# Ornette Coleman is the creator of a “harmolodic,” a musical form which applicable as a life philosophy: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/03/09/ornette-coleman-is-the-creator-of-a-harmolodic-a-musical-form-which-applicable-as-a-life-philosophy-video/
- Published: 2018-03-09T00:04:47+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**09.03. – Happy Birthday !!! Early on in his career, alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman,
recorded an album entitled, _The Shape of Jazz To Come_. It might have seemed like
an expression of youthful arrogance – Coleman was 29 at the time – but actually,
the title was prophetic.**

Coleman is the creator of a concept of music called “harmolodic,” a musical form
which is equally applicable as a life philosophy. The richness of harmolodics derives
from the unique interaction between the players. Breaking out of the prison bars
of rigid meters and conventional harmonic or structural expectations, harmolodic
musicians improvise equally together in what Coleman calls compositional improvisation,
while always keeping deeply in tune with the flow, direction and needs of their 
fellow players. In this process, harmony becomes melody becomes harmony. Ornette
describes it as “Removing the caste system from sound.” On a broader level, harmolodics
equates with the freedom to be as you please, as long as you listen to others and
work with them to develop your own individual harmony.

For his essential vision and innovation, Coleman has been rewarded by many accolades,
including the MacArthur “Genius” Award, and an induction into the American Academy
of Arts and Letter. an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania,
the American Music Center Letter of Distinction, and the New York State Governor
Arts Award.

But the path to his present universal acclaim has not always been smooth.

Born in a largely segregated Fort Worth, Texas on March 9, 1930, Coleman’s father
died when he was seven. His seamstress mother worked hard to buy Coleman his first
saxophone when he was 14 years old. Teaching himself sight-reading from a how-to
piano book, Coleman absorbed the instrument and began playing with local rhythm 
and blues bands.

In his search for a sound that expressed reality as he perceived it, Coleman knew
he was not alone. The competitive cutting sessions that denoted ‘bebop’ were all
about self-expression in the highest form. “I could play and sound like Charlie 
Parker note-for-note, but I was only playing it from method. So I tried to figure
out where to go from there,” Coleman said.

Los Angeles proved to be the laboratory for what came to be called free jazz. There
began to gather around Ornette a core of players who would figure largely in his
life: a lanky teenage trumpeter, Don Cherry and a cherubic double bass player with
a pensive, muscular style named Charlie Haden, drummers Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins
also joined the intense exploratory rehearsals in which Coleman was honing his vocabulary
on a plastic sax, despite the lack of live gigs.

But simply by persisting, Coleman’s creativity attracted champions. Bebop bassist,
Red Mitchell (an old associate of Cherry’s) brought the saxophone player’s to Contemporary
Records’ Lester Koenig, originally intending to sell him some of his compositions.
After realizing the difficulty musicians were having in playing the music Koenig
asked Coleman if he could play the tunes himself. The meeting led to the Coleman’s
debut 1958 album, _Something Else_.

The energy and electricity that had been building around Ornette and his players
exploded during a now legendary season that Coleman played at the Five Spot jazz
club in New York in November, 1959. Intrigued by rumors of the unorthodox young 
Texan’s approach, buzz preceded the shows and as the initial two weeks extended 
to a six-week run, the revolutionary Coleman quartet became the must-see event of
the season.

And yet, as writer and long-time Coleman associate, Robert Palmer, observes in his
notes to the _Beauty Is A Rare Thing_ box set of the Atlantic years (Rhino/Atlantic),“
The present day listener will most likely hear these pieces as well conceived and
superbly realized works on their own terms and will again wonder what all the controversy
could have been about.”

Coleman soon began to study of the trumpet and violin expanding the scope of his
always prolific composition to include string quartets, woodwind quintets and symphonic
works. Coleman used a Guggenheim Foundation grant to write a symphony, _Skies of
America_.

Coleman went on a journey to Morocco in 1973, to work with the Master Musicians 
of Jajouka in their mountain villages. Following he also visited villages in Nigeria.
Soon upon his return Coleman created with a new sound that was a full frontal harmolodic
attack, a double whammy of drums and electric bass, dubbed Prime Time.

Coleman’s 1986 collaboration with jazz-rock guitarist Pat Metheny, _Song X_ led 
to a tour and a new audience. Ornette moved into the broader public consciousness
in the late 80s by performing and recording with the Grateful Dead and their hippy
virtuoso guitarist, Jerry Garcia. The affection and respect which Coleman and the
late Garcia had for one another was captured in the sessions for 1988’s _Virgin 
Beauty_ (CBS/Portrait).

The new autonomy heralded a season in which Coleman began to reap consistent accolades
for his continued adventures in music. He formed the Harmolodic Label and began 
an association with Polygram France. Over the course of the decade Harmolodic released
a number of works beginning with _Tone Dialing_, on which a Bach prelude is rendered
harmolodically.

One of the ultimate American accolades, the MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant,
was awarded to Coleman in 1994. In general, rather than simple concerts, Coleman’s
performances had by now become big multimedia events that both reflected and impacted
on the host town’s community, lasting for several nights at a significant location.

Lincoln Center provided the backdrop for Civilization 1997. A four-night event at
Avery Fisher Hall. It began with two nights of Kurt Masur conducting the New York
Philharmonic together with Prime Time. Perhaps the most eagerly awaited aspect of
all four nights was the first New York appearance in two decades of the Original
Quartet, performing all new material. Hearing the familiar, still stimulating blend
of Coleman, Haden and Higgins was an emotional experience for many listeners, who
found in the depth of the players’ empathy a yardstick of their own lives and the
fulfillment of dreams they had when they first heard the Quartet shatter conceptions
of music.

A metaphysician, philosopher and eternal student, Coleman continues to confound 
categorization. His Harmolodic world continues to expand along with the concepts
of an artist beyond boundaries. “Most people think of me only as a saxophonist and
as a jazz artist,” he once stated, “but I want to be considered as a composer who
could cross over all the borders.”

![Image result for ornette coleman](https://i0.wp.com/www1.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/
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