Steve Coleman
Encyclopedia
Steve Coleman, born September 20, 1956 (age 55), is an African American
saxophone
player, spontaneous composer, composer
and band leader. His music and concepts have been a heavy influence on contemporary jazz.
(of whom his father was a fan), Sonny Rollins
, John Coltrane
and other masters of this music tradition. After spending two years at Illinois Wesleyan University, Coleman transferred to Roosevelt University (Chicago Music College) in downtown Chicago in order to concentrate on Chicago's musical nightlife. Specifically Coleman had been introduced to Chicago premier saxophonists Von Freeman
, Bunky Green
and others from whom he learned. He told: „When I was growing up and playing in Von Freeman's sessions, there were certain things that were important: Your sound, your groove, and how you express yourself. … There was always this criticism for not having a sound, not having a good groove, a lot of criticism on rhythm: This cat can't swing, he has no feel, etc. So, it's … a matter of learning this particular idiom from these masters who came before you. You have to get with what it is they're good at expressing. How to make it feel a certain way, how to blend, how to swing? You get cats talking about floating the rhythm, swinging the rhythm, and all these different terms“. - Steve Coleman also was in contact with Sonny Stitt
whom he regards as one of the „cats like Sonny Rollins, Coltrane, Bird [Charlie Parker] … on that same level“. In addition to Freeman and others, Stitt was Coleman’s connection to the era of great players like Charlie Parker.
/Mel Lewis
big band, Slide Hampton
's big band, Sam Rivers
’ Studio Rivbea Orchestra, briefly in Cecil Taylor
's big band, and in several other big bands). He found out that „there is a certain discipline that you get, especially a phrasing thing and learning how to play with large groups of people in a group. That carries over to what you do with a smaller group“. Soon he began cutting records as a sideman with well known figures like David Murray, Doug Hammond
, Dave Holland
, Mike Brecker, and Abbey Lincoln
. For the first four years in New York Coleman spent a good deal of time playing in the streets and in tiny clubs with a band that he put together with trumpeter Graham Haynes
, the group that would evolve into the ensemble Steve Coleman and Five Elements that would serve as the main ensemble for Coleman's activities. In this group, he developed his concept of improvisation within nested looping structures. Coleman joined some other young African American musicians like Cassandra Wilson
and Greg Osby
and they found the so-called M-Base
movement.
has been „probably my biggest influence“. John Coltrane
became a prototype to him too, in terms of his music as well as his approach and his further development. Coleman explained: “Charlie Parker, for me, was a extremely sophisticated blues player. He had a very sophisticated way of expressing the blues. It was like a … ‘space blues’ … very high science. And John Coltrane, for me, carried this more foreword into … I want to use the word “world music” but [not in terms of music from “third world countries”]. … John Coltrane wanted to do a kind of universal music, a music of all the people. And this idea influenced me a lot.” - Among the living musicians in Coleman’s early days, Von Freeman
influenced him most as an improviser, Sam Rivers
influenced him most compositionally, and Doug Hammond
was especially important to his conceptual thinking. But many other musicians influenced him too. – West African music (from Guinea coast; with its complex interlocked patterns) has been another huge influence on him since the late 1970s. This interest brought him in contact with ways of thinking in traditional non-western cultures which he began to study in the 1980s. - Coleman was also inspired by natural things like flight patterns of bees and certainly there was the influence from the African American popular music Coleman heard in his youth, especially from James Brown
. – In the course of his career, many more influences have been added.
) and from then on he has recorded extensively (until 2003, since then less frequently). He also had a rather tight touring schedule that included mainly tours through Europe (e.g. averagely about 50 concerts per year in Europe in the time from 1995 to 1999).
(Dagbon) people whose traditional drum music uses very complex polyrhythm and a drum language that allows sophisticated speaking through music (described and recorded by John Miller Chernoff). Thus, Coleman was animated to think about the role of music and the transmission of information in non-western cultures. He wanted to collaborate with musicians who were involved in traditions which come out of West Africa. One of his main interests was the Yoruba tradition (predominantly out of western Nigeria) which is one of the Ancient African Religions underlying Santeria (Cuba and Puerto Rico), Candomble (Bahia, Brazil) and Vodun (Haiti). In Cuba, Coleman found the group Afrocuba de Matanzas who specialized in preserving various styles of Rumba as well as all in Cuba persisting African traditions which are mixed together under the general title of Santeria (Abakua, Arara, Congo, Yoruba). In 1996 Coleman along with a group of 10 musicians as well as dancers and the group Afrocuba de Matanzas worked together for 12 days, performed at the Havana Jazz Festival, and recorded the CD The Sign and The Seal. In 1997 Coleman took a group of musicians from America and Cuba to Senegal to collaborate and participate in musical and cultural exchanges with the musicians of the local Senegalese group Sing Sing Rhythm. He also led his group Five Elements to the south of India in 1998 to participate in a cultural exchange with different musicians in the Karnatic music tradition.
