Download (6MB)

228 Pages·2016·6.28 MB·English

DANCING IN HIS HEAD: THE EVOLUTION OF ORNETTE COLEMAN’S MUSIC
AND COMPOSITIONAL PHILOSOPHY
by
Nathan A. Frink
B.A. Nazareth College of Rochester, 2009
M.A. University of Pittsburgh, 2012
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of
The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
University of Pittsburgh
2016
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
THE KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
This dissertation was presented
by
Nathan A. Frink
It was defended on
November 16, 2015
and approved by
Lawrence Glasco, PhD, Professor, History
Adriana Helbig, PhD, Associate Professor, Music
Matthew Rosenblum, PhD, Professor, Music
Dissertation Advisor: Eric Moe, PhD, Professor, Music
ii
DANCING IN HIS HEAD: THE EVOLUTION OF ORNETTE COLEMAN’S MUSIC
AND COMPOSITIONAL PHILOSOPHY
Nathan A. Frink, PhD
University of Pittsburgh, 2016
Copyright © by Nathan A. Frink
2016
iii
DANCING IN HIS HEAD: THE EVOLUTION OF ORNETTE COLEMAN’S MUSIC
AND COMPOSITIONAL PHILOSOPHY
Nathan A. Frink, PhD
University of Pittsburgh, 2016
Ornette Coleman (1930-2015) is frequently referred to as not only a great visionary in jazz music but as
also the father of the jazz avant-garde movement. As such, his work has been a topic of discussion for
nearly five decades among jazz theorists, musicians, scholars and aficionados. While this music was once
controversial and divisive, it eventually found a wealth of supporters within the artistic community and has
been incorporated into the jazz narrative and canon. Coleman’s musical practices found their greatest
acceptance among the following generations of improvisers who embraced the message of “free jazz” as a
natural evolution in style. Performers such as Jamaaladeen Tacuma, David Murray, Pat Metheny and John
Zorn incorporated the techniques of spontaneous group improvisation and what Coleman described as
“harmolodic” organization into their own performance.
This dissertation traces Coleman’s rise from relative obscurity to a place of greater celebrity in jazz
and other musical circles. Coleman’s acceptance by the academy, other composers, notable jazz musicians,
and the public is discussed in terms of how these shifts were made, and in what ways Coleman—who often
felt victimized and mistreated by record company executives, critics, and musical establishments—
transcended the gaps in his musical training in order to create his own distinctive and influential
compositional style. This “harmolodic theory” was then refined over a period of nearly 55 years.
iv
The work discusses harmolodics in detail by building on the taxonomic models described by
Ekkard Jost and Peter N. Wilson. It describes the variations in compositional practice as Coleman’s style
evolved from 1980 until his death in 2015. The analysis supplements transcriptions and harmonic analyses
with spectrograms and waveforms in order to illuminate specific areas of Coleman’s work. These graphic
representations clarify observations made through transcription and reinforce some of the concepts
embodied in Coleman’s unique philosophy of music.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. IV

1.0
  INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1

1.1
  AIMS OF THIS STUDY ..................................................................................... 3

1.2
  METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 6

1.2.1
  Biographic Research ..................................................................................... 6

1.2.2
  Ethnographic Research ................................................................................ 7

1.2.3
  Analytical Framework .................................................................................. 8

2.0
  BACKGROUND INFORMATION: COLEMAN’S LIFE AND MUSIC PRE-1980
………………………………………………………………………………………...12

2.1
  COLEMAN’S MUSIC PRE-1963 .................................................................... 13

2.2
  COLEMAN’S MUSIC 1963-1969 .................................................................... 24

2.3
  COLEMAN’S MUSIC 1970-1979 .................................................................... 30

3.0
  COLEMAN’S MUSIC 1980-2015 ............................................................................. 50

3.1
  1980-1993 COLEMAN AS A JAZZ ICON ..................................................... 50

3.2
  1994-2015 ORNETTE COLEMAN AND POPULAR HARMOLODICS ... 60

4.0
  HARMOLODICS ....................................................................................................... 88
4.1.1
  Harmolodic Principle A: Metric Fluidity ............................................... 102

4.1.2
  Harmolodic Principle B: Irregular, Non Pre-composed Harmony ...... 108

4.1.3
  Harmolodic Principle C: Elimination of the Soloist/Rhythm Section
Paradigm and Removal of Instrumental/Vocal Hierarchy .................................. 112

4.1.4
  Harmolodic Principle D: Fluidic and Variable Tempi .......................... 115

vi
4.1.5
  Harmolodic Principle E: Intonation as a Device of Emotional Expression
……………………………………………………………………………..117

