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Home , Badal Roy, Bern Nix, Bobby Bradford, Body Meta, Dancing in Your Head, Dewey Redman

Festival lead support is provided by American Express

July 14 Alice Tully Hall : Tomorrow is the Question Prime Time: A Reunion Special Guests Wallace Roney Prime Time Guitar Kenny Wessel Bass Al MacDowell, Chris Walker Keyboards Dave Bryant Drums Denardo Coleman

Intermission

Dancing in Your Head Special Guests Saxophone , David Murray Prime Time Bass , Al MacDowell Guitar Charlie Ellerbe Drums Calvin Weston, Denardo Coleman

This performance is dedicated to , an original member of Prime Time. Approximate performance time: 2 hours and 40 minutes, with one intermission

This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Public support for Festival 2017 is provided by the Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

A Note on the Program formed by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Kurt Masur. And there was built the rocket ship that Ornette’s Prime Time band with special lifted humans off the earth. We went from guests and Laurie Anderson. caves, ocean surfaces, jungles, prairies, and deserts to outer space. This trip Two decades later, when Lincoln Center enabled us to provide definitive answers to Festival wanted to honor Ornette again, it some cosmic questions. Yes, the earth is was bittersweet, as he is no longer with us. round. No, the sun does not revolve around But his legacy lives on, and I was pleased to us. And, yes, the speed of Pop’s horn was take advantage of the opportunity to hear proof that light does indeed bend. his music performed by long-time band members, special guests, and many friends. Twenty years after Louis, piloted that rocket ship to a meeting with Naked Lunch —a 1991 film and soundtrack God. Their conversation was so profound it —was one of the rare times that resulted in a Big Bang, creating Universes Ornette played over someone else’s music. and Galaxies, places unconceived of Inspired by William Burroughs’ namesake before, ideas unconceived of before, novel, ’s film adaptation, energy unconceived of before. It was and ’s score, Ornette con - human inspiration blazing away at its high - jured up his own Harmolodic Interzone. The est level. current performance will feature an orches - tra and a quartet comprising Henry Less than 20 years after Bird, Ornette Threadgill, Ravi Coltrane, , Coleman took that rocket ship and returned and yours truly. from beyond the known galaxy with the insight that man and even life itself are but Ornette: Made in America is an experimen - ideas. The free search for ideas and resolu - tal art piece by filmmaker . tions had loosened the moorings of con - Begun in 1968 and finished in 1983, it ventional Gravity. Ideas can take many starts off with Ornette receiving the keys to forms. Man is not the only life form. The the city of Ft. Worth, Texas, his hometown. other life form is Freedom. Other energies Clutching the keys, he says wryly, “I’m flowed in, and so did other ways of being. gonna let all the dogs out.” “Edgy” is an Ornette was hailed as a hero by some, overused term when it comes to art, but screamed at as a fraud by others. this film qualifies.

In 1997 Lincoln Center Festival asked Ornette’s Prime Time band first took shape Ornette what he would like to present for in 1975, when Ornette and four young its second summer season. Ornette chose musicians were stranded in Paris for six to design a career retrospective. There was months after a European tour fell through. his Original Quartet with , The result was the seminal album Dancing , and , which had in Your Head . A sonic breakthrough, there not performed together for many years. (As has been nothing that funky and freely it happened, Don was dealing with a health improvised before or since. issue and Ornette invited Wallace Roney to fill in on trumpet.) There were two nights of In 1962 Ornette, fed up with his music Ornette’s symphony, , per - being relegated to basement clubs, LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

