Coleman was born in 1930 in Fort Worth, Texas where he participated in his high school band until being dismissed for improvising during "The Washington Post" march. He began performing rhythm and blues and bebop, initially on tenor saxophone. He later switched to alto, which has remained his primary instrument. Coleman's timbre is perhaps one of the most easily recognized in jazz; his keening, crying sound draws heavily on the blues. Part of the uniqueness of his sound came from his use of a plastic saxophone on his classic early recordings (Coleman claimed that it sounded drier, without the pinging sound of metal), though in more recent years he has played a metal saxophone.
Coleman is most famous for his albums The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959), Free Jazz (1961), and Skies of America (1972). In The Shape of Jazz to Come, he and his famous quartet, consisting of Don Cherry on trumpet, Charlie Haden on upright bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, play solos free of a chordal structure, due in part to the absence of the pianist or guitarist that had been traditional in jazz. On Free Jazz, Coleman brings together his quartet from the previous album, together with multi-instrumental reedist Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Ed Blackwell for a forty-minute double-quartet recording. This recording was perhaps his most controversial because it featured dense instrumentation with only brief and dissonant moments of composition, allowing for horn players to chime in to accompany the soloist, and because it contributed the name "Free Jazz" to the avant-garde jazz movements of the 1960s. Skies of America is Coleman's first symphony, recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. Coleman can be heard playing on this recording, beginning with the movement "The Artist in America".
In the 70s, Coleman, like Miles Davis before him, took to playing with electrified instruments. The 1976 jazz-funk album Dancing in Your Head, Coleman's first recording with the group which later became known as Prime Time, prominently featured electric guitars. While this marked a stylistic departure for Coleman, the music maintained certain similarities to his earlier work. These performances had the same angular melodies and simultaneous group improvisations – what Joe Zawinul referred to as "nobody solos, everybody solos" and what Coleman called 'harmolodics' – and although the nature of the pulse was altered, Coleman's rhythmic approach did not. Harmolodics encompassed the central musical approach of Coleman's later period, and he has explained it variously in depth, particularly in an interview with the WIRE magazine 257, July 2005 issue.
In the 1980s, albums like Virgin Beauty and Of Human Feelings continued to use rock and funk rhythms, sometimes called free funk. Jerry Garcia played guitar on three tracks from Coleman's 1988 album Virgin Beauty: "Three Wishes", "Singing in the Shower", and "Desert Players". Coleman joined the Grateful Dead on stage once in 1993 during "Space", and stayed for "The Other One", "Stella Blue", Bobby Bland's "Turn on Your Lovelight", and the encore "Brokedown Palace". Another collaboration was with guitarist Pat Metheny, with whom Coleman recorded Song X (1985); though released under Metheny's name, Coleman was essentially a co-leader, having contributed to all the compositions.
In 1991, Coleman played on the soundtrack for David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch; the orchestra was conducted by Howard Shore. It is notable among other things for including a rare sighting of Coleman playing a jazz standard: Thelonious Monk's blues line "Misterioso". The mid-1990s saw a flurry of activity from Ornette: he released four records in 1995 and 1996, and for the first time in many years worked regularly with piano players (either Geri Allen or Joachim Kühn).
In September 2006 a live album titled Sound Grammar with his newest quartet (Denardo drumming and two bassists, Gregory Cohen and Tony Falanga) was released. This was Coleman's first album of new material in ten years, and was recorded in Germany in 2005. It eventually won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for music, making Coleman only the second jazz artist to win the prize.
Coleman continued to push himself into unusual playing situations, often with much younger musicians or musicians from radically different musical cultures. An increasing number of his compositions, while not ubiquitous, have become minor jazz standards, including "Lonely Woman", "Peace", "Turnaround", "When Will the Blues Leave?", "The Blessing", "Law Years", "What Reason Could I Give" and "I've Waited All My Life". He has influenced virtually every saxophonist of a modern disposition, and nearly every such jazz musician, of the generation that followed him. His songs have proven endlessly malleable: pianists such as Paul Bley and Paul Plimley have managed to turn them to their purposes; John Zorn recorded Spy vs Spy (1989), an album of extremely loud, fast, and abrupt versions of Coleman songs. Finnish jazz singer Carola covered Coleman's "Lonely Woman" and there have even been progressive bluegrass versions of Coleman tunes (by Richard Greene).
