Recorded a little over a month after his groundbreaking work Free Jazz, this album found
Coleman perhaps retrenching from that idea conceptually, but nonetheless plumbing his quartet music to ever greater heights of richness and creativity.
Ornette! was the first time bassist
Scott LaFaro recorded with
Coleman, and the difference in approach between
LaFaro and
Charlie Haden is apparent from the opening notes of "W.R.U." There is a more direct propulsion and limberness to his playing, and he can be heard driving
Coleman and
Don Cherry actively and more aggressively than
Haden's warm, languid phrasing. The cuts, with titles derived from the works of Sigmund Freud, are all gems and serve as wonderful launching pads for the musicians' improvisations.
Coleman, by this time, was very comfortable in extended pieces, and he and his partners have no trouble filling in the time, never coming close to running out of ideas. Special mention should be made of
Ed Blackwell, with one of his finest performances.
Ornette! is a superb release and a must for all fans of
Coleman and creative improvised music in general.