, like a person that’s “documenting something in music, telling a story and passing information down” (Steve Coleman). Trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson said about Coleman: “He’s a born teacher … he’s absolutely full of information.”
: „Some parts of Latin music are very rigid, as are some aspects of African rhythms. The flexibility comes from the number of people that are playing the rhythm. It is not always synchronized, so that gives it a certain movement that makes it more fluid. When I applied it, I opted for the fluidity rather than the static portion of the rhythms.” Steve Coleman’s overlapping cycles of various, often “odd” lengths provide a very fluid (multilayered) basis for improvisation.
said about Steve Coleman: “He ‘sings’ (on the saxophone) in his way. He’s got his own sound. He’s got a very particular kind of vibrato”. Coleman prefers a subtle expression of timbre and concentrates more on the rhythmic, melodic, structural aspects of music versus timbral considerations using timbral elements as aids for expressing sophisticated rhythm-melodies. He wrote: “I feel strongly that the younger generation that is involved in creative music today are foregoing the detailed rhythmic and melodic developments demonstrated by the older masters (which take an incredible amount of concentration to develop) in favour of more ‘effects’. These trends tend to pendulum back and forth, as each generation reacts to the excesses of the previous generation by moving in the opposite direction.”
. Preferring a more organic approach to music I use the term Spontaneous Composition.” “I have never considered the music of people like Duke Ellington
, Don Byas
, Charlie Parker
, Art Tatum
, John Coltrane
, Muhal Richard Abrams
, Henry Threadgill
– I have never considered this creative tradition ‘Jazz’.”
Furthermore, Steve Coleman has stated that his main concern is the “use of music as a language of sonic symbols used to express the nature of man's existence. There extends back into ancient times musicians who have attempted to express through music the various visions and realities that they perceive, and for me this is the driving force behind many of the ‘so-called’ innovations in music (and indeed in other fields as well). I feel that the various tools and fields of inquiry that people have used (physics and metaphysics, number, language, music, dance, astronomy, etc.) are all related and present one holistic body of work. The various forms that my music assumes are not only intuitively inspired by but intuitively and logically determined by the human perception of ‘The Great Work’ (i.e. the creation of all Nature by the Universal Mind).
“One of the primary methods that I use to create my music is linked to two concepts: Sacred Geometry
(the use of shapes to symbolically express natural principles), and Energy (the potential for change and change itself in physical, metaphysical and psychic phenomena, including Life, Growth, etc.). I use various kinds of musical structures to symbolize the Sacred Geometry and specific kinds of musical movement to reference the various states of Energy. In any event the concept of Change is central to my theory. It is the Change between the various musical structures that represents process, with the structures themselves being symbolic of various principles. I believe that it is through the Spontaneous Composition of forms that these ideas can be most readily expressed, regardless of external stylistic appearances. It is the movement that is important.
“These ideas, although rare, are not new in music. There have been musicians from virtually every culture that have worked in this areas as is documented in the earliest writings on music. Musicians as diverse as Johann Sebastian Bach
, Bela Bartok
and John Coltrane
have stated similar ideas.”
regarded Steve Coleman as an exceptional personality of American music history. In 2010 pianist Vijay Iyer (who was chosen as "Jazz Musician of the Year 2010" by the Jazz Journalists Association
) said: “To me, Steve [Coleman] is as important as [John] Coltrane. He has contributed an equal amount to the history of the music. He deserves to be placed in the pantheon of pioneering artists.” "It's hard to overstate Steve’s influence. He's affected more than one generation, as much as anyone since John Coltrane. It's not just that you can connect the dots by playing seven or 11 beats. What sits behind his influence is this global perspective on music and life. He has a point of view of what he does and why he does it."
With Doug Hammond
With Abbey Lincoln
With Dave Holland
With Chico Freeman
With Billy Hart
With The Errol Parker Tentet
With David Murray
With Cassandra Wilson
With Geri Allen
With Michele Rosewoman
With Lonnie Plaxico
With The Roots
With Ravi Coltrane
With Anthony Tidd’s Quite Sane
, Afro-Cuban musicians in Cuba, West-African and Afro-Cuban musicians in Senegal, rappers in the United States, Indian musicians in India, ancient Egyptian philosophy in Egypt, and a computer-music research centre in Paris. The DVD contains the 98 minutes long documentary and additional scenes (60 minutes).
