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.

Annette Peacock, Miles Davis & Ornette Coleman

Well it's the first post! Here goes.

Annette Peacock - Dreams (If Time Weren't)

This tune has appeared on quite a few recordings since it was written, including

Paul Bley & Scorpio (Milestone MSP 9046)
Paul Bley - Alone Again (Improvising Artists Inc, IAI 373840)
Paul Bley / Annette Peacock Synthesizer Show - Revenge (Polydor, 2425 043) [BEAUTIFUL version, with eerie processed vocals by Annette]
Marilyn Crispell - Nothing Ever Was, Anyway (ECM 1626/27)

Know of some others? Let me know. Every version is going to be slightly different, but I think the overall picture is there.

The introduction (first two lines) is left out on many versions for some reason. It's on the Crispell recording. I'm working on the lyrics, hopefully I'll update this post later on.

Miles Davis - Mademoiselle Mabry

The last song on Miles' Filles de Kilimanjaro, with Chick Corea at the RMI Electrapiano. I'm not sure about the bass note in bar 4, it may be a B-natural, not B-flat. Thoughts?

I left out chord symbols to reduce clutter. Most of the harmonies are triadic anyway, easy enough for the soloist to figure out. Chick plays different chords almost every time, especially in bars 3 and 4, but as with the Peacock tune, the general idea is there.

The form of the tune is strange. Every third time, they play the first bar a little differently by resolving to an F-major triad. Very unusual. But it happens consistently throughout the tune, from what I can tell.

Ornette Coleman - Jordan

Featured on his recent CD Sound Grammar. (Transcription updated on 5/20/11). Take a look, give it a listen, follow along... post your comments!