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August 27, 2010

"The Empty Foxhole" - Ornette Coleman


A lot of Coleman's Blue Note period gets overlooked. I find it just as strong as his 70s output and just a notch below the golden Atlantic years. It's a different sound, something else, and in true Ornette fashion, always exploring. The Empty Foxhole is an ever moving spiral of colors and shapes. The album cover -- a painting done by Coleman himself -- offers the very same warmth as done so by this recording date.

Featured here is Denardo Coleman on drums. Just ten years young and displaying the very same intuition as adult contemporaries. Denardo's ideas, just like his father's, are ever flowing, free, rhythmic yet chaotic, and vibrantly animated.

Here's an excerpt from a previous post where I talked about the title cut The Empty Foxhole:
...young Denardo was playing single rhythmic snare hits, while Haden was walking high on the bass' neck, and Ornette was playing so melodically with such beautiful lyricism. Then, completely randomly, Denardo would unleash these chaotic blast beats, but only for a few moments before returning to his single snare.
This is the perfect, intimate set giving you a unique look into Coleman and Haden, and a peak into the beginning of the musical future of Denardo Coleman.
1967 - Blue Note.

Ornette Coleman - Alto Sax, Trumpet, Violen; Denardo Coleman - Drums; Charlie Haden - Bass.