where was i when ornette won a pulitzer prize and a lifetime achievement grammy? i like ornette. not as much as some (note to self, harangue russell into writing something on ornette), but a lot more than most people. and i know that he’s been winning big prize money and that his infrequent shows have become events. still, smells like an apology for something. for the fact that people said he couldn’t play in 1962? that recorded jazz (and music in general) is so crappy (check out the billboard top ten jazz albums of last year. who the hell is michael buble)? probably both the grammies and the pulitzer decided to confront their image problem-- stale and out of step. so some oldster in charge said to himself ‘who’s that guy who plays saxophone all crazy that the stoned kids in college liked? yeah, lets get him.’ anyway, this is really funny. but not nearly as bugged out as ornette's actual grammy remarks. bonus ornette weirdness here.
2 comments:
Truly a case of an artist ahead of his time. While I don't care for Ornette's sound myself, I can appreciate that he made the music his own.
Also, why is "Various Artists" the only living African American on the Billboard Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2006? Food for thought.
if there was one thing that I did while learning the recorder back in the third grade, it was make the music my own.
nuff respect to Ornette though.
re: Billboard. What can I say? It's a cold world. Maybe jazz labels should go back to the old method of having white models posing on the covers of black artist's albums. Would I be a sell out if I had a Chris Botti lookalike pose on my album? Not sure, but I need to feed these kids!
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