Town Hall NYC

[darkstar01]

I just got back from seeing Ornette Coleman's current quartet at Town Hall in NYC.  Ornette is still an astoundingly beautiful and genius musician, as well as one of the reasons I play music.  The band was Tony Falanga (i think) on upright, Ornette's son Denard on drums, and Al Macdowell on a (surpise) Spoiler with piccolo strings.  Tony has some incredible arco chops, definitely a guy that makes you want to practice. I kind of found Denard and Al a little lacking, but nothing can be too bad when Ornette's around. Definitely the greatest musician I've ever seen live, and I've seen a whole lot of them.  
Al has some crazy electric chops that I think a lot of people around here would probably be into.  He had a nice (I think) zebra wood topped spoiler and got a Metheny-esque sound.
To sum it all up - Ornette is pretty much god.
austin.

[edwin]

I loved seeing the band with Al and Chris Walker, who later became a crooner. Chris just tore it up. That was during the Virgin Beauty era. I would have loved to see him with Jamaaladeen Tacuma. That guy can play!
 
Edwin

[adriaan]

Talking about Jamaaladeen - check out Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Cornell Rochester Meet the Podium 3 - Live in Koln (1994). Jazz/funk/free from a bunch of people who know how to improvise - there's lots of interplay going on that you can follow perhaps one strand at a time, but the groove never stops anyway.
 
(Message edited by adriaan on April 01, 2008)