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
player, spontaneous composer, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and band leader. His music and concepts have been a heavy influence on contemporary jazz.
Chicago
Steve Coleman grew up in one of the large African American neighbourhoods of the northern American big cities, the South Side of Chicago, where music (African American music) was „around all the time“, just „part of the community“ and „the sound of everything else“. As a child, he was „in these little singing groups, imitating the Jackson 5, singing in church or something like that“ and he started playing Alto-saxophone at the age of 14. About three years later he began to study the music of Charlie ParkerCharlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
(of whom his father was a fan), Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
and other masters of this music tradition. After spending two years at Illinois Wesleyan University, Coleman transferred to Roosevelt University (Chicago Music College) in downtown Chicago in order to concentrate on Chicago's musical nightlife. Specifically Coleman had been introduced to Chicago premier saxophonists Von Freeman
Von Freeman
Earle Lavon Freeman Sr. is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist. He is the father of jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman.-Biography:...
, Bunky Green
Bunky Green
Bunky Green is an American jazz alto saxophonist and educator.-Biography:Vernice "Bunky" Green was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he played the alto saxophone, mainly at a local club called "The Brass Rail."...
and others from whom he learned. He told: „When I was growing up and playing in Von Freeman's sessions, there were certain things that were important: Your sound, your groove, and how you express yourself. … There was always this criticism for not having a sound, not having a good groove, a lot of criticism on rhythm: This cat can't swing, he has no feel, etc. So, it's … a matter of learning this particular idiom from these masters who came before you. You have to get with what it is they're good at expressing. How to make it feel a certain way, how to blend, how to swing? You get cats talking about floating the rhythm, swinging the rhythm, and all these different terms“. - Steve Coleman also was in contact with Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
whom he regards as one of the „cats like Sonny Rollins, Coltrane, Bird [Charlie Parker] … on that same level“. In addition to Freeman and others, Stitt was Coleman’s connection to the era of great players like Charlie Parker.
New York
In order to open up new opportunities for further developments, Coleman moved to New York in 1978 where he got, among other things, the experience of playing in big bands (in Thad JonesThad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader.-Biography:Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family of ten . Thad Jones was a self taught musician, performing professionally by the age of sixteen...
/Mel Lewis
Mel Lewis
Mel Lewis was an American drummer, jazz musician and band leader. He was born Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents....
big band, Slide Hampton
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
's big band, Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
’ Studio Rivbea Orchestra, briefly in Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
's big band, and in several other big bands). He found out that „there is a certain discipline that you get, especially a phrasing thing and learning how to play with large groups of people in a group. That carries over to what you do with a smaller group“. Soon he began cutting records as a sideman with well known figures like David Murray, Doug Hammond
Doug Hammond
Doug Hammond is a free funk/avant-garde jazz drummer, professor, composer, poet and producer from Tampa, Florida, U.S.A...
, Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
, Mike Brecker, and Abbey Lincoln
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...
. For the first four years in New York Coleman spent a good deal of time playing in the streets and in tiny clubs with a band that he put together with trumpeter Graham Haynes
Graham Haynes
Graham Haynes is an American cornetist, trumpeter and composer, the son of jazz drummer Roy Haynes....
, the group that would evolve into the ensemble Steve Coleman and Five Elements that would serve as the main ensemble for Coleman's activities. In this group, he developed his concept of improvisation within nested looping structures. Coleman joined some other young African American musicians like Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her...
and Greg Osby
Greg Osby
Greg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...
and they found the so-called M-Base
M-Base
The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African-American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sound and specific ideas about creative expression...
movement.
Influences
Steve Coleman said that Charlie ParkerCharlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
has been „probably my biggest influence“. John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
became a prototype to him too, in terms of his music as well as his approach and his further development. Coleman explained: “Charlie Parker, for me, was a extremely sophisticated blues player. He had a very sophisticated way of expressing the blues. It was like a … ‘space blues’ … very high science. And John Coltrane, for me, carried this more foreword into … I want to use the word “world music” but [not in terms of music from “third world countries”]. … John Coltrane wanted to do a kind of universal music, a music of all the people. And this idea influenced me a lot.” - Among the living musicians in Coleman’s early days, Von Freeman
Von Freeman
Earle Lavon Freeman Sr. is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist. He is the father of jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman.-Biography:...
