my individuality to be accepted or modern.

"When I was with Buddy's band, my spleen ruptured, and I almost died. After two operations, in terrible condition with nowhere to go, I moved into Synanon.

"In Synanon all I had was a tenor saxophone, but I only played occasionally in the evenings when the residents did a dance they called the 'Hoop-La'. The music was a kind of jazz-rock. I like playing for dancing, and I like all kinds of music, including rock, if it's done well. 'What Laurie Likes' might be called 'jazz-rock', but really it's just a down-home thing and a vehicle for me.

"After I left Synanon in 1972, I worked as a bookkeeper because I wasn't sure I wanted to return to music. Then I got a call from the University of Denver to do a clarinet clinic, a seminar-concert for student musicians. I didn't own any instruments, so I borrowed an old clarinet and went to Denver where I met Ken Yohe, who was showcasing instruments for Buffet. He was a fan of mine, and when he saw what I was playing, he lent me a clarinet. Ken encouraged me to get back into music. He said he'd arrange with Buffet for me to get some horns. Within a month I had them, and I've been doing clinics ever since. A year or so ago Ken came to L.A. and dropped into Donte's to hear me play. That night I wrote a little blues line and called it 'Mr. Yohe' in his honor.

"That night no doubt I also played 'Here's That Rainy Day' because it's a ballad I really love. I think I enjoy playing ballads more than anything else. You can pour your soul into them. You can say everything.

"'Samba Mom-Mom' was written right before we recorded. I wanted a Latinish happy ending for the album. It's not really a samba. I asked Shelly to play something that fit the melody, and he did.

"On September first I'll be fifty. The saying goes, 'Life begins at forty.' It looks for me like life begins at fifty, and I never thought I'd live to see fifty, let alone start a new life at this age. I think I'm playing better now than I ever have. Mentally and physically I feel better than I have since I was a kid. I've gone back to alto because that's my horn, the one I dig most of all, and when I play, I just play the way I feel - like I did on this album. If I get outside, it's because I feel outside, and if I feel funky, that the way I'm going to play. The main thing is to swing and be honest." (Art Pepper, August 30, 1975. From the liner notes.)

"I haven't played with Art since 1957... on this album he played what he plays best. It felt wonderful. It felt beautiful. He's a master musician. I've always felt a closeness with Hamp, the way he plays, his time, harmony concept. And Shelly, I've always loved to play with him. It really was a good experience to play with them. I mean that's the whole purpose of playing music - to feel a closeness with the musicians and to achieve that ultimate feeling of closeness with creativity, with music. It's a very rare and precious feeling, and that's the reason we've all dedicated our lives to the language of jazz - to achieve that feeling." (Charlie Haden. From the liner notes.)

"I first played with Art in 1951. We had a quartet at a club in L.A. When we made this album I hadn't played with him for fifteen years but none of the fire has gone out. In fact he even sounded better to me. We both came up at the same time and both of us have been through the trials and tribulations and the rewards of trying to play music for people. And to me Art Pepper is one of the giants. And Charlie and Shelly - they're steady as a rock. They're pros. When you're playing with them, you know, it's no effort at all, just have a good time and play." (Hampton Hawes. From the liner notes.)

"I was excited about doing this album because I hadn't played with Art since some Contemporary sessions in the '50s. I'd heard him several times in clubs, but you have to play with a guy to really feel the difference or the change in him over the years, and the moment we started in the studio I was amazed - I felt a greater strength in him than I ever had felt before. Of course he was always a great melodic and lyrical player, and very sensitive, but on the date his playing was a revelation to me. Maybe it's from all the dues he's had to pay, or however a person grows. I've always enjoyed playing with Hamp. He makes me want to swing - his enthusiasm rubs off on you. Charlie plays -with- you; he listens to what you're doing. His lines are so inventive, and his feeling is so loose and flexible, the door is always open to do your own thing." (Shelly Manne. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Art Pepper (a-sx), Hampton Hawes (pi), Charlie Haden (bs), Shelly Manne (dr)

A1. Ophelia

A2. Here's That Rainy Day

A3. What Laurie Likes

B1. Mr. Yohe

B2. Lost Life

B3. Samba Mom-Mom

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Charlie Haden & Hampton Hawes - As Long as There's Music

"Two or three years before his death in the Spring of 1977, Hampton Hawes was encouraged to take a musical direction that would theoretically attract a wider audience. Executives of his record company (not this one), evidently felt that electronics, popular repertoire, and slick studio arrangements would make this enormously attractive bebop pianist their answer to other labels' jazz-pop-rock crossover successes.

