Ornette Coleman: A Harmolodic Life [Paperback]

John Litweiler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1994

Ornette Coleman is one of the great architects of jazz. Like Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, he changed the way we listen. His soaring, cascading, note-rich "free" improvisations added a new vocabulary to the alto saxophone; and his "harmolodic" compositions, shattering Western harmonic and rhythmic conventions, gave jazz a new musical language. This is a full-length biography of the jazz legend, making extensive use of previously unpublished interviews and detailed musical examples that further illustrate the text. It is a compelling portrait of a living legend and a lively history of postwar jazz.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the wake of Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, the saxophonist Ornette Coleman completes a kind of Holy Trinity of jazz improvisation. Like his predecessors, Coleman seems to have reinvented the art, not to mention the expectations of his audience. His keening alto floats free of bar lines, chord sequences, and tempered pitch, but always in the interest of emotional impact. ("There are some intervals," Coleman has said, "that carry that human quality if you play them in the right pitch.") John Litweiler's biography, the first, is a meticulous and intelligent account, as well as a fine listening companion. Although I've always enjoyed Coleman's own, rather concise account of his life--"Born, work, sad and happy and etc."--it's wonderful to have it fleshed out.

From Library Journal

Litweiler, noted jazz critic and a former editor of Downbeat , provides the first full-length biography of jazz innovator Ornette Coleman (1930-). Using material from interviews with Coleman, his sister, and his musical associates, Litweiler describes Coleman's formative years in Texas, his struggle for acceptance in Los Angeles, the 1959 breakthrough at the Five Spot in New York, and his role as one of the leading exponents of free jazz during the experimental Sixties. The author also documents Coleman's violin improvisation, his symphonic works, and his fusion of free jazz with rock rhythms and electric guitars during the last two decades. Though never explaining the connection between Coleman's music and the social context in which it was created, Litweiler has written an extremely well-researched, interesting account of a jazz great that should appeal to general readers and jazz fans alike.
- David Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Pr (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306805804
• ISBN-13: 978-0306805806
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,252,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #99 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians > Jazz

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Out there, avante garde and interesting, July 27, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Ornette Coleman: A Harmolodic Life (Hardcover)

Understanding Ornette Coleman, the man, only makes the appreciation of his music much deeper. Here is a man, who, like his music, is emotional, different, and most importantly, courageous. The author captures the high points of Ornette's life, and relates them in a way that ties his experiences to the resultant music. I dig this book a lot