‘Bird Food’, by Ornette Coleman
The still active Ornette Coleman (1930) is one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960’s. Even from the beginning of Coleman’s career, his music and playing were in many ways unorthodox. His approach to harmony and chord progression was far less rigid than that of bebop performers; he was increasingly interested in playing what he heard rather than fitting it into predetermined chorus-structures and harmonies.
1959 was a very busy year for Coleman. He recorded his highly influential album ‘The Shape Of Jazz To Come’ in May and in October he went in the studio for today’s album ‘Change Of The Century’.
In the original liner notes Ornette says: “I don’t tell the members of my group what to do. I want them to play what they hear in the piece for themselves.” What they hear in the pieces is sometimes astounding. The absence of a piano allows the listener to hear every bass note, every drum fill, and they’re all worth hearing.
Today’s song ‘Bird Food’ is obviously a homage to Charlie Parker and to make to tribute complete, Coleman plays it with a plastic alto saxophone.
In 1953, Parker (credited as Charlie Chan for contractual reasons) performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Powell and Roach, issued on the album ‘Jazz At Massey Hall’. At this concert, he played a plastic Grafton saxophone. There is a story that says Parker had sold his alto saxophone to buy drugs, and at the last minute, he, Dizzy Gillespie and other members of Charlie’s entourage went running around Toronto trying to find Parker a saxophone. After scouring all the downtown pawnshops open at the time, they were only able to find a Grafton, which Parker proceeded to use at the concert that night. This account however is totally untrue. Parker in fact owned two of the Grafton plastic horns. At this point in his career he was experimenting with new sounds and new materials.
Ornette Coleman - Alto Saxophone
Don Cherry - Pocket Trumpet
Charlie Haden - Bass
Billy Higgins - Drums
