Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

a good way to jump-start a wednesday (or any day): ornette coleman's in all languages. I'd been curious about this album for years, starting about 1990 or so when I picked up christgau's record guide: the '80s. jazz was, 12 years ago, something I liked in doses, especially miles (maybe I was precocious, but I got the columbia years: 1955-1985 from my record club when I was 16). but I was blown away by the sheer magnitude of christgau's enthusiasm for ornette (when you use phrases like "natural iconoclasm and indefatigable lyricism," you tend to get my attention). never got around to picking any of his records up, though. then, sometime in the mid-'90s, when I was music director at my (second) college radio station (wbke, manchester college, north manchester indiana. I'd link to their website but it hasn't been updated in over a year and is, frankly, pretty sad), we were getting service from verve records, and they up and reissued in all languages. the day I opened the mail and saw ornette looking back at me, I nearly started drooling. this was the album I'd heard so much about, yet never heard. finally!

and christgau's right; this is one mofo of an album, music so tuneful and lyrical that only pigfuckers could dislike it. 10 tracks with ornette's original quartet (cherry-haden-higgins), and another 13 with prime time (taking ornette's music into a different space, if not outer). completely non-stuffy (I can't imagine wynton playing this at home, speaking of pigfuckers), it's loose and free-flowing, funked-up and showing its slip, and never short of a revelation. I play this disc for friends who say "I don't like jazz." if they're got half as opn a mind as I'd hope, they usually love it. I hear different things every time, and I've been loving this album for seven years or so. tone dialing, recorded with prime time, is awfully good, too, but this is the gem of gems. there's no jazz record in my collection - not even 'trane - I play more, or with more gusto, or more joy.