Jack Dejohnette featuring Ravi Coltrane and Matthew Garrison-In Movement

The album starts out with some brush flourishes by the main man on drums Jack Dejohnette. Then Ravi's sax comes in with the haunting melody that is Alabama, an original composition by his father, John Coltrane. Garrison's playing here seems to drone and hit all the important chord tones while Ravi stretches the limitations of the melody while Jack holds it down rhythmically. This isn't the way John Coltrane did it. But it is still fantastic, albeit in a much different way. This is the current state of free jazz. Wild, free, and in Ravi's case melodically entertaining and focused. He isn't stretching out here as much as his dad would but he's still going "out there" like the album by Eric Dolphy with the same name. The song still retains the strength and meaning that Trane gave it. Fantastic cover.

Another thing to note is that Garrison isn't playing bass in a standard style whatsoever. He's playing electric bass and droning lots of notes rather than playing walking bass lines in the traditional jazz style. It gives the music a stronger bass sound and sometimes even a fusion edge.

The next tune is an original composition by all three guys entitled In Movement. It starts off with some abstract chords that sound like a question to me. Then these layers of sound come in, starting with some synthesizers (played by Jack). Once Ravi's somber sax comes through you remember you're listening to a free jazz record. The synths and the bass here give the music an ethereal feel. This is the ECM sound for sure. Once we hear more of Garrison's bass lines you can hear that he's playing the bass like a guitar, focusing on chord tones and two-three note clusters played simultaneously. It's refreshing hearing the bass played in this way rather than the usual walking bass line patterns found in traditional as well as free jazz. On this tune they really stretch out and show off their improvising credentials. Ravi can freak out for a bit but he always brings it back melodically. Its a way different approach from his dad. They created a nice piece here.

Next, we have another original composition called Two Jimmy's. This one has a dark minor sound with some extreme low end bass and spacing between the rhythmic dynamics of the bass and drums. Synthesizer appears again, creating droning notes to add to the sonic landscape. This song is way free jazz. Their isn't a clear or concise melody going on, just "sheets of sound". They take the song through various phases but Jack's drumming is the constant, the melody if you will. Its what's driving the music and holding it together from going all over the place. At some point there's a funky synth sound thrown in there. Its funky but it sounds industrial at the same time. Computer jazz music I reckon.

Then there's Blue in Green, the jazz standard by Miles Davis and Bill Evans. But the way they are playing it here is way different. A much more free and personal approach to the song. For me its almost unrecognizable as the song originally played by Miles and Bill Evans. Other than the piano. Jack plays a much different style of piano; a drummer's approach to the piano. More rhythmic and volume dynamics than a typical jazz pianist. This is the ballad of the album. Here we can see where these guys came from. There's that beautiful straight ahead jazz sound and feeling here. These guys are a product of the straight ahead period but they've adapted and changed the way they play based on all the changes in the jazz tradition. Cool stuff.

Serpentine Fire starts off with a funky bassline and backbeat. Ravi's sax comes in like a whisper, laying down some lines in between moments of silence. He's playing a soprano sax here, reminiscent of his dad but he sounds way different. He uses the soprano more melodically than Trane did. He sounds a lot like Wayne Shorter to me here. This whole tune reminds me of some late period Shorter from some years ago. It's a nice funky little vamp.

Lydia is an original tune by Jack Dejohnette. Its most likely written for his wife Lydia. It starts off with a brief melody then follows things up with some beautiful chord changes, outlined by the bass (playing it almost like a guitar). If you listen carefully the song does have a head and proper melody and stuff. But it is hard to hear that for the average and/or non-musical listener. It's written very cleverly in a way that sounds like its all improvised. Perhaps it was.

Rashied is an original composition by Jack Dejohnette and Ravi Coltrane, presumably about Rashied Ali. Rashied Ali was a great drummer that John Coltrane worked with towards the end of career, the great free jazz period for Trane. The opening of this tune is as free form as this album gets. The licks from Ravi sound almost exactly like John Coltrane, note for note. The difference is in the tone of the saxophone. This is some true ECM free jazz style stuff. The hardcore free jazz for the purists. From Ravi Coltrane this style of playing is pretty rare so its exciting to hear him playing like his dad. Jack's drumming is phenomenal as well. The entire song sounds like a drum solo but its all in time flowing with the saxophone. Another thing to note is that this is a drums and sax only song, just like how Trane and Rashied Ali recorded just them two together for some stuff back in the day. They are honoring the jazz ancestors and they're doing it with love and extreme musicality.

