Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Denardo --Song X Tour, NYC May 8, 1986

This is some intense music. The album Song X had just been released and Coleman and Metheny did a short tour to support the album. I was lucky to see (and record) the early show when they played at Town Hall in New York City. From the start this show made the audience feel like the guy in the old Maxell cassette commercial who is literally getting blown away by the music. See: It opened with Ornette’s son Denardo playing his electronic drum kit with sampling, which at the time was relatively new, with midi having reached the commercial market at most a couple of years earlier. Denardo “announced“ the band members by playing samples of their names triggered by his drums. When Ornette walked out on stage as his name was played, the audience erupted in cheers and a standing ovation that seemed to last for a few minutes, like I can’t recall ever seeing before or since then. Ornette was truly humbled and stood there with a somewhat puzzled or embarrassed look on his face. It felt like an outpouring of love from the audience to a legendary jazz figure who didn’t make many public appearances. From there, the band took off and played some of the most intense and creative music I ever experienced live. Pat Metheny was full-on electronic at this time. I believe this was his synclavier period, and he made an incredible array of sounds during the performance. The dual drumming of DeJohnette and Denardo really amped up the volume and chaos factor. Apart from the beautiful tone poem Kathelin Gray (co-written by Coleman and Metheny), the rest of the performance was loud, chaotic, intense, and stunning. Charlie Haden, who by this point in his career was experiencing hearing loss, wore a big set of ear-protective headphones during the whole show (no doubt of the shooting range variety, as Bose noise-cancellers did not arrive until a few decades later). In addition to his alto sax, Coleman played a trumpet solo on Video Games, and a violin solo on The Calling, the latter being an anthem-like Metheny composition from his Rejoicing album. The band saved its most outrageous piece for the encore. Endangered Species was an all-out sonic assault that lasted about 17 minutes. This is intense music that was probably better experienced live than listened to on tape, and the experience of the sound washing over the listener was a very physical one. I hope YouTubers out there give it a try with a pair of headphones and the volume up. This was an event. Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone, trumpet, violin Pat Metheny - guitar synthesizer Charlie Haden - double bass Jack DeJohnette - drums Denardo Coleman - drums, electronic drums and sampling 00:00 Drums (D Coleman) 06:16 Song X - Song X Duo - Song X 12:55 Compute 19:52 Broadway Blues 35:10 Kathelin Gray (O Coleman, P Metheny) 38:51 The Good Life 47:13 Video Games 56:40 The Calling (P Metheny) 1:11:55 Band Intros 1:12:58 Police People Encore 1:23:38 Endangered Species All songs by Ornette Coleman unless otherwise noted. Recorded on a Sony Walkman Pro D6C with Sony ECM-102 stereo microphone. Uploaded solely for educational purposes and historical interest. Enjoy.