Sunday, October 30, 2005

ORNETTE COLEMAN at Massey Hall, last night

What a treat is was to attend the Ornette Coleman concert at Massey Hall last night. Very interesting instrumentation - Coleman mostly played his alto sax, but also played violin on one number and trumpet on another. He brought with him his son Denardo on drums and a pair of acoustic bass players. One of the basses was played bowed for much of the show, as a melody instrument, the role one might expect a trumpet to take. The bowed bass is softer than the trumpet though, and brings a different colour to the instrument. Great show!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Same show as I saw. Good wasn't it. I thought the bowed bass sounded very like an alto quite often.

L.

mister anchovy said...

yes, but with a different edge.

greatwhitebear said...

Sounds like a terrific show!