Ornette Coleman died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 85 in New York City on June 11, 2015. His funeral was a three-hour event with performances and speeches by several of his collaborators and contemporaries.
Poise
Ornette Coleman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
These nights we went Stark Raving
Star gazing like Carl Sagan
We screamed at the moon
Then eclipsed it with a spoon
Bob Dylan style
Young and wild but still so unenthused
I think we′re Stark Raving
Pulsating like a distant drum, like an 808
They palpitate to a beat we couldn't calculate
Our friends changed as our tea got cold
We danced with wolves in sheepskin coats
These nights we went Stark Raving
I became nocturnal and started keeping a journal
Your cigarette bounced between your lips
Like someone with no hands using a pen
What would you be writing me then?
All the bites on my skin
From the bed bugs
I get a head rush
Every time that I think about it
So drink about it
Smoke about it
Spoke about it
With your friend but she just don′t know you how I
Know you and that's the part about it
Sad enough, I've saddled up this stallion of nostalgia
Hya!
Release the hounds!
Fell them breathing down your back
Breeding ground for bacteria
And I screamed so loud I left ears from miles around hearing it
Me? I had my coattails on, her coke nails long
It reached around my neck piercing it
Right into my vocal chords
Roadkill shawls
Made from a jack russell terrier
Feel the cold blade to your calf muscle area
In my old age I′m a bad judge of character
Captain America, flying quicker than a Boeing jet
Bunny slippers, bloody fingers
Flipping through a rolodex feelings all just coalesce
With each other, bounty hunter, kill ′em like I'm Boba Fett
Bobbing to the same damn rhythm
We′re just brain dead, plain red, grain fed chickens BOKOK!
We're moths eating through fabric
We′re creatures of habit
We creak in the attic
That evil inhabits
We're little lab rats
In a labyrinth
So elaborate
You said you′d bring Sgt. Pepper if you were ever stuck on an island
Well I'd just bring a blank disc, sit and listen to silence
Baby get down from there
Jump
Baby get down from there
Jump
Baby get down from there
Jump
Baby get down
The Ornette Coleman song Poise, has lyrical content that can be challenging to interpret, but it captures a mood of carefree, reckless youth. The lyrics speak of nights where sleep is elusive because the characters in the song are either too high or too excited to fall asleep. They spend such high nights stargazing and screaming at the moon before eclipsing it with a spoon like Bob Dylan did. As the nights go on, they dance with wolves in sheepskin coats and document the events in their journals. They become different people as their friends change, and they continue drinking, smoking, and discussing these things long after their tea gets cold.
The song speaks of a growing nostalgia for the past and an acknowledgment of aging. They reference coattails and coke nails and lament about being bad judges of character now that they are older. They describe themselves as little lab rats in an elaborate labyrinth, creatures of habit who creak in the attic. One of the characters expresses a desire for silence and peace, saying they would just bring a blank disc to an island and listen to silence.
Line by Line Meaning
Some nights we got too high to fall asleep
There were certain nights when we were high to a point that we couldn't fall asleep.
These nights we went Stark Raving
We were completely restless and became insane.
Star gazing like Carl Sagan
We looked at the stars with great curiosity, awe, and fascination, just like Carl Sagan.
We screamed at the moon
We yelled at the moon as if it would respond to us.
Then eclipsed it with a spoon
We blocked the moon with a spoon, just like a lunar eclipse.
Bob Dylan style
We did this in the style that is similar to the legendary singer, Bob Dylan.
Young and wild but still so unenthused
We were young and wild, but there was still a lack of enthusiasm inside us.
I think we′re Stark Raving
I believe that we have gone completely insane.
The walls inhaled and exhaled to the rhythm of our sleepless hearts
The walls seemed to be breathing in sync with the beats of our restless hearts.
Pulsating like a distant drum, like an 808
The walls were pulsating like a distant drum, similar to the 808 beats of the electronic music genre.
They palpitate to a beat we couldn't calculate
The palpitations were sporadic and unpredictable with no pattern that we could calculate.
Our friends changed as our tea got cold
Our friends seemed to have changed as we grew colder towards them.
We danced with wolves in sheepskin coats
We socialized with people who were pretending to be good, but they were just like wolves in sheep's clothing.
I became nocturnal and started keeping a journal
I started sleeping in the daytime and staying up at night, and writing a diary about everything we did during those times.
Your cigarette bounced between your lips
You were holding your cigarette between your lips and it was bouncing as you spoke.
