In All Languages
Originally issued as a two-LP attempt to give the skinny on Ornette Coleman'sverydifferent electric and acoustic musical languages, this set catches the "classic" acoustic quartet and the electric Prime Time band as alter egos of one another. Coleman's compression of harmony and melody in the acoustic quartet was always groundbreaking and remains no less so in this slightly varnished recording of the group (withDon Cherry,Charlie Haden, andBilly Higgins). Without the raw production qualities of theAtlantic-era quartetLPs, the quartet sounds strangely clean but still paints Coleman as a top-drawer harmonic (er, harmolodic) theorist. The bouncing gait of the tunes and their irrepressible fun is about all that remains constant once guitaristBern Nix,Jamaaldeen Tacuma, and the other Prime Timers plug in, playing many of the same songs the quartet play on the CD's first half. Coleman's electric funk band managed to sound wiry and fuzzy in equal (large) portions, and here they paddle in lakes of rhythms that will energizeJames Brownfans and West African percussion aficionados. Its odd studio polish aside, this is a stunner.--Andrew Bartlett