Empty Foxhole

Thank you whoever picked this for re-issue! I have always loved this record and it sounds wonderful. The music is simple, beautiful, charming, and still instantly recognizable as Ornette. So his son - about 12 at the time- isn't Ed Blackwell, but he sure has an ear and I enjoy his choices of what goes in and is left out. To me, this music is coming from Ornette's heart more than his head and wonderfully enjoyable. I return to it often.

When Ornette Denardo Coleman became 6 years of age I called him to find out what he wanted for his birthday. He was in California and I was in New York on a gig. Well, our conversation went like this... "Hello Denny" "Hi Dad." "What would you like to have for your birthday?" "Dan, you know I saw a gun on TV for kids called a cannon or something like that. I would like to have that". "Well, I don't know if I can find it here, I'll try. If I can't find it, how would you like a set of drums, in case I don't find the gun?" "Dad, you can forget about the gun, send the drums air mail express!"Ornette Coleman

I love Ornette but I'm not going to sit here and pretend that just because this album is by Mr. Coleman thatit's automatically brilliant. It's not. I enjoyed, to varying degrees, everything Coleman did up to this point (1966), but, except for three alto saxophone solos, this album is a bomb (not THE bomb but A bomb) for the following reasons:1) Denardo. Cannot. Play. Drums. At all. The so-called "drumming" here sounds like it's by an untalented 10-year-old kid without a sense of rhythm who is just aimlessly bashing away on his very first drum kit and not bothering to listen to the other musicians (not that he would know what to do if he WAS listening). And that's exactly what it is. Yet, because this is Ornette's son, I'm supposed to pretend that it's WONDERFUL.2) Ornette's trumpet playing. Dreadful. It takes years--decades--to play this difficult instrument well (it's harder than the saxophone--I know, I've played both). You can't just put the mouthpiece up to your lips and slop away, as Ornette does here, and pretend that because it is Ornette, it's brilliant. The intriguing title track, if played on alto sax, would have been a highlight, but Ornette destroys it because he lacks any sort of trumpet chops.3) Ornette's violin sawing, er, playing. Two words: Oy and Vey. Dude just scratches away. Give me a violin and I can do exactly the same right now! In fact, ANYBODY can play the fiddle like Coleman the first day they receive the instrument. It's almost as headache-inducing as Yoko Ono's screaming.4) Poor Charlie Haden, caught in the middle of this mess. He tries his best to click with Denardo--and valiantly attempt to get something going rhythmically--but it's futile to try to play with such an untalented drummer, so he just plays the best he can, almost alone in his own little world.5) From the cover , it's clear that Ornette has as much talent as an painter that he does as a trumpeter...or, God forbid, a violinist.6) None of the six originals are classic Coleman compositions, or all that memorable.The two stars are for Ormette's alto playing. He should have left the two other instruments--and his son--at home. In closing, save your money. If you don't already have them, check out "The Shape of Jazz to Come," "Change of the Century," or "Tomorrow is the Question" (all superb albums with no trumpet, violin OR Denardo), instead.

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