大胡子的自由爵士青年Ornette Coleman从来都是不羁的，在这张现场版的专辑里，在惯常的直管萨克斯以外，他拿起了小号和小提琴。

这是一张大伙儿一起玩的唱片，如果不是Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell自始至终攥着次中音萨克斯、贝斯和鼓的话，它便象极了经常在北京东三环CD JAZZBAR上演的Jam Session。一群朋友唱着Friends and Neighbors走来走去，四件乐器咿咿呀呀地在后头跟唱，依稀是好邻居们举行篝火晚会的情景。两首曲子过去之后，在著名的Long Time No See中，Coleman表演了他的“杀鸡小提琴”。他的提琴完全游离在萨克斯、贝斯、鼓的节奏组之外，仿佛他的旋律与三人无关，三人也完全不理会他，任凭他若即若离地飘荡在他们头顶一尺之处。之所以称Coleman的琴声为“杀鸡”，是因为他充满未来眼光的独特旋律营造出的效果实在酷似杀鸡，我认为他采用的是爱尔兰提琴式的架肘式拉法，否则这动听的声音，会让音乐厅里的古典大师们再不敢把琴架在肩上。

by Scott Yanow
One of the most important (and controversial) innovators of the jazz avant-garde, Ornette Coleman gained both loyal followers and lifelong detractors when he seemed to burst on the scene in 1959 fully formed. Although he, and Don Cherry in his original quartet, played opening and closing melodies together, their solos dispensed altogether with chordal improvisation and harmony, instead playing quite freely off of the mood of the theme. Colemans tone (which purposely wavered in pitch) rattled some listeners, and his solos were emotional and followed their own logic. In time, his approach would be quite influential, and the quartets early records still sound advanced many decades later.

Unfortunately, Colemans early development was not documented. Originally inspired by Charlie Parker, he started playing alto at 14 and tenor two years later. His early experiences were in R&B bands in Texas, including those of Red Connors and Pee Wee Crayton, but his attempts to play in an original style were consistently met with hostility both by audiences and fellow musicians. Coleman moved to Los Angeles in the early 50s, where he worked as an elevator operator while studying music books. He met kindred spirits along the way in Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell, Bobby Bradford, Charles Moffett, and Billy Higgins, but it was not until 1958 (after many unsuccessful attempts to sit in with top L.A. musicians) that Coleman had a nucleus of musicians who could play his music. He appeared as part of Paul Bleys quintet for a short time at the Hillcrest Club (which is documented on live records), and recorded two very interesting albums for Contemporary. With the assistance of John Lewis, Coleman and Cherry attended the Lenox School of Jazz in 1959, and had an extended stay at the Five Spot in New York. This engagement alerted the jazz world toward the radical new music, and each night the audience was filled with curious musicians who alternately labeled Coleman a genius or a fraud.

During 1959-1961, Coleman recorded a series of classic and somewhat startling quartet albums for Atlantic (all of which have been reissued on a six-CD set by Rhino). With Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro or Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Billy Higgins or Ed Blackwell on drums, Coleman created music that would greatly affect most of the other advanced improvisers of the 1960s, including John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and the free jazz players of the mid-60s. One set, a nearly 40-minute jam called Free Jazz (which other than a few brief themes was basically a pulse-driven group free improvisation) had Coleman, Cherry, Haden, LaFaro, Higgins, Blackwell, Dolphy, and Freddie Hubbard forming a double quartet.

In 1962, Coleman, feeling that he was worth much more money than the clubs and his label were paying him, surprised the jazz world by retiring for a period. He took up trumpet and violin (playing the latter as if it were a drum), and in 1965, he recorded a few brilliant sets on all his instruments with a particularly strong trio featuring bassist David Izenzon and drummer Charles Moffett. Later in the decade, Coleman had a quartet with the very complementary tenor Dewey Redman, Haden, and either Blackwell or his young son Denardo Coleman on drums. In addition, Coleman wrote some atonal and wholly composed classical works for chamber groups, and had a few reunions with Don Cherry.

In the early 70s, Coleman entered the second half of his career. He formed a double quartet comprised of two guitars, two electric bassists, two drummers, and his own alto. The group, called Prime Time, featured dense, noisy, and often-witty ensembles in which all of the musicians are supposed to have an equal role, but the leaders alto always ended up standing out. He now called his music harmolodics (symbolizing the equal importance of harmony, melody, and rhythm), although free funk (combining together loose funk rhythms and free improvising) probably fits better; among his sidemen in Prime Time were drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, in addition to his son Denardo. Prime Time was a major (if somewhat unacknowledged) influence on the M-Base music of Steve Coleman and Greg Osby. Pat Metheny (a lifelong Ornette admirer) collaborated with Coleman on the intense Song X, Jerry Garcia played third guitar on one recording, and Coleman had irregular reunions with his original quartet members in the 1980s.

Coleman, who recorded for Verve in the 90s, has remained true to his highly original vision throughout his career and, although not technically a virtuoso and still considered controversial, is an obvious giant of jazz. He recorded sparingly as the 21st century began, appearing on Joe Henrys Scar in 2000 and on single tracks on Lou Reeds Raven and Eddy Grants Hearts & Diamonds, both released in 2002.