I just heard the sad news that pioneering jazz hero Ornette Coleman has died of cardiac arrest at age 85. The man left an astonishing legacy of progressive and experimental music that has influenced forward looking artists of all stripes for decades.
More important to me, he’s crafted some of the most innovative and profoundly affecting jazz albums I’ve ever heard. I’ve shared a few key moments from his epic discography below.
Thanks to a friend’s reminder, I’m spending early Friday evening at home jamming Lonerism, the surprisingly deep and eminently repeatable album from psychedelic rock ninjas Tame Impala. While I’ve never gone hard listening to these guys, I’m reminded tonight that I probably should have.
This song catches me hard every time, and I’m compelled to peek at the track list: yes, it’s called Music To Walk Home By. What a fantastic name for a tune that sounds like this.
With an alien flow, unnerving production, and stream-of-consciousness lyrics that ping pong from Looney Tunes to Fourier, this song owes as much to out-there jazz and experimental music as it does to Kendrick Lamar‘s more traditional hip-hop tunes.
Listen to Cartoon and Cereal right here:
Optimistic Underground 