Best Jazz albums 2015

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/best-jazz-albums-of-2015/

Ornette Coleman

ORNETTE COLEMAN WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ARTISTS THAT the United States has ever produced. The avant-garde icon, who changed the course of jazz and made profound contributions to the music for six decades, died of cardiac arrest in Manhattan on June 11. He was 85. More than almost any other jazz musician of his generation, he was as revered for his philosophy and ideas as he was for his groundbreaking music. "I have always wanted to do as many things as I could learn to do," he told associate editor Dan Morgenstern in the April 8, 1965, issue of DownBeat. "The reason why I am mostly concerned with music is because music has a tendency to let everybody see your own convictions; music tends to reveal more of the kind of person you are than any other medium of expression." While his iconoclastic approach to alto saxophone was grating to many listeners in the 1950s, Coleman found kindred spirits in pianist Paul Bley, trum-peter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden and drummers Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins, with whom he began forging a new collective improv vernacular in Los Angeles (where he had moved in 1953 from his native Texas). A triumverate of his now-classic albums—Something Else!!!!: The Music Of Ornette Coleman (1958) along with Tomorrow Is The Question! and the pro-phetically titled The Shape Of Jazz To Come (both released in 1959)—ushered in the free-jazz movement and introduced Coleman's "harmolodic theory," whereby harmony, movement of sound and melody all share the same value. After moving to New York City in November 1959, Coleman gained notoriety from a 10-week residency at the Five Spot with his quartet of Cherry, Haden and Higgins. For a second four-month residency at the Five Spot in 1960, Blackwell re-placed Higgins on drums. Three important Coleman albums were released around this time, extending his influence in the music world—his double quartet project Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation and two potent quartet recordings, Change Of The Century and This Is Our Music. Coleman's boundless imaginative powers as a composer were illustrated on 1972's Skies In America, which was a single lengthy piece performed by the Lon-don Symphony Orchestra. Other noteworthy albums in his diverse oeuvre include 1986's Song X, a collaboration with guitarist Pat Metheny, and 1988's Virgin Beau-ty, which featured Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia on three tracks. Throughout his lengthy, prolific career, no matter how far "out" Ornette took his music, that plaintive alto sax cry and deep blue Texas feel remained at the heart of his soaring improvisations. Coleman, a 1969 inductee into the DownBeat Hall of Fame, was also honored with an NEA Jazz Masters fellowship in 1984, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 and a Pulitzer Prize in music the same year, for Sound Grammar. There are artists who amaze us with their musical talent, and there are artists who impress us with their tremendous intellect and acumen. There are those who move us with their humanity and sincerity. And then there's Ornette Coleman, who did all that and more—a titan who was a category unto himself. How many artists can say they transformed a genre? Coleman passed away on the day this issue went to press. There is so much more to say about him. Our September issue will include an extensive tribute. DB

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