"For the followers of Ornette Coleman's music, 1963 and 1964 were the lost years. His final session for Atlantic Records, Ornette on Tenor, was in March 1961, and though he played sporadic club dates in '62, his self-produced Town Hall concert in December was to be his last significant appearance until he accepted a Village Vanguard gig in January 1965. The reasons for this hiatus, apparently, were personal, economic, philosophical, pragmatic, and artistic, all at the same time to varying degrees. But it would be wrong to assume that this was an idle or unproductive period in his life - in fact, to place into context the music he made on his return, and specifically this eloquent recording from Stockholm, it's necessary to consider some of the factors that affected the changes in his music.

One such vivid change relates directly to Coleman's collaborators, and the trio format which he embraced initially in late '62, in large part due to the unavailability of his previous partners. His trumpet alter-ego, Don Cherry, spent those three years in intense explorations with Sonny Rollins, the New York Contemporary Five, and Albert Ayler. Bobby Bradford, Ornette's other brassman of choice, stayed in California where jobs were more frequent. Bassist Scott La Faro, who had joined Ornette for the Double Quartet's Free Jazz in December 1960 and the first of the quartet sessions in 1961, continued to work with pianist Bill Evans until his fatal car crash in July, and his replacement, Jimmy Garrison, had an emotionally-tinged musical disagreement with Ornette onstage at the Five Spot and chose instead to break new ground with John Coltrane. (Charlie Haden was plagued by personal demons during much of this time, living in California.) Job insecurity also induced Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell to look elsewhere. Thus the classically-trained bassist David Izenzon and Coleman's Ft. Worth high school drummer Charles Moffett remained from the quartet that originated early in '62.

It's worth trying to fathom Ornette's own changing perspective over the "lost" time. Certainly, his development during this period of an idiosyncratic, creative approach to the trumpet and violin provided him new colors, textures, and improvisatory concepts to work with. As counterpoint, his involvement with so-called "classical" composition increased as well. Though John Litweiler related that Ornette said he had been "trying to write classical music since 1950," the first substantial fruit of such labors - perhaps also inspired by his participation in Gunther Schuller's scores for Jazz Abstractions - arrived in his string quartet "Dedication to Poets and Writers" performed and recorded at Town Hall. In 1963 his "City Minds and Country Hearts" was played in concert by avant-garde pianist David Tudor and cellist Charlotte Moorman. By 1965, his orchestral interludes were part of the "Chappaqua Suite," and the wind quintet "Forms and Sounds" was composed for his appearance at the Croydon concert outside of London. (Of course, he continued to compose in this idiom after 1965.) Devising alternative structural and interactive components like these would affect the nature of the emerging improvising trio.

The specific talents of Izenzon on bass and drummer Moffett in the trio format introduced a broad new range of group dynamics and harmonic and rhythmic relationships, based upon Ornette's desire for spontaneous, individual responses to details of phrasing and form within each open arrangement. But an even greater sense of freedom and intuitive elaboration from that in the '62 Town Hall concert may be heard here from the Golden Circle, as they separate themselves further from conventional jazz procedures. On the opening "Faces and Places," direct causal responsibilities between the instruments are removed, implying a spatial, rather than supportive, perspective. More melodic than harmonic, Izenzon's bass closely shadows Coleman's alto narrative on "Dee Dee," and he truly accompanies the alto on its journey through "Morning Song." Moffett's percussion is often ornamental and divided into episodes of impulse, as on "Dawn," while the bass contrasts the alto by alternating between arco flourishes and a somber pizzicato line.

As the first example of Ornette's violin playing to be released on record, "Snowflakes and Sunshine" initiated the controversy over his technique and conception. Some commentators claimed he was simply inept, others felt he was attempting to follow the contours of his alto sax phrasing, or imitating the indeterminate qualities applied by John Cage. But in this context, instead of relating the instrument - and its corresponding technique - to its classical usage, there is a stronger connection to the varied loose-wristed, modal and microtonal styles of folk fiddling: Appalachian, Irish, Balkan, Carnatic (one wonders if he had an opportunity to hear the distinctive Swedish fiddlers). There's more than a hint of hoedown feeling in the first statement here, and the juxtaposition of recognizably jazzy trumpet with the folk-abstracted, kinetic gestures of the violin offers a clue to Ornette's intentions.

These performances from the Golden Circle capture this multifaceted, innovative trio at a creative peak, a time when Ornette was finding new sources of inspiration and new modes of expression."-Art Lange, Chicago, August 2023

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The Squid's Ear!