rented Town Hall and produced his own was full of his trademark musical theory concert. When he recounted the story in , leading to the creation of his later years, he noted, “On that day in New band Prime Time, which released the land - York City, there was a snowstorm, a sub - mark album in 1977. way strike, and a newspaper strike. But I Coleman defined Harmolodics as “the use didn’t lose any money.” The program on of the physical and the mental of one’s own that occasion included a performance of logic made into an expression of sound to Ornette’s first chamber work, which bring about the musical sensation of unison sparked his interest in classical composi - executed by a single person or with a tion. On July 16 a selection of Ornette’s group.” In the next decade, more surprises chamber works will be heard. included trendsetting Song X with guitarist (1986); As with all of his work, my father continually featuring the late leader Jerry looked ahead: “Tomorrow’s the Question.” Garcia (1988); and Tone Dialing (1995); as well as music performed on the sound - —Denardo Coleman tracks for the films Naked Lunch (1991) and (1993). In 1994 Ornette About the Artists Coleman was named a MacArthur Fellow and in 1997 was inducted into the American Ornette Coleman (Composer) taught the Academy of Arts and Letters. That same world new ways of hearing music since he year, Lincoln Center Festival presented burst onto the New York jazz scene with his Ornette Coleman: ? Civilization , with perfor - legendary engagement at the Five Spot. In mances of Coleman’s symphony Skies of 1958, with his debut album Something America by Kurt Masur and the New York Else, it was clear that Coleman had ushered Philharmonic; an evening with Coleman, in a new era in jazz history. With his core Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, and special musical partners—trumpeter Don Cherry, guests; and Coleman: Tone Dialing with player Charlie Haden, and Coleman’s band Prime Time, Lou Reed, drummer Billy Higgins—their music, freed Laurie Anderson, and Fireplay. In 2007 his from the prevailing conventions of harmony, recording was awarded rhythm, and melody, transformed the art the . He received a form. From 1959 (which saw the release of Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and his seminal albums Tomorrow Is the his third album The Shape of Jazz to Come Question! and The Shape of Jazz to Come ) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and through the 1960s, Coleman released in 2015, the same year he passed away. more than 20 critically acclaimed albums on the Atlantic and Blue Note labels, most of Wallace Roney (Trumpet) began musical which are now recognized as jazz classics. studies at age five, and started playing trum - In the classical realm, Coleman studied pet at age six. Identified as a prodigy, he trumpet and , expanding the scope of was awarded a scholarship to the his repertoire to include string quartets, Settlement School of Music at age seven, woodwind quintets, and orchestral works. receiving private trumpet lessons there with Coleman’s symphony Skies of America, Sigmund Herring at age ten. He was the recorded by the Philharmonic youngest member of the Philadelphia Brass Orchestra, was released in 1972. After his Ensemble, comprising members of the journeys to villages in Morocco and Nigeria Philadelphia Orchestra. While there he met in the 1970s, he created a new sound that jazz great Clark Terry, a major influence, LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

teacher, mentor, and friend. At age 16 he Quartet, which included met another trumpet player and his second and David Murray, and founded the Louis greatest influence, Dizzy Gillespie, who Armstrong Jazz Camp and the Heritage taught him techniques that enhanced his School of Music. He received OffBeat’s ability to play intricate improvisational first Lifetime Achievement Award for Music phrases. He also met trumpet player Woody Education, the SUNO Foundation honored Shaw, another close friend and mentor. He him at BASH III, and he was made a joined ’s Big Band, played with Lifetime Achievement Honoree at the and Dollar Brand, and stud - XIII. In 2013 he was desig - ied for a year at Berklee School of Music nated a “Jazz Hero” by the Jazz Journalists before joining Art Blakey’s Jazz Association. Messengers. In 1983 he met his greatest influence, teacher, and idol, . The David Murray (Saxophone) has recorded next year he met Ornette Coleman, pre - 130 albums and performed as guest artist miered his work The Sacred Mind of Johnny on around 100 more. Born in Oakland, he Dolphin and played with Ornette’s Classic grew up in Berkeley and studied with his Quartet after Don Cherry’s death. Wallace mother, organist Catherine Murray, along played the historic “Miles at Montreux” con - with , , cert, the first time Miles played straight- Stanley Crouch, and others. In 1976, after a ahead jazz in 30 years. The concert was first European tour, he organized the World recorded and he won a Grammy. He joined Saxophone Quartet with , VSOP, which included , Ron Hamiett Bluiett, and Julius Hemphill. He Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter, also worked with the Urban Bush Women winning him a second Grammy. He formed dance company, Joseph Papp’s Public his own group in 1993, and in 1996 joined Theater, and Bob Thiele, founder of Impulse Chick Corea’s Special Quintet. and Red Baron Records, who in 1988 became his producer until Thiele’s death in Kidd Jordan (Saxophone) holds the title 1997. In 2012 he was awarded an honorary Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the doctorate of music degree from Pomona Republic of France, where knighthood was College. The second album by the Infinity bestowed on him. The list of artists he has Quartet, released in 2016, features Saul performed with reads like a 40-year Williams, a leading voice on the spoken- Grammy program: , word scene. Last year also marked a mile - , Ornette Coleman, Ed stone with the release of Perfection, where Blackwell, Ellis Marsalis, , Cecil Murray played with two leading contempo - Taylor, , The Temptations, rary jazz musicians: pianist and , Aaron Neville, Sun Ra, Peter drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Korvald, , Louis Moholo, , Lena Horne, Gladys Knight, Big Joshua Redman (Saxophone), son of leg - Maybelle, and . He founded endary saxophonist and the Improvisational Arts Ensemble with dancer Renee Shedroff, began playing clar - , Clyde Kerr, Jr., and London inet at age nine before switching to tenor Branch, later adding Alvin Thomas. His saxophone a year later. The early influences recording No Compromise expresses his of , Ornette Coleman, personal conviction about his music. He Cannonball Adderley, his father, The has played with the World Saxophone Beatles, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

