Celebrating Ornette, Painted Bride, Philadelphia, March 21, 2014

[Leeway]

Friday, March 21st, I was back on the road, headed to Philadelphia, to take in the "Celebrating Ornette" concert (wouldn't "Honoring Ornette" have been a more harmolodic title?) Like the "Celebrating Cecil" concert, once again, the event took place at the Painted Bride Art Center, in conjunction with Ars Nova Workshop, and once again, the event was sold out.

On the bill were musicians closely associated with Ornette.

The Denardo Coleman Group consisted of Denardo on drums (of course), Al MacDowell on electric bass, Tony Falanga on acoustic bass, Charles Ellerbee on guitar, and Antoine Roney on tenor sax.

The Jamaaladeen Tacuma Band consisted of Tacuma on electric bass guitar; Wolfgang Puschnig (alto sax, flute, Hojak); Ben Schachter (tenor sax); Yoichi Uzeki (p, keyboards); G. Calvin Weston (drums); Wadud Ahmad (spoken word); Asha Puthli (vocals).

Denardo opened the concert with a personal address to the audience about his father, Ornette. It was a nice way to start. His group then took the stage. One could tell that they wanted to do the utmost to make the show a memorable one. They played hard, sometimes, a bit too hard, so that the music occasionally lost some necessary control and shape. The real problem with their set was they had the wrong tenor player. Antoine Roney, whatever his other abilities, just had no concept of how to play within a harmolodic framework, or even just to make his playing interesting. I kept thinking this guy belongs on the 2nd line at JALC, not here. To test my own impression, after the set, I asked the guy sitting next to me, who has been following Ornette since the early 80s, "So what did you think?" His first response was, "I felt sorry for the tenor player." I asked him why, he said "the guy looked lost." The good news was that when Roney laid out, the rest of the band was really cooking. The one who impressed me most was Charlie Ellerbee. I could have listened to him solo all night. Plus he had the right attitude and approach to the music. Denardo was absolutely fine. He played so hard he broke the bass pedal on his drum; have not seen that before. I suppose everyone was hoping Ornette might come out and join his son, but not to be.

What I would not have predicted was that the night would belong to Jamaaladeen Tacuma. In every way he and his group made it a memorable evening. First of all, Tacuma is an authentically charismatic figure. He reminded me of Sonny Rollins in those recent photos where Sonny is in those striking white or red suits. In fact, all of the members of Tacuma's group, including Tacuma, were wearing all-white outfits. My first thought s were that they looked like a cult for the Comet Kahoutek, But it turned out to be a nice bit of stagecraft. The best part of Tacuma's group was that they all understood Ornette's music, and Puschnig and Schachter, relative unknowns, played absolutely within Ornette's concepts without mere imitation or play-by-number. They really brought the music alive and they did everything Roney failed to do. Damn, it sounded good to hear it played right. Weston is a banger on drums, huge kit, not usually my thing, but it worked here well enough. Tacuma is a monster on his electric bass guitar. If you have an allergy to electric bass, you would not get very far with this sound, but I found Tacuma's playing funky as hell, yet always with a great sense of ensemble and Ornette's aesthetic.

But Tacuma went beyond simply playing his set. Tacuma understood it was more than just the music. On the stage wall behind him he arranged to have pictures of Ornette, pictures of Ornette album covers, statements from Ornette. It set an appropriate mood. He brought in Wadud Ahmad, who recited a poem on "Celebrating Ornette." Usually the words "poetry recitation" brings things to a screeching halt. But Ahmad's poem was sharp, tart, bittersweet and short, and well-received. But the masterstroke on Tacuma's part, he arranged to bring in Asha Puthli, who sang, "What Reason Could I Give" on Ornette's "Science Fiction" session in 1971, and sang it again that night. It was a goose-bump moment. Tacuma really raised it from a concert to an occasion, a memorable one.

Painted Bride usually has to wrap at 11, but Tacuma's set rolled on to 11:30, and everyone was still digging it when it came to a close. What I found really interesting is how much Ornette is loved on a personal level in the community. Compared to the Cecil Concert two weeks before, Cecil is respected, but for Ornette, it is a personal affection. There was a lot to think about and remember as i headed back down I-95, but mostly I was glad to have been at this show.

[mjazzg]

Sounds like a really interesting evening.

"But the masterstroke on Tacuma's part, he arranged to bring in Asha Puthli, who sang, "What Reason Could I Give" on Ornette's "Science Fiction" session in 1971, and sang it again that night. It was a goose-bump moment"

I am very envious of this bit in particular. Can't believe how poignant that must have been to witness.

Nice to hear that Wolfgang Puschnig, a name I've not heard for a while, is still cutting the mustard

Edited March 24, 2014 by mjazzg

[kh1958]

Antoine Roney is a bizarre choice--I don't even like his mainstream playing. Denardo's group is otherwise the same as the one that played in Austin with Ornette a few years ago.

[Leeway]

Antoine Roney is a bizarre choice--I don't even like his mainstream playing. Denardo's group is otherwise the same as the one that played in Austin with Ornette a few years ago.

Yes, it was not a good choice. I recall now that Denardo said they had planned to use Roy Campbell, but that Roy passed away before the event. Whether the idea was to use Roy alone or Roy and Roney was not clear to me. It would not have hurt to have Roy there.