When presented with the opportunity to put a group together, Chris Kelsey and I quickly decided to do Ornette Coleman’s early stuff.
We talked about how much we loved those records and how it’s so hard to imagine now the controversy this music caused in the late fifties; these quirky, logical melodies that are so familiar to most of us now.
And then we started to lay down some rules. It must swing. That’s what made those records so great, they swung. Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgens, Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro, Don Cherry and Ornette seemed to have this Vulcan mind-meld connection to each other. The two horns need to breathe, bend, attack, sustain as one.
So with these things in mind we reached out to Dean Sharp and Joe Gallant and after the first rehearsal it was obvious to all of us that this was going to be something really special. The final product of this recording has surpassed my wildest hopes and expectations.
— Pat Hall
Saxophonist Chris Kelsey, trombonist Pat Hall, bassist Joe Gallant and drummer Dean Sharp take a fresh look at the paradigm-altering music from Ornette Coleman's early period, creating an extraordinary album of open, nearly telepathic swing.