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Zwee Dot!
Zwee Dot!
Date Posted: September 12 2011
Written By: Chicago Jazz
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Ornette Coleman––“Ramblin’”
Composed by Ornette Coleman
Change of the Century Atlantic 7 81341-2
Recorded: Hollywood, October 9, 1959
Musicians:
Ornette Coleman – Alto sax
Don Cherry – Trumpet
Charlie Haden – Bass
Billy Higgins – Drums
0:01 And here starts another classic cut.
0:07 Charlie Haden vamps at the end of the first phrase, and there’s an ambiguity as to how long that phrase is.
0:10 There’s the second phrase.
0:16 The third phrase comes in where one would expect.
0:24 And then a type of call and response.
0:26 And the second in-head comes in a funny place.
0:33 Same thing.
0:37 I’m not really sure how long that was.
0:43 That’s clearly the same as the first in-head.
0:49 It’s ambiguous as to where the blowing started.
0:56 There’s the four chord.
0:59 There is the five chord.
1:01 Yeah, play!
1:03 And Charlie starts to walk.
1:19 Charlie walked for 12 bars, but Ornette overlapped a phrase into the next chorus.
1:23 Now double stops.
1:34 Nice organic playing.
1:37 That lasted 16 bars.
1:47 Whoa, baby––play!
1:54 That was 12 bars.
1:59 Simple melodies––nice.
Clearly the form is one of the more interesting aspects of this cut to me. They are definitely playing a gut-bucket type of blues, very down-home; this would be the main message that they are sending. However, the looseness of the form reminds me of old country style blues players or certain jazz players, such as Mose Allison, who won’t necessarily follow a blowing form if they feel at the moment that something else would work better.
2:08 Ornette plays nice and simple melodic phrases. Nice.
2:14 And that was 16 bars again; the changes are based on tension and release, and are different each time.
2:22 A 12-bar blues (alternating with a 16-bar pedal section) with the changes shifting at the discretion of the players.
2:36 Ornette’s playing little nuggets of melodies.
2:54 He’s using parts of the melody.
2:58 That was a nice exchange.
3:06 I like the way that Don takes his time.
3:14 Nice simple development.
3:18 Back into four.
3:30 This feels really good.
3:43 Nice construction.
3:49 And it feels good when they go into four.
3:58 Billy is probably the total anchor here, and you don’t even notice him––beautiful!
4:06 Billy immediately falls into accompanying the double-stop bass solo.
4:26 Mostly keeping the low notes the same and changing the high one.
4:39 The phrasing helps make it.
4:48 What melody is that? It’s contagious.
4:59 Beautiful!
5:01 Now the out-head.
5:09 I think that they just added two beats.
5:23 Pretty much the same as the in-head.
5:33 Nice!
5:39 Dig the pitch thing.
5:52 They settle in.
6:01 They’re vamping.
6:11 I like this.
6:20 Subtle harmonic move to the five chord
6:26 Now a vamp from five to one.
6:34 A nice stinger at the end––that led into the four chord.
It took me a few listenings to realize that this has a 22-1/2-bar head. It’s basically a shortened 24-bar blues.
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