Sound Museum: Three Women

Last updated
Sound Museum: Three Women
Sound Museum Three Women.jpg
Studio album by
Ornette Coleman
ReleasedJuly 1996
Recorded1996
StudioHarmolodic Studios, Harlem, NYC
Genre Jazz
Length55:15
Label Harmolodic/Verve
Producer Denardo Coleman
Ornette Coleman chronology
Sound Museum: Hidden Man
(1996)		Sound Museum: Three Women
(1996)		 Sound Grammar
(2006)

Sound Museum: Three Women is an album by the American jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman recorded in 1996 and released on the Harmolodic/Verve label. [1] It is dedicated to Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell. [2]

Contents

The album is the companion to Sound Museum: Hidden Man . Both albums feature the same thirteen instrumental pieces, performed by the same quartet, plus a song. Coleman wrote: "Sound Museum exists in two CD renditions of the same compositions played differently in each rendition. This concept was done to show music harmolodically. In the Harmolodic world the concept of space and time are not past or future but the present." [2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Entertainment Weekly A [4]
Robert Christgau Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg [5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 2½ stars, stating, "this is an excellent showcase for Ornette's searching and emotional (yet melodic) improvisations, one of the very few occasions since 1958 when he can be heard using a conventional three-piece rhythm section". [3]

In an article for The New York Times, Jon Pareles called the two albums "affable, concise and playfully brilliant," and noted that they are the first Coleman albums in 35 years to include a piano. He stated: "Sound Museum provides a chance to hear the music as it might come out at two separate sets. The distinctions are in details: bowed bass (on 'Hidden Man') or pizzicato in 'Sound Museum,' a distinctly bluesier version of 'Mob Job' on 'Three Women.' 'Home Grown' uses a repeating riff that might have come from a swing band; on 'Hidden Man,' Allen grabs the same syncopation, while on 'Three Women' she plays all around the beat, like someone tossing a handful of marbles into the path of a pursuer." Pareles concluded: "the music never settles on a single mood. Even within a composition, there's always room for another angle. The music isn't a revolution any more; it's just good, smart fun." [7]

Writing for Chicago Reader, Peter Margasak commented: "The acoustic group heard on Sound Museum... seems to understand that a silence can be as provocative as a piercing sax squeal... Coleman isn't introducing any radically new concepts or dabbling in new media here... rather, he's turned his energies back to innovations that largely had been absorbed into jazz's working vocabulary. What's most remarkable about Sound Museum is just how far Coleman can push those old concerns: they sound new all over again." [8]

Jay Trachtenberg, in an article for The Austin Chronicle, remarked: "We are still hearing basically the same music that Coleman plays with electric abandon in his Prime Time band, but the piano-bass-drum accompaniment makes for a sound that is acoustically warmer and far less busy and cluttered... As for the two releases, unless you're a stone Coleman disciple who needs both, either disc will meet with your satisfaction... Either set... will have you dancing in your head." [9]

Track listing

All compositions by Ornette Coleman
  1. "Sound Museum" - 4:54
  2. "Monsieur Allard" - 2:47
  3. "City Living" - 3:31
  4. "What Reason" - 4:58
  5. "Home Grown" - 3:24
  6. "Stopwatch" - 2:31
  7. "Don't You Know By Now" - 4:21
  8. "P.P. (Picolo Pesos)" - 3:25
  9. "Women of the Veil" - 4:49
  10. "Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow" - 4:14
  11. "Biosphere" - 4:23
  12. "European Echoes" - 4:57
  13. "Mob Job" - 4:21
  14. "Macho Woman" - 2:40
  • Recorded at Harmolodic Studios in Harlem, New York City in 1996

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ornette Coleman</span> American jazz musician and composer (1930–2015)

Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He was best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms. Instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation, rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history," noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud."

<i>The Shape of Jazz to Come</i> 1959 studio album by Ornette Coleman

The Shape of Jazz to Come is the third album by jazz musician Ornette Coleman. Released on Atlantic Records in 1959, it was his debut on the label and his first album featuring the working quartet including himself, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins. The recording session for the album took place on May 22, 1959, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California. Although Coleman initially wished for the album to be titled Focus on Sanity after the LP's fourth track, Atlantic producer Nesuhi Ertegun suggested the final title, feeling that it would give consumers "an idea about the uniqueness of the LP."

Harmolodics is a musical philosophy and method of musical composition and improvisation developed by American jazz saxophonist-composer Ornette Coleman. His work following this philosophy during the late 1970s and 1980s inspired a style of forward-thinking jazz-funk known as harmolodic funk. It is associated with avant-garde jazz and free jazz, although its implications extend beyond these limits. Coleman also used the name "Harmolodic" for both his first website and his record label.

<i>In All Languages</i> 1987 studio album by Ornette Coleman

In All Languages is a 1987 double album by Ornette Coleman. Coleman and the other members of his 1950s quartet, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins, performed on one of the two records, while his electrified ensemble, Prime Time, performed on the other. Many of the songs on In All Languages had two renditions, one by each group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charnett Moffett</span> American jazz bassist (1967–2022)

Charnett Moffett was an American jazz bassist.

