Ornette Coleman, say what?

Mendi over at SWEAT just hipped us all to an Ornette Coleman clip from Saturday Night Live, after she and a companion walked past Coleman (pictured at left) in the park and upon recognizing him, doubled back to introduce themselves.

I was saying to someone recently that I just could never get with Coleman, that I loved him for nurturing Charlie Haden, whose work I love, but could never connect with Coleman's work (and yeah Prime Time bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who appears in this clip, is pretty amazing as well). But I had forgotten this number, it whips past so fast you have to listen again, a few times at least, to hear much of what's happening. And as I listened I realized how much I liked it, how much I liked watching them listen to each other and play with each other, Sometimes you just need to hear a piece again...from the new "now" you happen to be in. But this is also an excuse for me to think about jazz and improvisation, which I need to do this week...