Some of My Favorite Artists (2) : Ornette!

The Leopard once had the extraordinary pleasure of meeting the great Pulitzer-Prize winning saxophonist/composer/trumpeter/violinist Ornette Coleman. The organization I worked with at the time was putting together a tribute to his music, and along with some colleagues, I had lunch with the legendary musician one crisp Fall day at a local restaurant near our offices.

For such a world famous, highly respected artist, Coleman treated everyone at the table like family. Not in the true sense of the word, mind you, in the familiar, but regarded each and everyone of us with a graciousness I've rarely experienced from one so accomplished.

Ornette Coleman shocked the jazz world back in 1959 when he and the brilliant young trumpeter Don Cherry and band appeared at the legendary Five Spot jazz club in New York with a new, already fully formed style of music based on a complex system devised by Coleman called harmolodics. Coleman was at first greeted by fellow musicians and critics with derision, (much like that of Thelonious Monk in the beginning) who harped on his use of a plastic saxophone and the unfamiliar avant-garde sound (which, in turn, effectively started a movement). Still, some well-established musicians, like Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, embraced this exciting new music.

Listening to his first album, The Shape of Jazz To Come now, it's hard to believe so many people thought the music was difficult. So full of melody, beautiful solos, and soul stirring blues performances, only the most closed-ear listener wouldn't appreciate its brilliance.

Coleman has went on to make many more excellent recordings, movie soundtracks, and modern classical pieces as well as garnering unprecedented critical acclaim. In 2006, he received the Pulitzer Prize for the music on his CD Sound Grammar.

At the lunch with Coleman, like any star-struck fan, The Leopard trudged along several dusty LP's, including At Town Hall, which Coleman dutifully signed, as well as for a few others at the table.
I can't remember specifically much of what was said in conversation that day, but I do remember the thrill of being the presence of a true humble genius.