<i>Sound Grammar</i> 2006 live album by Ornette Coleman

Sound Grammar is a live album by jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, recorded live in Ludwigshafen, Germany, on 14 October 2005. The album was produced by Coleman and Michaela Deiss, and released on Coleman's new Sound Grammar label. It was his first new album in almost a decade, since the end of his relationship with Verve in the 1990s. It features a mix of new and old originals.

<i>Song X</i> 1986 studio album by Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman

Song X is a collaborative studio album by American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It is a free jazz record that was produced in a three-day recording session in 1985. The album was released in June 1986 by Geffen Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denardo Coleman</span> American jazz drummer (born 1956)

Denardo Ornette Coleman is an American jazz drummer. He is the son of Ornette Coleman and Jayne Cortez.

<i>Shades</i> (Keith Jarrett album) 1976 studio album by Keith Jarrett

Shades is the fifth album on the Impulse label by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. Originally released in 1976, it features performances by Jarrett's 'American Quartet', which included Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian with Guilherme Franco added on percussion.

<i>Of Human Feelings</i> 1979 Ornette Coleman album

Of Human Feelings is an album by American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Ornette Coleman. It was recorded on April 25, 1979, at CBS Studios in New York City with his band Prime Time, which featured guitarists Charlie Ellerbee and Bern Nix, bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and drummers Calvin Weston and Coleman's son Denardo. It followed the saxophonist's failed attempt to record a direct-to-disc session earlier in March of the same year and was the first jazz album to be recorded digitally in the United States.

<i>Opening the Caravan of Dreams</i> 1985 live album by Ornette Coleman

Opening the Caravan of Dreams is a 1985 live album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman and his Prime Time ensemble. It was recorded at a concert inaugurating the Caravan of Dreams, a then-newly opened performing arts center in Coleman's hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.

Discography for American jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman.

<i>To Whom Who Keeps a Record</i> 1975 studio album by Ornette Coleman

To Whom Who Keeps a Record is an album credited to jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, originally released by the Japanese subsidiary Warner Pioneer of Warner Bros. Records in 1975. The album, which was assembled by Atlantic producer İlhan Mimaroğlu without Coleman's input, comprises outtakes from Atlantic Records recording sessions of 1959 and 1960 for Change of the Century and This Is Our Music. Sessions for "Music Always" took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California with Billy Higgins on drums; all others took place at Atlantic Studios in New York City with drummer Ed Blackwell.

<i>Tone Dialing</i> 1995 studio album by Ornette Coleman

Tone Dialing is an album recorded in 1995 by the American jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman and his Prime Time ensemble. It was released in September 1995 by Coleman's Harmolodic record label, in partnership with Verve/PolyGram. It was the Harmolodic label's first release, and "the first disc fully devoted to Coleman's music in eight years."

<i>Colors: Live from Leipzig</i> 1997 live album by Ornette Coleman and Joachim Kühn

Colors: Live from Leipzig is a live album by the American jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman and German pianist Joachim Kühn recorded in 1996 and released on the Harmolodic/Verve label.

<i>Sound Museum: Hidden Man</i> 1996 studio album by Ornette Coleman

Sound Museum: Hidden Man is an album by the American jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman recorded in 1996 and released on the Harmolodic/Verve label. It is dedicated to Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell.

<i>Broken Shadows</i> 1982 studio album by Ornette Coleman

Broken Shadows is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman recorded in 1971, at the same sessions that produced Science Fiction, but not released on the Columbia label until 1982.

<i>The Golden Number</i> 1977 studio album by Charlie Haden

The Golden Number is an album of duets by bassist Charlie Haden recorded in 1976 and released on the Horizon label.

<i>In Angel City</i> 1988 studio album by Charlie Haden

In Angel City is an album by the American jazz bassist Charlie Haden's Quartet West recorded in 1988 and released on the Verve label.

<i>The Montreal Tapes: with Paul Bley and Paul Motian</i> 1994 live album by Charlie Haden

The Montreal Tapes: with Paul Bley and Paul Motian is a live album by the American jazz bassist Charlie Haden with pianist Paul Bley and drummer Paul Motian recorded in 1989 and released on the Verve label.

References

  1. ↑ Ornette Coleman discography accessed November 30, 2011
  2. 1 2 Coleman, Ornette (1996). Sound Museum: Three Women (liner notes). Ornette Coleman. Verve. 531 657-2.
  3. 1 2 Yanow, S. Review accessed November 30, 2011
  4. ↑ Futterman, Steve (23 August 1996). "Ornette Coleman's Sound Museum". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  5. ↑ "Robert Christgau: CG: Ornette Coleman". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  6. ↑ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 276. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  7. ↑ Pareles, Jon (November 3, 1996). "Shedding The Weight Of Theory". New York Times. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  8. ↑ Margasak, Peter (September 26, 1996). "Just Short of Freedom". Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  9. ↑ Trachtenberg, Jay (November 22, 1996). "Ornette Coleman". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.