It’s All Jazz

Now in its 16th year, the London’s Meltdown festival was overseen by Ornette Coleman, and he also picked all the artists that played there.

He picked artists such as:

Charlie Haden
James Blood Ulmer
Acoustic Ladyland
Marc Ribot
Keiran Hebden & Steve Reid
Yoko Ono
The Bad Plus
The Roots
Patti Smith
Yo La Tengo
Mike Patton
Robert Wyatt
Moby

That’s quite a lineup, eh? Well, a couple critics did not like Moby at all, but I have been a semi-Moby fan since the 90s so I’m ok with it. It wasn’t the best, i will agree, but Moby really wasn’t that bad.

The Bad Plus did their usual bit, Iverson wearing a suit and tie, Reid Anderson in his graphic Tees and jeans, and King being the mix between the two- button down and jeans.

But the amazing point of the festival was Ornette Coleman. He opened with new material with his double-bass quartet, including switches to trumpet and violin. The music was good, but the energy was lacking.

Luckily, things got hot when he pulled a third bassist onto the stage, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He did amazingly well and held his own in the group of jazz masters.

He also pulled up the Master Musicians of Jajouka, who really spurred the ensemble on to cacophonous, but successful music. The audience loved it, and screamed to Ornette.

He also did a couple tunes reunited with bassist Charlie Haden. That is what the jazz cats were waiting for.

When it was over, Coleman, rockstar-like, touched the raised hands of adoring fans from the front of the stage as the crowd responded with the most protracted of standing ovations. He deserved every second.