Twined: Ornette Coleman

The style of playing that’s most often associated with Ornette Coleman is a difficult one. It isn’t necessarily tied to all too much that came before it. It is, of course, related to bop – its closest predecessor. But in that link, there isn’t all too much that can be figured as similar. Part of bop’s apotheosis, though, was as an anti-dance music. And Coleman’s work is certainly that. But beyond that, the way in which the saxophonist perceives what a solo is and should do is drastically removed from the musics’ forbearer. Whereas bop was still largely based on sensible chord changes and scales, what Coleman concocted was not. It could be regarded as guttural – but the fleeting quality of each note unleashed from the bell of his horn is anything but that. And while some of the themes his bands would play could be considered cerebral, seeing as each was meticulously plotted out, the soloing was inside of him and could never be annotated.

From 1959 through the 1961 or so, Coleman recorded some dates that would become the basis for what free jazz became. Work prior to that doesnâ??t seem to be all too well documented, but part of that is the fact that he had no real peers. And after moving to Los Angeles, Coleman found the jazz establishment reticent to accept his new concepts. Eventually, though, he met Don Cherry and a few others suited to his playing.

A number of works from this influential period of his recording career are probably amongst any well meaning jazz dorks collection. But there, obviously, were outtakes and tracks that simply didnâ??t find inclusion on Free Jazz, The Shape of Jazz to Come and others from the period. A compilation though, called Twins, rounds some of this lone shots up.

The disc is made up of different dates over different years with a variety of ensembles. But included amongst the players are Eric Dolphy, Billy Higgins, Charlie Hayden and of course the aforementioned Don Cherry. After taking a listen to the five tracks that make up Twins, itâ??s really difficult to imagine a producer or record exec deciding to pass on including them. Of course a single vinyl LP only holds roughly thirty to forty five minutes of music, so perhaps these decisions were based on time as opposed to quality.

Since these tracks were put to tape over a few years and then collected here, itâ??s interesting to hear how Coleman has decided to methodically alter not only his only playing, but how he works with a group. While the sax player was always known for working out a good blues â?? thatâ??s how he got his start back in Texas â?? â??Monk and the Nun,â? an obvious Thelonius reference, finds Colemanâ??s band in a rather sedate mode as he get out a blues over top of one of the most basic jazz tracks that bears his name. It of course isnâ??t a let down â?? how could it be? And while everything canâ??t be â??Focus on Sanity,â? some of this gets pretty close.