V&B Hall of Fame Part 2
By 1962, Ornette Coleman had pretty much mastered the world of jazz music. In 1958, he released a stunning debut in Something Else, wowing the hard-to-impress jazz community with his unhinged alto sax soloing. In 1959, he released The Shape Of Jazz To Come, the pre-eminent avant-garde jazz albums of the last 50 years. In 1961 he released the definitive long form improvisation album, Free Jazz. Oh, also in that three-year span, Coleman released about a half dozen other shockingly enjoyable jazz records that challenged people’s ideas and expectations of what a “jazz” record should and could sound like. So what do you do when, in just four years, you’ve redefined your art form and subsequently become the most prominent figure in a world where prominent figures are difficult to come by? Well, you quit your label (Atlantic), take a four-year sabbatical, learn the trumpet, learn the violin, join a new label (Blue Note) and release an album featuring your ten-year old son on drums.The Empty Foxhole, Coleman’s long-awaited album following his self-imposed exile, would likely be considered a lesser album from his early years (especially in contrast to the genre-defining giants that preceded it), but it’s still a charming, curious and endlessly engaging album. Obviously the most interesting aspect of The Empty Foxhole is the inclusion of a preteen Denardo Coleman on drums. Junior’s drumming is positively prodigious, but it’s like the old joke about the man who spent thousands on an abstract painting only to later find out that the “art” he purchased was merely the doodlings of a precocious toddler. There’s no doubt that there’s talent in Denardo’s playing, but in the world of free jazz, the line between immense talent and “just dicking around” is extremely blurry. But in the end, Denardo’s rhythmic chops are a reflection of his old man’s m.o. up to that point: tone and theme (and backbeat and rhythm) are mere suggestions; harmony, mood and internal logic are the true backbone of great jazz.“Good Old Days” kicks off the album in typical Ornette Coleman form. Of course “typical” to Coleman is more stunning, “out there” jazz that experiments and pushes boundaries without losing its theme or perhaps even worse, annoying the listener. Coleman’s sax and Charlie Haden’s bass establish a bouncy and playful melody line, while Junior rides a forceful shuffle on the hi-hat. Before long, the three are careening in every possible direction. Coleman’s sax bops and scats, but rarely screeches. His improvisations always remain tuneful, even when they’ve actually strayed from the tune itself. Denardo’s freewheeling drums follow every shot and blast from the sax, while Haden’s bass holds the fort with a rhythmic thud. After about six minutes of brain-melting improvisation, the whole band returns to the original theme as if nothing had happened. What’s interesting to note is how the drums take a backseat to the more melodic sax. Denardo’s not driving the beat, Ornette is. It’s an interesting role reversal that says as much about a father/son dynamic as it does about the role of a drummer in a typical band (jazz or otherwise).
The title track (streaming below) marks Coleman Sr’s first foray into brass instrumentation and it may be one of his finest songs in his entire catalogue. As Denardo establishes a frustratingly minimal funeral march on his snare (save for five brief moments where Junior lets loose on some jarring, uneven fills) and Haden walks his bass up and down the neck, Ornette plays a tired and broken melody. Probably due to his relative inexperience on the trumpet, Ornette limits his soloing and sticks to the melody. The results are nothing short of haunting. As the title suggests, “The Empty Foxhole” is a military dirge about death and tragedy, a shockingly grey palette for a musician who’s usually so colorful.If the title track is “haunting” then “Sound Gravitation,” Ornette’s very first outing on the violin, is positively unsettling. Perhaps with “Gravitiation” Coleman is setting out to create a new subgenre in Violin jazz, but upon listening to the track it can be argued that Coleman was merely setting out to confound and grate. Coleman’s playing leaves a lot to be desired in terms of proficiency, and Haden and Junior do little to establish a solid foundation. Occasionally something resembling a theme or a beat or even a momentum build occurs, but it always goes back to Coleman’s screechy violin, Haden’s rambling, off-in-his-own-song bass, and Denardo’s doodlings of a precocious toddler.“Freeway Express” rights this wrong with a tremendous, 8-minute set of expressive trumpet runs, tasteful bass licks and what is likely Denardo’s best performance on the whole album. Remember, this kid was just ten at the time (same age as my dad at the time, weird). Coleman Jr’s drumming, for the first time on the album, is in the lead, pushing the music, not reacting to the other players. His tasteful little shuffles on the cymbals give the song a sense of urgency and it’s interesting to listen to it with the knowledge that Denardo, this little prepubescent kid, was igniting a fire between a couple of jazz music’s finest players.
“Faithful” is a slow and soulful moonlight dinner track that puts Coleman back in his position of strength, the alto sax. Haden fills out the bottom end with some melodic bass lines while Denardo goes the minimalist route. After some wild new musical ventures, this chill out track is a welcome break in the cycle (relatively speaking of course, the song contains a subtle undercurrent of atonality and experimentation).To round out the album is “Zig Zag,” a mostly playful track that boasts a bouncy, vaguely familiar melody – almost like a Vince Guaraldi or possibly even Scott Joplin track transposed for the alto sax. Denardo’s drumming occasionally gets a bit unruly, but the song stays steady and melodic. Solos are dispersed throughout between the three players, but it’s when center stage returns to Coleman that “Zig Zag” enjoys its most winsome flair. It’s a breezy little number that doesn’t necessarily push boundaries, but it’s a great listen nonetheless.The Empty Foxhole is by no means one of the most necessary jazz albums or anything. Coleman has a large handful of albums that far exceed this. But it’s of great interest to me to listen to the sound of a father and son finding a way to bond. My old man used to do duets for me at my piano recitals when I was ten, Denardo Coleman’s old man makes him supply the rhythm section on his long-anticipated comeback album. I should probably thank my dad for never putting that kind of pressure on me. The Empty Foxhole is an album about a man who pushes others as much as he pushes himself. Sometimes the results are stunning, other times insipid, but it’s a consistently interesting and idiosyncratic snapshot of the coalescence of Coleman’s dual lives.