Dancing in Your Head
While Ornette Coleman still performed in the classic acoustic-quartet configuration during the mid-1970s, he also began working with younger musicians, usually bearing electric guitars. This Coleman group, recorded in Paris in 1976, is the first incarnation of the band that would become Prime Time, and the "Theme from a Symphony" is a perky Coleman tune previously called "School Work" (onScience Fiction) and "The Good Life" (in the symphonicSkies of America). Coleman plays constantly here, blowing alto atop the layered, pulsing, synchronous rhythms of the band. A special relationship forms between the leader and the brilliant electric bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, their phrases often mirroring one another, while guitaristsBern Nixand Charlie Ellerbee and drummerRonald Shannon Jacksoncreate a field of complex, dancing polyphony. Static and dynamic elements are recast as the group creates a sense of constant movement without conventional musical development. There's an element of funk, certainly, but the music is characterized by a trancelike quality that has affinities with minimalism and some African music. The roots of Coleman's new conception are apparent in the two pieces called "Midnight Sunrise," taken from the extensive tapes he made in 1973 playing with theMaster Musicians of Jajouka, the hypnotic Moroccan ensemble of winds, strings, and drums.Stuart Broomer