Earth, Wind and Fire, Prince, The Police, musical education under Coleman. He was and drew him more deeply in Prime Time from 1975 to 1989, appear - into music. In 1991 former students at the ing on such classic albums as Dancing in whom he met Your Head (1977) , (1978) , and In while at Harvard College had relocated to All Languages (1987). He has also per - ; he moved in and found himself formed with the Sun Ra Arkestra and The immersed in the New York jazz scene, play - Trammps (each for five years), Charles ing with leading jazz musicians of his gen - Earland, Catalyst, and Noel Pointer. eration: Peter Bernstein, Larry Goldings, Kevin Hays, Roy Hargrove, Geoff Keezer, Kenny Wessel (Guitar) played with Ornette , Jorge Rossy, and Mark Turner. Coleman for over 12 years as a member of Five months later, he was named the win - Prime Time. “Working with and knowing ner of the prestigious Ornette,” he claims, “was, and continues to International Saxophone Competition. He be, a source of inspiration, challenging me to released his self-titled debut in 1993, earn - look at music from every possible angle (not ing his first of four Grammy nominations. always linearly) and to ‘play myself.’” A vital MoodSwing (1994) introduced his first and personal voice on the , he has band, the other musicians becoming some worked with Donald Fagen, David Liebman, of the most important and influential artists Adam Rudolph, , Debashish in modern jazz: pianist Brad Mehldau, Bhattacharya, John Abercrombie, Badal Roy, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Gloria Lynne, and others from the jazz, pop, Brian Blade. He has gone on to lead and and world music genres. His recordings participate in many projects, has released with his own ensembles include Weights & 20 albums on Nonesuch, and has been a Measures, Daybreak, and Jawboning . A guest artist on many more recordings. dedicated jazz educator, he currently teaches at Western Connecticut State Charlie Ellerbe (Guitar), a lifelong resident University, , Long of Philadelphia, first became interested in Island University, and the New York Jazz guitar at age 15 after hearing Arnold Workshop, and he also gives clinics and Langley. He was soon playing with the soul workshops around the world. group the Ambassadors when he met gui - tarist Norman Harris at the Uptown Badal Roy (Tablas) arrived in New York in Theater. Harris, guitarist in MFSB, the leg - 1968 with a pair of tablas and eight dollars endary studio band at Philadelphia in his pocket. In three days, he got a bus - International Records, became his teacher. boy job and then waiter positions in various While working at the Uptown, he discov - Indian restaurants. Soon, instead of waiting ered that what interested him most was on customers, he was entrancing them arranging and composing, and after with his drumming. His passionate style of lessons with Richard Rome and Tommy playing is free-flowing and always from the Bell of Philadelphia International Records, heart, and when Miles Davis heard him he attended Combs College to study com - play, the superstar warmed to him and position and arranging. A few years later in spread the word. Soon he received his big New York, he auditioned for Ornette break: an invitation to record with John Coleman and was soon off to France to per - McLaughlin and Miles successively. Today form with Prime Time, which was the he is the foremost exponent of tablas in beginning of nearly 15 years of further jazz music, playing not only with Davis and LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