Lastly, we have Soulful Ballad. This is another ballad. It's not a real jazz album unless there's a couple ballads to balance things out. Amiright folks? It opens with a light hearted melody and sax line. Piano chords and note clusters give the song rhythm rather than drums as there are no drums here. I can hear some interesting things going on in the music. It sounds like they are playing higher notes of the chords on piano, bass, and sax. When played together it sounds very soothing. A great way to end a great album.

All in all this was a great Christmas gift from my stepfather and one of the best free jazz albums I've heard in a long time. Check this album out, you can find the tunes in bits and pieces on YouTube.

Ornette Coleman & Pat Metheny, Song X

    

     Song X is a collaborative album made by Ornette Coleman and Pat Metheny. The album was made in 3 days in 1985, but released by Geffen Records in 1986. The album also features Jack Dejohnette on drums, Denardo Coleman on percussion, and Charlie Haden on bass. All of these guys are jazz legends except Denardo, who is Coleman's son. I've actually got my step dad this album for Christmas once. Also, I've listened to a few tracks on YouTube but I've never actually heard the whole album until now. I got this album from my local record store, CD Trader, for only $7.99! Great price. Not only that, but there was another bands sticker on the CD (Faith No More) and I asked them to take it off with that sticky adhesive, and they gave me another CD part and just put the booklet in the new one. Talk about customer service! When the album came out, it got strong and favorable reviews. Downbeat gave this album five stars!
     It opens with 'Song X', the same name of the album. It has a kind of head and then things get interesting. The guitar sound is very electronic(processed), most definitely the guitar synthesizer Metheny favored heavily back in the 1980s. Jack's drumming is very characteristic of him. Once you've heard him, you can hear that its him on drums without question. Ornette's saxophone playing is super fast and kind of lacks harmony and rhythm, but somehow the music stays together because Metheny's guitar has a lot of melodic content keeping things in place. I know all about Metheny's work and I have a bunch of his albums. This doesn't sound like he's playing 'free-jazz'. It sounds like he's playing like himself, just with Ornette Coleman. You can still hear his characteristic phrasing, and melodic motifs he likes to make. The tune ends with the same head from the beginning.
     The next tune, 'Mob Job' starts off a lot more mellow, with a grooving bass-line, more akin to straight-ahead than the avant-garde. There's even a melody and nice flowing drum parts! The guitar synthesizer is more apparent in this, because I think Metheny used a saxophone synthesizer sound, and it sounds sick. There's some great violin playing here by Ornette Coleman too. His violin playing sounds exactly the same as his saxophone playing, except with the tone of a violin. That's the mark of a great musician, sounding the same no matter what they're playing. This tune reminds me of a mellow kind of thing the Art Ensemble of Chicago would do. A more bop influenced thing.
     The third tune, 'Endangered Species', is the longest cut, lasting some 13 minutes. It starts off as the most free tune as well. By most free, I mean to say that they're really pushing the limits of the term free-jazz, perhaps going beyond that and into the terms of the avant-garde. Jack's drumming here is more intense and focused because everyone is really playing their hearts out, sounding like a pack of wild animals rather than a jazz band. I don't really know what else I can say about this tune except that it is really pushing the limits of free-jazz. On one hand, I find it to be great. But on the other, other people might not be into this because it is so crazy sounding and 'out there'. It reminds me of the Art Ensemble of Chicago except with a guitar synthesizer going crazy with effects. You can tell they had a blast playing this one. At the end there's like these outer space kind of sounds made with the synthesizer guitar.
     The next tune is titled 'Videogames', and boy does it sound like a videogame. The guitar synthesizer takes over this piece, giving the sound an 8bit kind of tones. The guitar synthesizer is running rampant on this piece until there's a big break, and they go into a more straight-ahead feel with a saxophone solo by the one and only Ornette Coleman. There are moments after that solo where everyone comes in and things get crazy, but then it goes back to that sax solo with the straight-ahead feel.
     The next tune is 'Kathlein Gray', which sounds more like a ballad, the first on the album so far. There's a kind of romantic melody played by the sax and guitar. This tune, like others, has some straight-ahead elements, especially the bass line and the drumming. The bassline is very melodic and kind of holds everything together, like Paul McCartney in the Beatles. On this song Metheny uses a clean guitar tone(although still processed sounding with a lot of chorus) but you can hear more of the distinctive Pat Metheny guitar playing here. It's very Pat-like, probably because this song and the last three other songs were composed by both Pat and Ornette together. Whereas the other tunes were just Coleman numbers. This is probably why the tune has a more traditional jazz approach and sound.
     Next is a tune called 'Trigonometry', which again has a more traditional approach. It has a head and then the sax goes off, while Charlie Haden lays down a walking bass line(the first in the album so far), and Jack plays some nice traditional jazz drumming, laying down phat rhythmic pulse on the cymbals and snare. After the sax solo there's a guitar solo with a synthesizer tone, but sounding like its mimicking a saxophone. The guitar lines played by Metheny here are all trademark Metheny licks, sounding very hip and melodic despite this being 1985.
     Next up, 'Song X duo'. This song is just a duo of just Ornette and Pat playing. Because its just saxophone and guitar its easy to get lost in it all. However, today in free-jazz duos and trios are the best format to get the music out, and sometimes they don't have drums, sometimes its a horn and guitar, or a horn and two basses.
     Finally, the last tune is 'Long Time No See', which has a kind of drum machine opening but it departs as a head is played and real drums are playing some straight-ahead style while the sax and guitar goes off on a wild adventure together exploring harmonic content. I thought the opening of this tune was really strange, like why did they do that? Anyways, the song ends with a kind of boppish head from the beginning of the tune and that's the end of the album. 
     This album is cool because it features great musicians that were already well established in jazz, and here they came together to make like a super group super free-jazz album. It should be known that this is Pat Metheny's first and last recording in a free-jazz context. He's just too melodic to play freely. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I just mean that he can't play like Ornette Coleman does. He's too studied. His melodic lines are fantastic and his phrasing is out of this world and he has chops but he just doesn't really fit in a free-jazz context. However, that does not mean that his playing on this album wasn't stellar. Metheny being on this recording date gave the group more structure, especially harmonically, than it wouldn't have had otherwise. Ornette Coleman is still going strong playing music to this day. Charlie Haden is no longer with us but he was a long time Coleman collaborator and a great bassist that will never be forgotten. Jack Dejohnette is playing music, he recently released an album called Made in Chicago. Pat Metheny is making more structured music but after this album he won a lot of Grammy's and stuff, he's actually extremely popular for a jazz musician. His music, I would say is lightweight. By that I mean its not really cutting edge music anymore. He's comfortable playing the same thing over and over. Which isn't bad. It's a great way to sell records if your fan base wants that. Anyways, this is a great album, and although it is late Ornette Coleman I would say it is required Ornette Coleman listening.

