Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ornette & Collin Walcott

Ornette Coleman - Word From Bird


A short bop head from Ornette Coleman. (Updated 5/20/11)

Appears on:

Ornette Coleman - "In All Languages"
Pat Metheny / Ornette Coleman - "Song X [20th Anniversary Edition]"

Collin Walcott - Cloud Dance

The final track off of Walcott's debut album on ECM Records, also called Cloud Dance. The album features Jack DeJohnette, John Abercrombie and Dave Holland. Two tracks have the full quartet; the rest are duos or trios. The whole album is excellent.

Walcott was a marginal, but important figure on the jazz and improvised music scene. He started out in the Paul Winter Consort, a band that got some commercial and critical acclaim in the late 60's and early 70's. They played adaptations of folk melodies from foreign countries, worked with ethnic instruments, and experimented with free improvisation. Four members, Ralph Towner, Glenn Moore, Paul McCandless, and Walcott, went on to form Oregon, which eclipsed the fame and influence of the Consort. Walcott played sitar and tabla in the band, in addition to many other instruments.

In the late 70's and early 80's, Walcott worked with Don Cherry and Nana Vasconcelos in a trio called Codona, which released three albums on ECM. In addition to "Cloud Dance", he had another album on ECM called "Grazing Dreams" with Cherry, Abercrombie, Dom Um Romao, and Palle Danielsson. He also worked with Meredith Monk, David Darling (who was also a member of the Consort), and others. He was killed in an automobile accident in Germany in 1984, while on tour with Oregon. Check out his work, he was an important and talented artist.