{"id":38,"date":"2012-11-01T19:56:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-01T19:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/2012\/11\/01\/review-jazz-scan\/"},"modified":"2015-09-28T00:23:34","modified_gmt":"2015-09-28T00:23:34","slug":"review-jazz-scan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/2012\/11\/01\/review-jazz-scan\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Jazz Scan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ric Bang, of the Jazz Scan<\/b> jazz blog, has written a little review of Little Played Little Bird<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n\u201cLittle Bird\u201d was a nickname given to Ornette Coleman, an American-born saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer who was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Why the \u201clittle played\u201d in the album title? Because, as often is the case with artists ahead of their time, Coleman was a polarizing talent; the kindest descriptor would be \u201cunorthodox.\u201d Some listeners became immediate fans; others were outspokenly critical. That latter group included Miles Davis, who initially declared that Coleman was \u201call screwed up inside\u201d; Roy Eldridge, who said, \u201cI think he\u2019s jivin\u2019, baby\u201d; and one reviewer, who described Coleman\u2019s group style as \u201cnobody solos, everybody solos.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nOther musicians felt he played out of tune; and he had difficulty finding like-minded musicians to jam with. But as time passed, Coleman\u2019s fan base increased and he found work in jazz clubs and concerts, and as a composer for film soundtracks. He\u2019s still performing today, and has become more respected, playing with many name artists and securing contracts with prime studios such as Atlantic, Blue Note and Origin. In 1969, he was inducted into the Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nDrummer Todd Bishop is a fan, and this album includes nine Coleman compositions. So, as stated in the liner notes, \u201cLittle played = an album of Ornette Coleman tunes that you don\u2019t hear, because nobody plays them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nContinued after the break:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\nBishop\u2019s quartet includes Richard Cole and Tim Willcox on reeds (the former on bass clarinet and baritone, the latter on tenor and soprano saxes), Bill Athens on bass, Weber Iago on piano and Wurlitzer, and Bishop on drums. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nWhat about the music? Well, it\u2019s sure different than anything you\u2019ve heard before, kind of amalgam of R&B, bop, and free jazz, usually played at slow tempos. Coleman tends to ignore basic harmony and progressions; as one reviewer put it, \u201cHe has a penchant for playing in the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Coleman isn\u2019t a favorite of mine, I\u2019ve heard a lot of his music over the years, and the Todd Bishop Group provides a faithful reproduction of both the music and style. This is an excellent album to help listeners decide where they stand, relative to Coleman\u2019s place in the jazz world. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ric Bang, of the Jazz Scan jazz blog, has written a little review of Little Played Little Bird: \u201cLittle Bird\u201d was a nickname given to Ornette Coleman, an American-born saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer who was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s. Why the \u201clittle played\u201d in the album title? Because, as often is the case with artists ahead of their time, Coleman was a polarizing talent; the kindest descriptor would be \u201cunorthodox.\u201d Some listeners became immediate fans; others were outspokenly critical. That latter group included Miles Davis, who initially declared that Coleman was \u201call screwed up inside\u201d;Read More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,13,15],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-todd","4":"post-38","6":"format-standard","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"post_tag-little-played-little-bird","9":"post_tag-press","10":"post_tag-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbishopjazz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}