November 19, 2004

Ornette does Disney Double takes might seem in order when the names Ornette Coleman and Walt Disney appear in the same sentence, let alone in close organizational cahoots. But there was Coleman, creating his instantly identifiable modernist magic in the architecturally phantasmagorical new Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

At evening's end Charlie Haden rejoined his old ally for a ripe encore--a rumbling three-bass version of Coleman's "Lonely Woman".

  • Whoa. This is pretty crazy stuff. Wonder if Hal Wilner was there to record the whole thing =)
  • Man, I wish I'd been there. I saw Ornette a few years ago at Lincoln Center and was blown away. The man's still got it. Wish he'd stick to sax, though.
  • languagehat, if only you'd been there when I saw him recently. In the process of switching to the violin, the stand holding the sax and trumpet collapsed dramatically. One of the bassists had to stop playing to help him juggle the instruments.
  • Naked City did a great version of "Lonely Woman". Used the bassline from "Pretty Woman", stuck the Ornette melody on top. Worked surprisingly well!