Introducing Ornette Coleman [Digipak] - Ornette Coleman

Advantages: impossible, delicious, juicy, choatic, hellish, revolting.
Disadvantages: it doesn't go on forever.

...For some reason the picture Ciao have provided for this album is of some sort of radioactive ice cream rather than the Jackson Pollock painting that actually graces the album's cover. This isn't inappropriate though: like the best ice cream, "Free Jazz" is cool, delicious and of dubious origin. The subtitle, if you care about this sort of thing (and you should) is, "A collective improvisation by the Ornette Coleman double quartet". This matters enormously, because "double" is a word that doesn't occur nearly often enough in musical contexts, even now, 50 years into the stereo age. "Free Jazz" is a double album - but not two discs, to be played consecutively; rather one disc with two pieces of music to be played simultaneously. As with Lou Reed's own jazz album "Metal Machine Music", headphones are fundamental to the music... Read review

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Advantages: A lenghty, lazy and lovely festival of aromas and lyrical ambiences
Disadvantages: A bit too long, but then you could do with the sleep

.... The album is 120 times more inventive than anything Coldplay have ever done; 67% more satisfying than searching for the puma in Brian Eno's "Ambient 4: On Land" and could even beat Ornette Coleman at scrabble provided he was drunk enough. Buy it, because your CD collection is probably a bit dull.... Read review

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Advantages: Some smooth playing.
Disadvantages: Bit too smooth.

...Classics in the key of G - Kenny G Well, as promised, it is time to review some jazz, but for those detractors, I'll start with smooth, then will gradually work up to some nice hard jazz, swing and bebop. Kenny G is a very interesting saxophonist, not least in that he does not fit the mould of a classic jazz saxophonist; in fact many jazz fans are ardently NOT Kenny G fans. He looks more like an 80's prog rock star, all long perm and casual clothes. In addition he is much too 'smooth' for many jazz fans, you are certainly more likely to hear Kenny g in the lounge of a hotel than you are Albert Ayler or Ornette Coleman. His main instrument is soprano sax, but he does play alto and tenor as well. For those that don't know, all the key positions and spacings are pretty much the same on all types of saxophone, and as they go up and down... Read review

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