"Hawes, never having achieved popular acclaim in spite of or because of his pure and unwavering musicianship, undoubtedly found the prospect of earning a great deal of money in early middle age intriguing, at least. So he went along with their program. The albums that resulted had neither the burning creativity of his customary music nor the peculiar and unexplainable alchemy that creates pop heroes. The records, like one he had made of movie themes a few years earlier, could have been done by any competent pianist. Indeed, they were so colorless, it would have been difficult in a blindfold test for any but his most ardent followers to identify him.

"That period of attempted commerciality lasted only a short while, but it interrupted Hamp's recorded output during a time when his playing had taken on even greater depth and thoughtfulness than it contained in the 1950s and sixties. Fortunately, he return to recording uncompromising and uncompromised music, and we have evidence of how well he was playing during his final period. This album provides some of that evidence. There is more on the Art Pepper 'Living Legend' LP listed in the accompanying discography.

"Charlie Haden was another of the artists on the Pepper session, the first time he and Hawes had played together in a couple of decades. Their communion was so impressive, it seemingly became inevitable that the two of othem would make their own record.

"Haden has played with jazzmen of all styles and virtually all eras. One of his most impressive performances as a sideman was on a concert recording with Red Allen and Pee Wee Russell, then cursty and eccentric survivors of the rich classic jazz period of the twenties and thirties. This was at a time when Haden had make his reputation as a member of the Ornette Coleman Quartet, the most revolutionary, disturbing and iconoclastic band of the 1960s.

"Since, of course, it has become clear to all but the most reactionary that Coleman and his colleagues were working closer to the center and roots of jazz than most of us realized. Haden, for all his virtuosity and his identification with the avant garde, has always been a player in the central jazz tradition. Pee Wee Russell called him a stompin' bass player. Yet, he is capable of the most delicate filigree. Both aspects of Haden abound in the music at hand.

"Harmonically, Hawes was one of the richest jazz pianists, and among the joys of this album is Haden's ability to interact with him without conflicting with his harmonies. One of the great testimonials to the astounding speed and selectivity of the human mind is the superior jazzman's instant identification and execution of notes suitable to the harmonic choices of his companions. This is particularly impressive in the context of total improvisations like Hawes' and Haden's 'Hello/Goodbye'. With no preconceived melodic or harmonic plan, the musicians create a composition in which all of the parts fit as if they had been annotated.

"Yes, for many listeners, the most accessible music here will be 'Irene', with its deceptively simple-seeming melody and its gutsy blues choruses, and the familiar progressions of 'What Is This Thing Called Love?' That Cole Porter staple was a part of Hawes' first trio album for the Contemporary label in middle 1950s. It is a song that he, like most graduates of the bop era, loved for its qualities of order and contrast. It has served as the basis for Tadd Dameron's classic 'Hot House'. Hawes and Haden give it a varied treatment, from rhapsodic to straight down the middle, but the overall feeling is of contentment. Haden calls his treatment 'This Is Called Love'.

"This entire session, although it produced moments of unalloyed excitement, has the relaxed air only master improvisers can bring to a jazz performance. And the album, like all records of worthwhile music, reveals more with each hearing.

"At this writing, Charlie Haden has withdrawn from music for a period of contemplation and spiritual renewal. It would be unthinkable that he remain away from jazz for long: he is too vital a force in its development and too valuable a stabilizing link to its immediate past.

"Hawes, after a life packed with disastrous personal low points and glorious artistic peaks, is gone. He never made the charts of popular best sellers, and he was probably discouraged to the point of pain that he was not materially rewarded in proportion to what he knew to be the size of his musical contribution. His legacy is in the music that remains so fresh and alive in the best of his recordings, and in the influence his playing has had upon a generation of musicians. As the years go by, it will become increasingly clear that Hampton Hawes was a major contributor to the jazz tradition." (Doug Ramsay. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Charlie Haden (bs), Hampton Hawes (pi)

1. Irene

2. Rain Forest

3. Turnaround

4. As Long As There's Music

5. This Is Called Love

6. Hello/Goodbye

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