Ornette's Live Storm at NYU
Crisis lacks the reputation of Coleman's early revolutions yet ranks among his most satisfying music.
Crisis is a live recording of Ornette Coleman made at New York University in 1969 and released on Impulse! in 1972. By the time of this concert Coleman had already done his most disruptive work, the Atlantic records that upended jazz harmony around 1959, so this sits later in his career, when he was refining a larger band and a looser, more collective approach.
The band here includes Charlie Haden on bass, Don Cherry on trumpet and other instruments, Dewey Redman on reeds, and Coleman's son Denardo on drums. The playing is forceful and conversational, with the ensemble pushing against each other rather than settling into fixed roles. Coleman's alto is as distinctive as ever, and the room sound gives the performance a raw, immediate edge that studio work rarely captures.
AllMusic reviewer Brian Olewnick awarded the album 4.5 stars and argued that on purely musical grounds it ranks among Coleman's most satisfying works. That is a fair read. Crisis is not the place to start with Coleman, but for listeners who already know The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) and want to hear how his ideas held up in a live setting a decade later, it is a strong and rewarding document.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Ornette Coleman
The Shape of Jazz to Come 1959
New York Is Now 1968
Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman
Change of the Century 1960
The musicians on this record
Liberation Music Orchestra 1970
Charlie Haden
plays bass here
plays bass here
Where Is Brooklyn? 1969
Don Cherry
plays wind instruments here
plays wind instruments here
The Ear of the Behearer 1973
Dewey Redman
plays reeds here
plays reeds here
