Ornette Coleman

To Whom Who Keeps a Record (Water)

“Music Always Brings Goodness to Us All. P.S. Unless One Has Some Other Motive for Its Use.” These are the song titles from this marvelous album, originally released as a Japanese-only LP in 1975. The music comes from two sessions in 1959-60 that produced the Fort Worth-born alto saxophonist’s classic Atlantic albums, Change of the Century and This Is Our Music featuring Ornette Coleman’s legendary quartet with trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummers Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell. Upon its release, this disturbing and challenging “free jazz” jolted the jazz establishment to its core. Almost 50 years later, the musical world has finally caught up with once jarring tunes like “To Us” and “Motive for Its Use,” which now sound practically mainstream. Coleman was recently awarded a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement, a Texas Medal of the Arts, and a Pulitzer Prize. This is the music that started it all.

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This article appears in May 4 • 2007.

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