McLaughlin but also artists as diverse as ments were recognized by a Pew , , Don Cherry, Fellowship in the Arts. His ever-shifting Pharaoh Sanders, Dizzy Gillespie, Lonnie aesthetic is evident in his wide range of Liston Smith, , and projects and collaborators over the years, . He has been an integral part of from fronting the trio Cosmetic to co- Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time since 1988 leading ensembles with American and and is presently collaborating with Brazil’s European colleagues such as Duofel, an instrumental guitar duo. and , as well as recording with James “Blood” Ulmer, , Al MacDowell (Bass) is best known for his , and others. Since 2015 he pro - four-decade journey as bassist with Ornette duces the annual Outsiders Improvised & Coleman. On a 1975 visit to New York’s Creative Music Festival in his hometown of famous High School of Music & Art, Philadelphia, providing a platform for Coleman heard 17-year-old student renowned artists such as guitarist Elliot MacDowell play bass and, impressed, Sharp, pianist Farid Barron, violinist/bassist invited him to join Prime Time as an expo - , saxophonist/noisemaker nent of Coleman’s Harmolodics style. A , and percussionist Kahlil El’Zabar, year later, MacDowell performed with as well as up-and-coming local artists. Coleman at a concert at Avery Fisher Hall. In addition to live performances, Chris Walker (Bass) spent his childhood in MacDowell appeared on Coleman albums Houston playing gospel music, playing his like Virgin Beauty (1988) and Tone Dialing bass upside down like hero . (1995). Today, he continues to play har - He moved to New York, where he became molodic jazz as leader of the Just Ornette Ornette Coleman’s bass player for two and Quartet; in New York clubs, his midrange a half years, then toured with Regina Belle, piccolo bass stays alert to Tony Falanga’s for whom he became musical director. contrabass, Tony Lewis’s drums, and guest When Belle noticed his voice, she gradually Jay Rodriguez’s saxophone. In addition to worked his vocals into her act; he credits Coleman, he has worked with everyone her for teaching him to find his voice. First from punk-jazz icon James Chance to hip- Time, his solo debut, yielded two Top Five hop legend Public Enemy. He is also a R&B hits, “Giving You All My Love” and songwriter, as shown by his compositions “Take Time” (which cracked the pop Top on the latest studio album by the City Boys 30). Sincerely Yours (1993), the follow-up, All-Stars. included the hit “How Do You Heal a Broken Heart” by Chris and Carole Bayer Jamaaladeen Tacuma (Bass) became the Sager. Former teacher Gil Goldstein helped first bassist in Coleman’s electric band, bring to fruition Chris’s dream to work with Prime Time, after his innovative style seven-time Grammy Award winner Al caught Ornette Coleman’s ear; he toured Jarreau. Chris was executive producer for and recorded with them in the 1970s and Bossa Nova Noites, which produced shows ‘80s. He debuted as a bandleader, com - for the U.S. Olympic Committee and poser, and arranger in 1983 with the album French, German, and Japanese Houses Show Stopper , going on to develop com - during the 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2014 he positions blending Prime Time’s elaborate created DocFest, a nonprofit organization harmonies with engaging melodies. His that raises scholarship funds for deserving 1988 album Jukebox was nominated for a High School for the Performing and Visual Grammy; in 2011 his ongoing achieve - Arts students in Houston to attend The LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

New School for Jazz and Contemporary (1987) featuring Prime Time along with Music in New York. Ornette Coleman’s groundbreaking original quartet with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Calvin Weston (Drums) became interested and Billy Higgins. Denardo has been in drums at age six, when he (and his involved with many other projects—none Philadelphia neighbors) discovered his tal - more enriching than the work he has done ent for rhythm as he beat on every car on with his mother , one of the block. His father soon bought him a America’s pre-eminent contemporary small drum set. In high school, he played poets. With the Jayne Cortez and the second snare in the drum ensemble. He Firespitters group, he collaborated on five co-founded the group Bad Influence, which recordings, including Taking the Back played in cabarets and clubs around Home (1996). Denardo has just launched Philadelphia. At age 17 he joined Ornette Song X Records and Films; its first release Coleman’s Prime Time with bass player is Celebrate Ornette , a boxed set that Jamaaladeen Tacuma—a close friend from includes multiple DVDs, CDs, and LPs, Philly—which toured North America and including the last performance by Ornette Europe. After recording four albums with Coleman, who passed away in 2015. Prime Time, he performed with guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer until joining John Dave Bryant (Keyboards) is best known Lurie’s Lounge Lizards in 1990. During the for his work as a member of Ornette late ‘90s, he recorded and toured with Billy Coleman’s Prime Time. He joined Martin of Medeski, Martin, and Wood, in 1990, touring worldwide and perform - Tricky, Eyvind Kang, Derek Baily, Marc ing on Prime Time’s Tone Dialing album. Ribot, and . For his project His first album, in 1986, was with his own Calvin Weston’s Big Tree, he explores the trio (bassist John Turner and percussionist many musical influences of his career as Chris Bowman) with liner notes by band leader and composer. He also formed Coleman. In 1999 he released The Eternal a band with guitarist Vernon Reid and Hang with Turner, Bowman, saxophonist bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Free Form , drummer Bob Gullotti, Funky Freqs, which recorded Urban and recording engineer Roger Nichols. Mythology Volume 1 (2008). He also played That same year he performed on the John with Jean-Paul Bourelly and Tchicai/Charlie Kohlase Quintet disc, Life in the band Gypsys Reloaded, which Overflowing , named “Jazz Album of the recorded a live disc at Amsterdam’s Year” by Boston Music Awards. His latest Bimhuis. release is 2015’s The Garden of Equilibria , which features performances in a variety Denardo Coleman (Drums) made his of settings, acoustic and electric. Other debut on drums at the age of ten on The credits include performances with Gregg Empty Foxhole , an album with his father Bendian, , Rakalam Bob Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden, Moses, Bern Nix, Eric Person, Badal Roy, released on Blue Note in 1966. He began , Jamaaladeen Tacuma, touring with his father by the mid-1980s, and Calvin Weston. He has also performed and he also became his manager. Denardo and lectured in Chicago, San Francisco, went on to produce several Ornette Paris, and Istanbul. He lives in Cambridge, Coleman recordings, including the histori - Massachusetts, where he teaches at cal double recording Longy School of Music of Bard College. LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