influenced him most as an improviser, Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
influenced him most compositionally, and Doug Hammond
Doug Hammond
Doug Hammond is a free funk/avant-garde jazz drummer, professor, composer, poet and producer from Tampa, Florida, U.S.A...
was especially important to his conceptual thinking. But many other musicians influenced him too. – West African music (from Guinea coast; with its complex interlocked patterns) has been another huge influence on him since the late 1970s. This interest brought him in contact with ways of thinking in traditional non-western cultures which he began to study in the 1980s. - Coleman was also inspired by natural things like flight patterns of bees and certainly there was the influence from the African American popular music Coleman heard in his youth, especially from James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
. – In the course of his career, many more influences have been added.
Recordings and tours
In 1985 Steve Coleman got the chance for his first recording as a leader (released by the German label JMTJMT Records
JMT Records was a record label that specialised in contemporary jazz. It was run by Stefan Winter.JMT recorded artists included Steve Coleman, Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby, and Django Bates. The entire JMT catalogue is being re-released by Winter & Winter, Stefan Winter's new label....
) and from then on he has recorded extensively (until 2003, since then less frequently). He also had a rather tight touring schedule that included mainly tours through Europe (e.g. averagely about 50 concerts per year in Europe in the time from 1995 to 1999).
Research trips
Coleman regards the music tradition he is coming from as African Diasporan culture with essential African retentions, especially a certain kind of sensibility. He searched for these roots and their connections of contemporary African American music. For that purpose, he travelled to Ghana at the end of 1993 and came in contact with (among others) the DagombaDagomba
The Dagomba are an ethnic group of Northern Ghana. They inhabit the sparse savanna region below the sahelian belt, known as the Sudan. They speak the Dagbani language which belongs to the More-Dagbani sub-group of Gur languages...
(Dagbon) people whose traditional drum music uses very complex polyrhythm and a drum language that allows sophisticated speaking through music (described and recorded by John Miller Chernoff). Thus, Coleman was animated to think about the role of music and the transmission of information in non-western cultures. He wanted to collaborate with musicians who were involved in traditions which come out of West Africa. One of his main interests was the Yoruba tradition (predominantly out of western Nigeria) which is one of the Ancient African Religions underlying Santeria (Cuba and Puerto Rico), Candomble (Bahia, Brazil) and Vodun (Haiti). In Cuba, Coleman found the group Afrocuba de Matanzas who specialized in preserving various styles of Rumba as well as all in Cuba persisting African traditions which are mixed together under the general title of Santeria (Abakua, Arara, Congo, Yoruba). In 1996 Coleman along with a group of 10 musicians as well as dancers and the group Afrocuba de Matanzas worked together for 12 days, performed at the Havana Jazz Festival, and recorded the CD The Sign and The Seal. In 1997 Coleman took a group of musicians from America and Cuba to Senegal to collaborate and participate in musical and cultural exchanges with the musicians of the local Senegalese group Sing Sing Rhythm. He also led his group Five Elements to the south of India in 1998 to participate in a cultural exchange with different musicians in the Karnatic music tradition.
Computer-music
The French computer-music research centre IRCAM offered Coleman to further develop his ideas in the form of interactive computer software at the IRCAM facilities in Paris with the aid of programmers and IRCAM technology. A concert in June 1999 featuring Coleman’s group interacting with what he calls his Rameses 2000 computer software program was the public result of this commission. However, there are no official recordings of this singular project available.More research trips, professorship and workshops
In 2000 Steve Coleman withdrew from performing and recording in order to travel extensively to India, Indonesia, Cuba and Brazil and he continued his research as an associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley in the years 2000 to 2002. He has conducted a lot of workshops and he thinks of himself like a West African GriotGriot
A griot or jeli is a West African storyteller. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards...
, like a person that’s “documenting something in music, telling a story and passing information down” (Steve Coleman). Trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson said about Coleman: “He’s a born teacher … he’s absolutely full of information.”