Jack Dejohnette album Made in Chicago Review

    

     This is the latest Jack Dejohnette album in which he comes home to his Chicago roots and plays with some of the guys from the AACM whom he played with in his youth. This includes Henry Threadgill on alto saxophones and bass flute, Roscoe Mitchell on sopranino saxophones, soprano saxophones, alto saxophones, baroque flute, and bass recorder. In addition, there is Muhal Richard Abrams on piano, Larry Grey on bass and violoncello, and of course Jack Dejohnette on drums. What makes this 2013 performance at the Chicago Jazz Festival so great is not the compositions, but the individual and collaborative improvisation of these musicians as a whole.
      In fact, I can't tell that these compositions are even written down at all. It all sounds like improvisation and great improv at that! I've always thought that live jazz is always better than studio albums and this is one case where live performance really shines. The level of nuance and skill is just off the roof. A piece that really stands out is the second song, Jack 5, by Muhal Richard Abrams, where Jack Dejohnette opens up with drum flourishes on the cymbals and toms. What gives Jack such a unique touch on the drums is that he was a pianist when he first began playing music. I really like Jack 5 because when the melody comes in, its an odd sort of droning melody not unlike something Ornette Coleman would do. It's slow and methodical. The bass line is especially interesting. Check out this song online if possible, it is a great piece.  
     Some of the other songs have the same qualities as Jack 5 in that the beginning is a bit slow and the melody goes up and down in chromatic dramatic fashion. But when they start improvising things really go the dogs, or in this case, the cats. With the piano its hard to say what this group sounds like. I would immediatley say they sound like the Art Ensemble of Chicago but I would say this is more melodic and structured than AEOC. That's whats so great about it. This is great music for people that are just getting into free-jazz but it still contains enough free elements that free-jazz fans would love it. It's the best of both worlds. The piano really gives the group a harmonic framework in which to do the improvising. There are moments where the piano is doing its thing and it sounds like a post-bop sort of band.
     The other highlight of the performance for me was the last untitled tune. It sounds like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, all free and what not. I particularly love Roscoe Mitchell's squeaky saxophone playing on this. It's what makes free-jazz great, this piece. 
     I would say this is an important record because most of these guys are in their 70s, almost 80s now and they won't be with us forever. So it's cool to see them come back to their roots from when they used to play with each other in Chicago and now here they are at old age still playing and performing together, maybe for the last time. In addition, this is an important jazz recording because many Chicago jazz greats played at this festival as well. This is one of the best new jazz recording I've ever heard.
 As Jack says at the end, "May the Great Spirit bless you!" It certainly has blessed Jack.