4.1.6
  Harmolodic Principle F: Free Choice of Register .................................. 119

4.1.7
  Harmolodic Principle G: An Orchestral Approach to Sound .............. 120

4.2
  HARMOLODICS APPLIED AS MUSICAL PHILOSOPHY .................... 122

4.2.1
  Coleman’s Musical Theories as Expressed in the Music of Prime Time
(1985-1995) ................................................................................................................ 122

4.2.1
  Coleman’s Music After 1995 .................................................................... 143

4.2.2
  A More Comprehensive Discussion of Compositional Taxonomy ....... 148

4.2.3
  Coleman’s Compositions as Jazz Standards .......................................... 172

5.0
  CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 181

APPENDIX A: DISCOGRAPHY ............................................................................................ 193

APPENDIX B: UNANNOTATED TRANSCRIPTIONS (FOR FURTHER STUDY OR
PERFORMANCE) .................................................................................................................... 197

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 211

vii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Wilson’s revised classification system. ............................................................................ 9

Table 2: Jost/Wilson Classification System. ............................................................................... 150

Table 3: Revised Classification of Coleman Compositions ....................................................... 151

viii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Families of Augmented triads (top) and Diminished 7 chords (bottom). ..................... 90

Figure 2: A C major scale read by C, Eb and Bb instruments. (Eb line written 8va) ................... 94

Figure 3: The bebop derived theme of “Bird Food” (1960) transcribed from Change of the Century.
..................................................................................................................................................... 104

Figure 4: The opening statement of “Lonely Woman” (1959) ................................................... 105

Figure 5: School Work (1971) .................................................................................................... 106

Figure 6: The introductory strophe from “All My Life” with Charlie Haden’s improvised bass
accompaniment. .......................................................................................................................... 110

Figure 7: The instrumental strophe from “All My Life” with Haden’s implied chord changes. 111

Figure 8: Theme from a Symphony” (1973) ............................................................................... 114

Figure 9: “City Living” (1985) .................................................................................................. 123

Figure 10: Spectrogram image of the first eight riffs of “Theme from a Symphony” (1975) .... 125

Figure 11: The first eight repetitions of the main motive of “City Living” (1985) .................... 125

Figure 12: Average Delta (% change) values for Prime Time albums. ...................................... 127

Figure 13: Sections of clearly defined drones followed by heterophonic passages in “Midnight
Sunrise,” (1975) performed by Coleman with the Master Musicians of Jajouka. ...................... 130

Figure 14: Sections of droning guitar effects followed by heterophonic passages of guitar and
saxophone on “Voice Poetry” (1977) ......................................................................................... 131

Figure 15: Ellerbee’s riff patterns and rhythmic vamp on “Voice Poetry” ................................ 132

ix
Figure 16: “The Art of Love is Happiness” (1987) or (“Police People” (1985)) with distinct riffs
and their variations marked as A or B. ....................................................................................... 133

Figure 17: Completed jigsaw puzzle enclosed with the first edition release of Tone Dialing. .. 139

Figure 18: Main theme of “European Echoes” ........................................................................... 144

Figure 19: “Jordan” (2005) ........................................................................................................ 147

Figure 20: “Word from Bird” (1985) .......................................................................................... 153

Figure 21: “Mothers of the Veil” with implied harmonies. ....................................................... 156

Figure 22: “City Living” as recorded in 1985 with annotations. ................................................ 157

Figure 23: “Peace” as recorded in 1959 with annotations. ......................................................... 159

Figure 24: “Police People” as recorded in 1985 with annotations. ............................................. 160

Figure 25: “Peace Warriors” as recorded in 1987 with annotations .......................................... 161

Figure 26: “3 Wishes” as recorded in 1988 with annotations. ................................................... 162

Figure 27: The introduction to “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.” (1978) Longs and shorts
approximated. .............................................................................................................................. 163

Figure 28: “European Echoes” as recorded in 1967. ................................................................. 165

Figure 29: “European Echoes” as played by Prime Time ........................................................... 165

Figure 30: “European Echoes” as recorded in 1996 with annotations. ....................................... 166

Figure 31: Waveform diagram of “Science Fiction” starting at 2:48.5 with annotations. Written
timings of spoken words are rounded to the nearest second. ...................................................... 170

Figure 32: Sketch of the form of “Science Fiction.” ................................................................. 171

Figure 33: The theme from “Happy House” as played by Old and New Dreams (Chord .......... 176

x