Denardo Coleman Acknowledgments and programs, including American Producer Song X Productions Songbook, Avery Fisher Career Grants and Denardo Coleman Artist program, David Rubenstein Atrium Project Coordinator Barry Herbert programming, Great Performers, Lincoln Front of House Sound, Production Manager Center at the Movies, Lincoln Center Chris Agovino Emerging Artist Awards, Lincoln Center Monitor Engineer Tommie Cruise Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Music Transcriptions Dave Morgan Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, Video Coordinator Jon Sadleir Midsummer Night Swing, Mostly Mozart Photographer Nathaniel Phillips Festival, White Light Festival, the Emmy Administrative Assistant Nichelle Cross Award–winning Live From Lincoln Center, Special Events Coordinator Nitara Bowie which airs nationally on PBS, and Lincoln PR Editor Bill Adler Center Education, which is celebrating 40 Publicist Ken Weinstein/Big Hassle years enriching the lives of students, educa - tors, and lifelong learners. As manager of Lincoln Center Festival, now in its 22nd the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides season, has received worldwide attention support and services for the Lincoln Center for presenting some of the broadest and complex and the 11 resident organizations: most original performing arts programs in The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Lincoln Center’s history. The festival has Center, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz presented 1,465 performances of opera, at Lincoln Center, The , music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan forms by internationally acclaimed artists Opera, New York City Ballet, New York from more than 50 countries. To date, the Philharmonic, New York Public Library for festival has commissioned 44 new works the Performing Arts, School of American and offered 145 world, U.S., and New York Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the premieres. It places particular emphasis on Performing Arts. Lincoln Center has showcasing contemporary artistic view - become a leading force in using new media points and multidisciplinary works that and technology to reach and inspire a wider challenge the boundaries of traditional per - and global audience. Reaching audiences formance. For more information, visit where they are—physically and digitally— LincolnCenterFestival.org. has become a cornerstone of making the performing arts more accessible to New Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Yorkers and beyond. The re-imagination of (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presen - David Geffen Hall will play an important part ter of artistic programming, national leader in these efforts. For more information, visit in arts and education and community LincolnCenter.org. engagement, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than Acknowledgments 3,000 free and ticketed events, perfor - Lighting, Sound Equipment mances, tours, and educational activities Production Resource Group annually, LCPA offers 16 series, festivals, LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

Final Event in Ornette Coleman: Tomorrow is the Question July 16 at 2:00 pm Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse Ornette: Chamber Music Trinity (Fantasy for Solo Violin) (1986) Violin Olivia De Prato Forms and Sounds (1967) In Honor of NASA and the Planetary Soloists (1986) Oboe Soloist Jacqueline Leclair The Sacred Mind of Johnny Dolphin (1984) Guest Trumpet Soloist Seneca Black Ensemble Signal Conductor Brad Lubman Even as he was pushing the boundaries of improvisation, Ornette was also focused on capturing what he heard in his head in through-composed works. His orchestral piece Skies of America , performed at Lincoln Center Festival in 1997, and numerous chamber works earned him accolades from many innovators, including Virgil Thomson and , who often invited Ornette to performances and rehearsals at Lincoln Center. Join members of Ensemble Signal as they illuminate this intriguing corner of Coleman’s artistry.

For more information, visit LincolnCenterFestival.org.