''The Empty Foxhole'' is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman released on the

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

label in 1966.Blue Note Records discography
accessed November 10, 2010 The album features Coleman's untutored violin and trumpet as well as performing on his usual instrument, the alto saxophone, and marks the recording debut of his drummer son Denardo Coleman, who was ten years of age at the time. The album cover features Coleman's own artwork.

Reception

Critical reception of the album was mixed at the time of its release and continues to be. Some, like

Shelly Manne Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, sw ...

and Freddie Hubbard, regarded Denardo's drumming as rudimentary and judged the move a mistake. Others noted that despite his youth, Denardo had studied drumming for several years and his technique – which, though unrefined, was respectable and enthusiastic – owed more to pulse-oriented free jazz drummers like Sunny Murray than to bebop drumming.Freeman, P
Good Old Days: Ornette Coleman on Blue Note
bluenote.com, December 18, 2012 The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

review by Steve Huey awarded the album 3 stars and stated: "On balance, the music may not be among Coleman's most exceptional efforts, but there's something inspiring about the fact that ''The Empty Foxhole'' is as good as it is."Huey, S.

Allmusic Review AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

accessed November 10, 2010 The

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

review by Robert Spencer stated: "Ornette Coleman is not a conventional musician, but he has too much musical talent to make a bad album... The music here is unlike most everything else that ever came out of Blue Note, or anywhere, but those who won't notice or care that these guys are not the smoothest of instrumentalists might enjoy this album. I do".Spencer, R
''The Empty Foxhole'' Review

, April 1, 1997.

Track listing

:''All compositions by Ornette Coleman'' # "Good Old Days" – 6:52 # "The Empty Foxhole" – 3:22 # "Sound Gravitation" – 7:18 # "Freeway Express" – 8:20 # "Faithful" – 7:07 # "Zig Zag" – 5:57

Personnel

* Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone (tracks 1, 5, 6),

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(2, 4),

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

(3) *

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

- bass * Denardo Coleman - drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empty Foxhole, The 1966 albums Ornette Coleman albums Blue Note Records albums Albums produced by Francis Wolff Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio