| Town Hall, 1962 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1965 | |||
| Recorded | 21 December 1962 | |||
| Venue | The Town Hall (New York City) | |||
| Genre | Free jazz Avant-garde jazz | |||
| Length | 45:14 | |||
| Label | ESP-Disk | |||
| Ornette Coleman chronology | ||||
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Town Hall, 1962 is an album by Ornette Coleman, recorded on December 21, 1962 at New York City's Town Hall and released in 1965 by the ESP-Disk label. It was the first recording to feature Coleman's new trio, which included bassist David Izenzon and drummer Charles Moffett. [1]
In terms of finding work, 1962 was a difficult year for Coleman and the members of his trio. That year, after an engagement at the Jazz Gallery, Coleman was dismayed to see Dave Brubeck follow him and earn a significantly higher fee. [2] As a result, Coleman decided to charge more for appearances, leading to repeated rejections by club owners and concert presenters. [2] In response, classically-trained bassist David Izenzon relied on freelance jobs with orchestras and chamber groups, while drummer Charles Moffett, whom Coleman had known since high school, took a job as a teacher. [2] At the same time, Coleman, tired of being perceived as a "cornpone musician," an "illiterate guy who just plays," [3] began composing classically-oriented works, and, with financial assistance from Irving Stone, [4] rented Town Hall in order to present a full-length concert of his works. [3] In addition to booking the hall and writing all the music, he put up posters advertising the concert, rehearsed the musicians, and hired a recording engineer. [3]
The concert featured ten pieces for Coleman and his trio, a work for string quartet ("Dedication to Poets and Writers"), and a piece for rhythm-and-blues group titled "Blues Misused," on which Coleman played. [1] The album Town Hall, 1962 includes three of the trio pieces plus the string quartet; the rest were recorded but have never been released. [1] (Regarding the unreleased "Blues Misused," Stanley Crouch wrote that "it predicts the fusion era in no uncertain terms," [5] while A. B. Spellman stated that the piece "must stand, with... Coleman's Free Jazz, as one of the two most important works that he has ever performed." [6] )
The concert was a success in that several hundred people attended and responded enthusiastically, and the proceeds allowed Coleman to break even. [3] [7] However, it did not receive much attention, leading Coleman to recall: "I'll never forget... that night there was a subway strike, a newspaper strike, a taxi strike, I mean everything was strike, even a match strike, know what I mean? Not only that, I hired a guy to record it for me, and [later] he committed suicide." [3] Following the concert, Coleman did not record or appear publicly for two years. [7] The trio would not record again until 1965, when they produced Chappaqua Suite and At the Golden Circle Stockholm .
According to Bernard Stollman, founder of ESP-Disk, Coleman gave him a tape of the Town Hall concert when the two first met. [8] However, Stollman soon discovered that the bass track was distorted, rendering the recording unusable. Stollman took the tape to engineer Dave Sarser, who was able to compress the bass track, removing the distortion and laying the groundwork for the ESP-Disk release. [8] Stollman also recalled that Blue Note Records offered to release the portion of the concert not included on the ESP disk, but failed to do so. [9]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [10] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [11] |
| All About Jazz #1 | [12] |
| All About Jazz #2 | [13] |
| Tom Hull | B+ [14] |
| DownBeat | [15] |
Written four decades after release, the Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 2½ stars and stated: "Ornette Coleman's decision to temporarily retire from music... was unfortunate. His alto playing was getting stronger, and on evidence of this CD, he had plenty of original ideas that should have been documented.... Although Ornette's string writing (which leaves no room for improvising) is pretty well outside of jazz, his playing on the other tracks holds one's interest throughout". [10]
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called "Sadness" one of Coleman's "most plangent and affecting themes... deeply marked by the blues," while "Doughnut" "catches Ornette in his most demonstrative form, punching out notes like a bar-walking R&B man." "The Ark" is described as "a seething troublous piece that refuses to cohere," and "Dedication" "points the way forward to what would be even more troubled projects in the future." [11]
Lyn Horton, writing for All About Jazz, awarded the album 5 stars, and commented: "In the stream of its apparent freedom, this trio acts with constraints, imposed not by restriction, but by genius. To know what later transpired could only underscore the appreciation of what already exists." [12] In a separate review for the same publication, Stuart Broomer also awarded it 5 stars, writing: "This concert is one of the essential Coleman documents, an extension of the raw, angular music he had developed in the early years of his public career... and an increasing sense of fluid group dialogue." [13]
All tracks written by Ornette Coleman.
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."
Charles Moffett was an American free jazz drummer.
The Song of Singing is a studio album by Chick Corea, released in 1971 on Blue Note Records. The recording features bassist Dave Holland and drummer/percussionist Barry Altschul.
