Search - Ornette Coleman :: Complete Science Fiction Sessions

Complete Science Fiction Sessions
Ornette Coleman
Complete Science Fiction Sessions
Genres: Jazz, Pop, R&B
 
  •  Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (7) - Disc #2

This two-CD set combines a pair of Ornette Coleman's Columbia LPs, Science Fiction and Broken Shadows, and adds three tracks--a new piece, an alternate take, and an alternate mix. Most of the material comes from sessions i...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Ornette Coleman
Title: Complete Science Fiction Sessions
Members Wishing: 7
Total Copies: 0
Label: Sony
Original Release Date: 1/1/1971
Re-Release Date: 5/2/2000
Album Type: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
Genres: Jazz, Pop, R&B
Styles: Avant Garde & Free Jazz, Funk
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 074646356920

Synopsis

Amazon.com
This two-CD set combines a pair of Ornette Coleman's Columbia LPs, Science Fiction and Broken Shadows, and adds three tracks--a new piece, an alternate take, and an alternate mix. Most of the material comes from sessions in September 1971, when Coleman surrounded himself with old associates--including the group with which he'd made his startling New York debut a dozen years earlier: trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins. Also along were tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman, drummer Ed Blackwell, and trumpeter Bobby Bradford, another longtime associate. The seven musicians recorded as two distinct quartets, as a quintet with Bradford, and as a septet, while other guests contributed to still more permutations. All the musicians were deeply immersed in Coleman's musical language: the complex, sometimes jagged tunes; the emotional directness that drew on the wellspring of the blues; the sprung rhythms and melodic freedom that had first defined the free-jazz movement. The set's first CD consists largely of quartet and quintet pieces. There are new groupings that take new directions, such as two evocative songs with the gifted Indian vocalist Asha Puthi, accompanied by a septet with two classical trumpeters and Higgins on tympani. And on "Science Fiction," the band breathes seething chaos around the poet David Henderson's voice. Much of the second CD concentrates on the septet, a group that inevitably invokes Coleman's most radical grouping, the "double quartet" that recorded Free Jazz in 1960, with five of the original members present. The pieces here are shorter, with more clearly defined compositional materials, but the collective improvisations are still bracing and the rhythmic dialogues often stunning. While Cherry and Coleman no longer worked together regularly, they shared a vision and empathy unique in jazz, and the shifting densities and internal meters of "Elizabeth" are something to behold. "Good Girl Blues" and "Is It Forever" catch Coleman layering and alternating different components--Kansas City blues, swing, bop, free, and classical--to create unique musical spaces. This is one of Coleman's strangest groupings, with his regular band joined by blues singer Webster Armstrong, guitarist Jim Hall, hard-bop pianist Cedar Walton, and a woodwind quintet. This is essential hearing, varied and intriguing music from one of the greatest architects, composers, and improvisers in the history of jazz. Stuart Broomer

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CD Reviews

A beautiful set of albums...
Josh Z. Bonder | Toronto | 12/10/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"While other reviewers have mentioned that it would be useful to hear earlier Ornette albums to have some frame of reference for this one, it's the first Coleman album I ever heard: That said, I became absolutely immersed in it. The variation created by using so many different group configurations, keeps proceedings consistently strong and simultaneously varied. The tracks featuring the Indian vocalist are absolutely breathtaking, and Coleman's playing on these albums is at once obtuse and very catchy. While this music may be complex, it still manages to retain accessibility and warmth. This is the Coleman album I will keep coming back to.



Since writing my original review of this album, I have acquired "Beauty is a Rare Thing". While I would say that most of that material is somewhat more "essential" than the Complete Science Fiction Sessions, I still stand by my claim that this is as good an introduction as any. Other great starting points would be Change of the Century, The Shape of Jazz to Come, or the aforementioned boxed set if you're willing to take the plunge. You'll probably want to anyways once you get your feet wet."
Quite exquisite
teresa ruggles | olathe, KS United States | 05/20/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"this is a collection of two ornette albums that were previously unavailable on cd in the united states, Broken Shadows and Science Fiction. these two albums, comprised here as one, are lost holes in the vast Ornette Coleman discography. The instrumentation is quite ride spread, including some very interesting vocal pieces. all in all any Ornette fan should buy this and listen to it regularly. it is excellent."
Crucial american music
angry reactionary | outer space | 01/04/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"this collection of music represents a groundbreaking period in modern american music. ornette put together the perfect ensemble(s) to accomplish the task and they performed beautifully. the whole record is a wonderful meditation on and sublime interpretation of the whole of american music up to 1970.



none of ornette's stuff is for the casual listener, of course, so it's worth the time and effort to peruse his earlier works to build a frame of reference for this record. i consider this to be the pinnacle of ornette's recorded work - which is not to say i don't love his later stuff. but these recordings seem to me the essence of ornette's contribution to music."