Like someone with no hands using a pen
It seemed you were holding that cigarette as if you had no hands, just like someone writing with a pen using their mouth.
What would you be writing me then?
What thoughts would you be writing down about me when you had your cigarette bouncing between your lips?
All the bites on my skin
I had a lot of bug bites on my skin.
From the bed bugs
The bugs were bed bugs that were responsible for all the bites on my skin.
I get a head rush
I get a sudden rush of blood to my head whenever I think about my past experiences.
Every time that I think about it
I reminisce about all those moments from the past that made me happy or sad.
So drink about it
I cope with my thoughts by drinking.
Smoke about it
I cope with my thoughts by smoking.
Spoke about it
I talked to others about my thoughts.
With your friend but she just don′t know you how I
I spoke to your friend, but she doesn't understand you in the same way as I do.
Know you and that's the part about it
Understanding you is the essential part of it all.
Sad enough, I've saddled up this stallion of nostalgia
Unfortunately, I must ride this horse of nostalgia and its memories.
Hya!
A cry that indicates a sudden lunge of the horse or the artist's impulse.
Release the hounds!
A command given to release the dogs to hunt.
Fell them breathing down your back
Feel the dogs close behind, almost about to attack.
Breeding ground for bacteria
Dogs are also potential sources of bacteria and disease.
And I screamed so loud I left ears from miles around hearing it
I screamed so loud that I affected people and their ears from miles around me.
Me? I had my coattails on, her coke nails long
I was wearing my coat, and she had long fingernails that resembled cocaine usage.
It reached around my neck piercing it
Her long nails felt like they were piercing my neck while embracing me.
Right into my vocal chords
Her nails hit my vocal cords, making me unable to speak or breathe momentarily.
Roadkill shawls
Scarfs that are made from the dead animals the cars hit while on the road.
Made from a jack russell terrier
This particular scarf is made from the dead body of a Jack Russell Terrier.
Feel the cold blade to your calf muscle area
A sudden feeling of sharpness and coldness into the calf area.
In my old age I′m a bad judge of character
As I have grown old, I have become worse at assessing other people's personality and behavior.
Captain America, flying quicker than a Boeing jet
A superhero, Captain America, is flying with incredible speed faster than a Boeing jet.
Bunny slippers, bloody fingers
An odd juxtaposition of the soft bunny slippers with blood on the fingers.
Flipping through a rolodex feelings all just coalesce
Revisiting past memories and feelings that are all beginning to blend together and become indistinguishable.
With each other, bounty hunter, kill ′em like I'm Boba Fett
We're like bounty hunters, and we will chase and punish those who have wronged us like Boba Fett from Star Wars.
Bobbing to the same damn rhythm
We are all moving up and down to the beat of the same music.
We′re just brain dead, plain red, grain fed chickens BOKOK!
We are all brainless, red-colored, and have been fed grain like chickens, and we make chicken-like sounds.
We're moths eating through fabric
We are slowly and methodically destroying something that once was complete.
We′re creatures of habit
We are beings of standard routine with limited spontaneity.
We creak in the attic
We make slow and eerie noises in the attic, like a ghost or an old house.
That evil inhabits
We are living in an environment that has an aura of evil habituation.
We're little lab rats
We are small subjects in an experimenter's experiment, going through standard testing.
In a labyrinth
We find ourselves lost in a twisting and turning maze.
So elaborate
The labyrinth itself is incredibly detailed and intricate.
You said you′d bring Sgt. Pepper if you were ever stuck on an island
You said that if you ever got stuck on an island, you would bring the iconic Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Well I'd just bring a blank disc, sit and listen to silence
If I was in your shoes, I would bring nothing at all, simply because I would rather enjoy the peace and quiet of the silence on the island.
Baby get down from there
A command to stop climbing or standing somewhere inappropriately dangerous.
Jump
A sudden and dramatic request, without context, to jump off the thing being climbed or stood on.
Baby get down from there
Repeated commanding tone in response if the person does not comply.
Jump
Repeated and urgent pleas to jump off from the dangerous location.
Baby get down from there
Another statement ordering to come down from the height, indicating underlying concern and urgency.
Writer(s): Ornette Coleman
Contributed by Benjamin C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
pliggot
A true legend has passed us :(
Stan Inthailand
had the pleasure to meet don cherry in the late '90's. ornette coleman will always be an inspiration and a warm cup of jazz on a cold day. texas jazzman. thank you ropa79.