Ornette Coleman – The Complete Science Fiction Sessions

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The Complete Science Fiction Sessions is a two-CD compilation album by Ornette Coleman. Released by Columbia Records in 2000, it brings together tracks recorded during September and October 1971 and September 1972 sessions at Columbia Studios in New York City. The album includes all of the music that was originally issued on Science Fiction (Columbia, 1972) and Broken Shadows (Columbia, 1982), along with previously unreleased material. On the album, Coleman is joined by a core group of long-time associates consisting of trumpeters Don Cherry and Bobby Bradford, saxophonist Dewey Redman, double bassist Charlie Haden, and drummers Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell. Guest artists include guitarist Jim Hall, pianist Cedar Walton, trumpeters Carmine Fornarotto and Gerard Schwarz, and vocalists David Henderson, Asha Puthli, and Webster Armstrong.

In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek called the album “a stellar collection of Ornette-ology assembled in one place,” and wrote: “This is some of his very best material, archived and issued the way it should have been in the first place.”

 

 

Track listing:
All compositions by Ornette Coleman.

CD 1
“What Reason Could I Give” – 3:07
“Civilization Day” – 6:06
“Street Woman” – 4:51
“Science Fiction” – 5:03
“Rock the Clock” – 3:17
“All My Life” – 3:57
“Law Years” – 5:23
“The Jungle is a Skyscraper” – 5:28
“School Work” – 5:36
“Country Town Blues” – 6:25
“Street Woman (Alternate Take)” – 5:47 (previously unreleased)
“Civilization Day (Alternate Mix)” – 6:05 (previously unreleased)

CD2
“Happy House” – 9:48
“Elizabeth” – 10:26
“Written Word” – 9:44 (previously unreleased)
“Broken Shadows” – 6:42
“Rubber Gloves” – 3:24
“Good Girl Blues” – 3:05
“Is It Forever” – 4:49

Recorded at Columbia Studios in New York City. Disc 1, tracks 2, 3, 7–12, and disc 2, tracks 1–4 recorded on September 9, 1971. Disc 1, track 4 recorded on September 10, 1971. Disc 1, tracks 1, 5, and 6 recorded on October 13, 1971. Disc 2, track 5 recorded on September 7, 1972. Disc 2, tracks 6–7 recorded on September 8, 1972.

Personnel:
Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone, trumpet, violin
Don Cherry – pocket trumpet (tracks 2–4)
Bobby Bradford (tracks 4, 7 and 8), Carmine Fornarotto (tracks 1 and 6), Gerard Schwarz (tracks 1 and 6) – trumpet
Dewey Redman – tenor saxophone, musette (tracks 1 and 4–8)
Charlie Haden – bass
Billy Higgins (tracks 1–4 and 6), Ed Blackwell (tracks 1 and 4–8) – drums
David Henderson – recitation (track 4)
Asha Puthli – vocals (tracks 1 and 6)

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Released: 2000
Recorded: September and October 1971; September 1972
Studio: Columbia Studios, New York City
Length: 1:48:54
Label: Columbia
C2K 63569
Producer: James Jordan