1959 The Year that Changed Jazz

[coaltrain]

Coltrain, I have liked Ornette Coleman since I heard the opening notes of “Lonely Woman”. Have also liked Don Cherry a lot. And if my hifi info is correct, Haden had a Naim amp.

In terms of accessibility, it will be Take 5 (who doesn’t like a drum solo), kind of blue, ah um and shape of jazz. So it is natural we gravitate in that order. My “number of times played” would most likely be nearly reverse. Except I stopped listening to Mingus a little after reading about the famous Jimmy Knepper incident. No point glorifying his violence as artistic temperament.

Wasn’t referring to Coleman’s accessibility, per se. Just not a fan of his music, or Free Jazz for that matter. While I’m a huge Coltrane fan, stuff like Living Space and Stellar Regions don’t do it for me. And I can only listen to Ascension once every couple of years. Yet, I’m totally smitten by the likes of Cecil Taylor! Go figure.
I confess I’m a Mingus fanboy, though. The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is a masterpiece and one of my all time favourites.

 

[moktan]

Kind of Blue , for reasons of the hype surrounding it was the first jazz album I heard ‘seriously’ what seems like aeons ago.
But the jazz album that floored me was Coleman’s , The Shape of Jazz To Come.
What beautiful , evocative music , like a magical aural painting , primal and yet contemporary and timeless.
This is the one album , irrespective of any genre , that I don’t get tired listening to and one in which I discover beautiful surprises every time. Also surprisingly I don’t have favorites in this album. All songs are equally stellar.

 

[moktan]

Wasn’t referring to Coleman’s accessibility, per se. Just not a fan of his music, or Free Jazz for that matter. While I’m a huge Coltrane fan, stuff like Living Space and Stellar Regions don’t do it for me. And I can only listen to Ascension once every couple of years. Yet, I’m totally smitten by the likes of Cecil Taylor! Go figure.
I confess I’m a Mingus fanboy, though. The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is a masterpiece and one of my all time favourites.

I think it’s just what has been written about it. Cecil Taylor , at times Albert Ayler , the later Coltrane and of course many other Coleman albums may need getting used to but the The Shape of .. is beautiful to listen to even on the first hearing. Or guess that is just my opinion based on what I felt the first time I heard it.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Ha! This discussion is going to make me pull out 'Ascension' from the cold store and give it another listen. I'm a big fan of Coltrane, but Ascension?? Like Charlie Haden's 'Liberation Music Orchestra' and Miles's 'On the Corner' it remains beyond my limited musical sense.
Strangely, I've always found Coleman very accessible, ' Shape of...' and 'Change of the Century' being the favorites.

 

[coaltrain]

it remains beyond my limited musical sense.

For the longest time, I used to believe that too. I wasn’t smart enough to ‘get’ stuff like Coltrane’s Ascension or Brotzmann’s Machine Gun.
Then one day I realized a simple truth: there’s music that moves me and music that doesn’t.
Who cares if my choices aren’t in sync with the experts. I’m just glad there’s music for all of us.