''Sound Grammar'' is a live album by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

saxophonist and composer

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Coll ...

, recorded live in Ludwigshafen, Germany, on 14 October 2005. The album was produced by Coleman and Michaela Deiss, and released on Coleman's new Sound Grammar label. It was his first new album in almost a decade, since the end of his relationship with Verve in the 1990s. It features a mix of new and old originals (some of the latter given new titles).

Reception

Critics noted Coleman's unusual use of musical quotation: his solo on the blues "Turnaround" includes snatches of

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American ...

' "If I Loved You" and Stephen Foster's "

Beautiful Dreamer "Beautiful Dreamer" is a parlor song by American songwriter Stephen Foster. It was published posthumously in March 1864, by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York. The first edition states on its title page that it is "the last song ever written by Steph ...

"; even more unexpectedly, the theme of "Sleep Talking" begins with the same notes as Stravinsky's '' The Rite of Spring''. Critical reception for the album was highly positive: it figured at or near the top of virtually every jazz magazine poll at the end of 2006, including ''

Downbeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Ch ...

'' and '' JazzTimes''. John Fordham of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' stated "At 76, sax revolutionary Coleman retains much of his old capricious energy - his whooping runs, long high notes, quivering tone and casual, spiralling descents still sound fresh, and a pin-sharp recording emphasises it. Two double-bassists join Denardo Coleman on drums, a lineup that seems to merge the free-swinging jazzy Coleman period of the early 60s, and the more abstract subsequent trio that featured the late classically trained bassist, David Izenzon. Fast, slithering bowed passages cross the second bassist's rolling pizzicato freewalk, while snare-drum patterns and rimshots snap at the heels of vivacious sax figures." David R. Adler of '' JazzTimes'' commented "Ornette Coleman's quartet deals in moment-to-moment magic-the kind that defies documentation. But if Sound Grammar, recorded live in Germany, doesn't exactly match the excitement of being there, it does clear up the acoustic fog of the big halls in which Coleman usually performs. On this album we hear the interlocking arco-pizzicato dance of bassists Tony Falanga and Greg Cohen as never before." Peter Marsh of BBC wrote "Ornette's alto remains one of the most recognisable sounds on the planet. Throughout this performance he sends out a continuous stream of melody. Not that this is news of course; that's what he's always done. But here (unlike Prime Time) he's given more space to breathe, and the results are frequently jawdroppingly beautiful. Coleman's trumpet playing has always remained a bit of a mystery to me, but his occasional bursts of sawed violin give a nicely visceral thrill."

Awards

In 2006, ''Sound Grammar'' received a Grammy nomination for

Best Jazz Instrumental Performance The Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album has been presented since 1961. From 1962 to 1971 and 1979 to 1991 the award title specified instrumental performances. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works ...

. The following year, it won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Although Wynton Marsalis won a Pulitzer in 1997 for '' Blood on the Fields'', an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

on slavery, ''Sound Grammar'' is the first jazz work to earn the award.

Track listing

All compositions by Ornette Coleman. # "Intro" - 1:14 (MC's spoken introduction) # "Jordan" - 6:32 # "Sleep Talking" - 8:55 (a.k.a. "Sleep Talk" from ''

Of Human Feelings ''Of Human Feelings'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Ornette Coleman. It was recorded on April 25, 1979, at CBS Studios in New York City with his band Prime Time, which featured guitarists Charlie Ellerbee and ...

'') # "Turnaround" - 4:06 (a.k.a. "Turnabout" from '' Tomorrow Is the Question!'') # "Matador" - 5:57 (a.k.a. "Picolo Pesos" from ''Sound Museum'') # "Waiting for You" - 6:50 (a.k.a. "House of Stained Glass" from ''Colors'') # "Call to Duty" - 5:34 (has been performed live under the title "Crying Without Tears") # "Once Only" - 9:40 (a.k.a. "If I Only Knew as Much About You" from ''Tone Dialing'') # "Song X" - 10:22 (from ''

Song X ''Song X'' is a collaborative studio album by American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It is a free jazz record that was produced in a three-day recording session in 1985. The album was released in June 1986 by Geff ...

'')

Personnel

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B t ...

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 ...

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 ...

* Denardo Coleman -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Gregory Cohen -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Tony Falanga - bass

References

{{Authority control Ornette Coleman live albums 2006 live albums Live free jazz albums Pulitzer Prize for Music-winning works