"The Controversial Mr. Coleman"
This is a reproduction
of page 17 of
Down Beat, November 26,
1959.
Photos are by
Eugene Lees.
Original Text
One of the most talked-about young musicians in jazz today is Ornette
Coleman, who plays a white plastic alto saxophone with a tone one critic
says "can only be described as weird". Coleman has been around
the music scene for longer than most persons realize, but he's been
getting major attention only lately. Many critics and musicians think he
may be the start of a new direction in jazz. Recently Coleman did a date
for Nesuhi Ertegun, jazz a&r director of Atlantic records, to whom he
is now under contract. (Another recording was made recently for
Contemporary.) These pictures were taken at that date in Los Angeles.
Working with Coleman are Billy Higgins, drums; Charlie Haden, bass; and
Don Cherry, who seems to be playing Dizzy Gillespie to Coleman's Charlie
Parker. Cherry plays a small (but physically heavy) "pocket"
trumpet that was made in Pakistan. Someone described it as looking like "an
unsanforized horn that got washed". After the recording, the quartet
went to New York for a Nov. 16 opening at the Five Spot.