Overlapping Cycles
The rhythms of Coleman's music of the 1990s were described in the literature as "circular and highly complex polymetric patterns which preserve their danceable character of popular funk rhythms despite their internal complexity and asymmetries. … On the scale of things, this is a very intelligent … music, a music which is hipper than any other music has been in a long time, a music which processes manifold stylistically experiences without abandoning its African American identity." These rhythms are generated by overlapping rhythmic(-tonal) cycles of various, often “odd” (5, 7, 9 … beats) lengths interlocking like gear wheels in a very complex way. The cycles are so long and their interaction is so complex that they appear unpredictable nevertheless well organized and grooving to the listener. In order to communicate freely and expressively within these textures, the musicians must be able to hear these contrasting rhythms simultaneously and that is challenging. But the multilayered rhythmic-tonal textures heighten the possibilities for improvised interactivity and their “odd” character is effective in the sense of the following statement of drummer Elvin JonesElvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
: „Some parts of Latin music are very rigid, as are some aspects of African rhythms. The flexibility comes from the number of people that are playing the rhythm. It is not always synchronized, so that gives it a certain movement that makes it more fluid. When I applied it, I opted for the fluidity rather than the static portion of the rhythms.” Steve Coleman’s overlapping cycles of various, often “odd” lengths provide a very fluid (multilayered) basis for improvisation.
Timbre, structure
Trumpeter Graham HaynesGraham Haynes
Graham Haynes is an American cornetist, trumpeter and composer, the son of jazz drummer Roy Haynes....
said about Steve Coleman: “He ‘sings’ (on the saxophone) in his way. He’s got his own sound. He’s got a very particular kind of vibrato”. Coleman prefers a subtle expression of timbre and concentrates more on the rhythmic, melodic, structural aspects of music versus timbral considerations using timbral elements as aids for expressing sophisticated rhythm-melodies. He wrote: “I feel strongly that the younger generation that is involved in creative music today are foregoing the detailed rhythmic and melodic developments demonstrated by the older masters (which take an incredible amount of concentration to develop) in favour of more ‘effects’. These trends tend to pendulum back and forth, as each generation reacts to the excesses of the previous generation by moving in the opposite direction.”
Balance, symmetry, change
One of the main principles at work in Coleman’s music is “balance and form”. As an obvious kind of balance, he realizes symmetry through melody, rhythm, tonality, form, harmony and instrumentation. However, he works with these structures from a dynamic point of view, i.e. as they progress through time. The process represented by the change between the various musical structures is a central aspect of his music.Intellect, intuition, embodiment
Though Coleman’s music is a highly structured, complex, “very intelligent music” it is performed in a spontaneous, groove based way similar to dance and sports. Coleman wrote about these similarities between improvising in music and sports in an essay. Among other things, there he described the art of varying the rhythms in subtle ways and seamlessly flowing from one rhythmic form to the next without any break in the forms as “can be observed in the most forms of dance of the people of the African Diaspora as well as sports like boxing, basketball, football, Capoeira, etc. where there is a smoothness to the shifts of direction that is based on timing”. He mentioned the necessity of a lot of specific preparation: “The various 'paths of possibilities' have been studied, worked out, analyzed and internalized, after which the mind and body have been trained to respond by reflex to the dynamic configurations as they develop in real time. … A finely tuned and constantly adjusting balance needs to be developed where one can respond in reflex to the changing musical conditions. … In the African Diaspora this balancing act is as much about style (i.e. how it is done) as it is about what is being done.”Tonalities, further development
Already in his first recordings, Coleman’s solos sounded somehow “other-worldly and yet familiar at the same time” due to the use of unconventional tones as “belonging to an alternate tonality”. Since the second half of the 1990s he has used complex sounds based on an expanded, nevertheless not “free” but elaborated tonality in his music. Coleman has constantly developed his music further. In 2009 he said: “What we (he with his band members) work on is the language itself. How things fit together, how to answer. It's just like church. … It's call and response, which has been going on since Africa, since forever. It's just that we have our own call and response patterns."CATEGORIZATIONS
Coleman has stated that he does not agree with “using categories to describe music today, in particular I don’t use the term JazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. Preferring a more organic approach to music I use the term Spontaneous Composition.” “I have never considered the music of people like Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Don Byas
Don Byas
Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, long-resident in Europe.- Oklahoma and Los Angeles :...
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
, Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
– I have never considered this creative tradition ‘Jazz’.”