Spiritual Unity is a studio album by American free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler. It was recorded on July 10, 1964 in New York City, and features bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray. It was the first album recorded for Bernard Stollman's ESP-Disk label, and it brought Ayler to international attention as it was so "shockingly different". At the same time, it transformed ESP-DISK into "a major source for avant-garde jazz". A 5-star review in AllMusic called it a "landmark recording that's essential to any basic understanding of free jazz", "the album that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz's avant-garde... really the first available document of Ayler's music that matched him with a group of truly sympathetic musicians", and stated that "the results are a magnificently pure distillation of his aesthetic."
At the "Golden Circle" Stockholm is an avant-garde jazz live album in two volumes by the Ornette Coleman Trio, documenting concerts on the nights of December 3 and 4, 1965, at the Gyllene Cirkeln jazz club in Stockholm. Both volumes were released in early 1966. This marked the beginning of Coleman's contract with Blue Note after he left Atlantic Records.
Frank Wright was an American free jazz musician, known for his frantic style of playing the tenor saxophone. Critics often compare his music to that of Albert Ayler, although Wright "offers his honks and squawks with a phraseology derived from the slower, earthier funk of R&B and gospel music." According to AllMusic biographer Chris Kelsey, Wright "never recorded even a single record under his own name for a major label; he was 'underground' his entire career." In addition to tenor saxophone, Wright also played the soprano saxophone and bass clarinet.
David Izenzon was an American jazz double bassist.
Archie Shepp & the New York Contemporary Five is a live album by the New York Contemporary Five recorded at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on November 15, 1963, and featuring saxophonists Archie Shepp and John Tchicai, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Don Moore and drummer J. C. Moses. The album was originally released on the Sonet label in 1964 as New York Contemporary 5 in two separate volumes on LP and later as an edited concert on a single CD, removing the track "Cisum."
Other Planes of There is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Recorded in 1964, the album had been released by 1966 on Sun Ra's own Saturn label. The record was reissued on compact disc by Evidence in 1992.
'Granted, the selection is certainly not as abrasive and demanding as later efforts, although there is strident involvement from everyone within the dense arrangement. The brass and reed sections provide emphasis behind an off-kilter and loping waltz backdrop. All the more impressive is how well the material has held up over the decades. Even to seasoned ears, the music is pungent and uninhibited, making Other Planes of There a highly recommended collection.' Lindsay Planer
Chappaqua Suite is a free jazz album by alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman which was recorded in 1965 for Columbia Records.
Bernard Stollman was an American lawyer and the founder of the ESP-Disk record label.
Closer is the seventh album led by jazz pianist Paul Bley, featuring seven compositions by Carla Bley, recorded in 1965 and released on the ESP-Disk label.
Prophecy is a live album by American free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded in New York City on June 14, 1964 and first released in 1975 on the ESP-Disk label.
In the Beginning 1963–1964 is a 4-CD compilation album by American free jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders recorded in 1963-1964 and released in 2012 on the ESP-Disk label. It features previously-unreleased recordings of Sanders performing with groups led by Don Cherry and Paul Bley, complete concert recordings of Sanders' appearances with Sun Ra, a re-release of Sanders' first album, and various interviews.
Lowell Davidson Trio is the debut album by American jazz pianist Lowell Davidson, and the only commercially-available recording issued during his lifetime. It was recorded in 1965, and was released on the ESP-Disk label. The album, which contains five original compositions, features Davidson on piano, along with Gary Peacock on bass and Milford Graves on drums.
Live on the Riviera is a live album by the American jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded on July 25, 1970 at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, and originally released in 2005 on the ESP-Disk label. The album, which was remastered and reissued by ESP-Disk in 2013, documents one of the last known performances by Ayler prior to his death in November of that year.
Frank Wright Trio is the debut album by saxophonist Frank Wright. It was recorded in November 1965 in New York City, released by ESP-Disk in 1966, and reissued on CD in 1992. On the album, Wright is joined by bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Tom Price. The tracks were also reissued in 2005 on the Frank Wright compilation The Complete ESP-Disk Recordings.
An Evening with Ornette Coleman is a live album by Ornette Coleman. It was recorded in August 1965 at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, London, and was initially released by Polydor International in 1967. The album opens with a recording of a wind quintet by Coleman performed by London's Virtuoso Ensemble, followed by trio performances featuring Coleman on alto saxophone, violin, and trumpet, accompanied by bassist David Izenzon and drummer Charles Moffett.
The Complete ESP-Disk Recordings is a two-CD compilation album by saxophonist Frank Wright. Issued by ESP-Disk in 2005, it contains two studio albums released by the label during the 1960s: Frank Wright Trio, recorded in 1965 and issued in 1966, featuring bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Tom Price, and Your Prayer, recorded and released in 1967, featuring saxophone Arthur Jones, trumpeter Jacques Coursil, bassist Steve Tintweiss, and drummer Muhammad Ali. The compilation also features a twelve-part interview with Wright, conducted by ESP-Disk founder Bernard Stollman.
Noah Howard Quartet is the debut album by alto saxophonist Noah Howard. It was recorded in New York City during January 1966, and was released later that year by ESP-Disk. On the album, Howard is joined by trumpeter Ric Colbeck, bassist Scotty Holt, and percussionist Dave Grant.