INSPIRATIONS AND THE MUSIC’S MEANING
Steve Coleman has been described as an indefatigable person who “constantly learns, studies, observes”, searches to “learn from others, from the world, from nature, and to transmit that knowledge, share his discoveries, his quest”, with an “incredible vitality that he generates on the music scene”. – Coleman said: “The main thing that I consciously try to follow is things I find in nature, in universe. Basically I see the universe as sort of giant palette of forms within forms. So there are forms within forms, within forms, within forms … infinitely - apparent forms because these things are really continuums that approach something definable but never quite exactly become that (like an amoeba where there is an approximate shape with things like dropping and changing). … To me the beauty is the interaction of these forms. … I try to imitate that in my music pretty much. In trying to go for that I think a lot of different things from a lot of different perspectives. There is spiritual stuff, dreams, logic, figure-stuff … I use everything at my disposal … wild analogy whatever.” “I listen to music all over the world and everywhere inside of my world … I use all these tools, imagination, feeling, dreams, intellect ….”Furthermore, Steve Coleman has stated that his main concern is the “use of music as a language of sonic symbols used to express the nature of man's existence. There extends back into ancient times musicians who have attempted to express through music the various visions and realities that they perceive, and for me this is the driving force behind many of the ‘so-called’ innovations in music (and indeed in other fields as well). I feel that the various tools and fields of inquiry that people have used (physics and metaphysics, number, language, music, dance, astronomy, etc.) are all related and present one holistic body of work. The various forms that my music assumes are not only intuitively inspired by but intuitively and logically determined by the human perception of ‘The Great Work’ (i.e. the creation of all Nature by the Universal Mind).
“One of the primary methods that I use to create my music is linked to two concepts: Sacred Geometry
Sacred geometry
Sacred geometry is the geometry used in the planning and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, tabernacles; as well as for sacred spaces such as temenoi, sacred groves, village greens and holy wells, and the creation of religious art...
(the use of shapes to symbolically express natural principles), and Energy (the potential for change and change itself in physical, metaphysical and psychic phenomena, including Life, Growth, etc.). I use various kinds of musical structures to symbolize the Sacred Geometry and specific kinds of musical movement to reference the various states of Energy. In any event the concept of Change is central to my theory. It is the Change between the various musical structures that represents process, with the structures themselves being symbolic of various principles. I believe that it is through the Spontaneous Composition of forms that these ideas can be most readily expressed, regardless of external stylistic appearances. It is the movement that is important.
“These ideas, although rare, are not new in music. There have been musicians from virtually every culture that have worked in this areas as is documented in the earliest writings on music. Musicians as diverse as Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Bela Bartok
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
and John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
have stated similar ideas.”
Reception
Already at the beginning of the 1990s Clarinettist and composer Don ByronDon Byron
Don Byron is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet, but has also used bass clarinet and saxophones....
regarded Steve Coleman as an exceptional personality of American music history. In 2010 pianist Vijay Iyer (who was chosen as "Jazz Musician of the Year 2010" by the Jazz Journalists Association
Jazz Journalists Association
The Jazz Journalists Association is an international organization of all types of media professionals who document, promulgate, or appreciate jazz. As of 2011, it has approximately 500 members, primarily in North America but also on other continents...
) said: “To me, Steve [Coleman] is as important as [John] Coltrane. He has contributed an equal amount to the history of the music. He deserves to be placed in the pantheon of pioneering artists.” "It's hard to overstate Steve’s influence. He's affected more than one generation, as much as anyone since John Coltrane. It's not just that you can connect the dots by playing seven or 11 beats. What sits behind his influence is this global perspective on music and life. He has a point of view of what he does and why he does it."
Recordings, free downloads
Many older CDs can be downloaded for free from Steve Coleman’s web site. There are also a lot of private concert-recordings distributed among aficionados.As leader
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Motherland Pulse (JMTJMT RecordsJMT Records was a record label that specialised in contemporary jazz. It was run by Stefan Winter.JMT recorded artists included Steve Coleman, Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby, and Django Bates. The entire JMT catalogue is being re-released by Winter & Winter, Stefan Winter's new label....
, 1985) Debut as a leader and first recording of Cassandra WilsonCassandra WilsonCassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her... - Steve Coleman and Five Elements: On the Edge of Tomorrow (JMT, 1986) There was a 7" EP lifted with "Little One, I'll Miss You" and "I'm Going Home"
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: World Expansion (JMT, 1986)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Sine Die (Pangaea, 1987)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Rhythm People (NovusNovus RecordsNovus Records Novus Records Novus Records (later Arista Novus and RCA Novus was a United States jazz and contemporary jazz record label. It was an Arista Records imprint focused on then-contemporary jazz artists...
/BMG, 1990) - Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Black Science (Novus/BMG, 1991)
- Steve Coleman: Rhythm in Mind (Novus/BMG, 1991) among others with Von FreemanVon FreemanEarle Lavon Freeman Sr. is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist. He is the father of jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman.-Biography:...
and Tommy FlanaganTommy FlanaganThomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered for his work with Ella Fitzgerald... - Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Drop Kick (Novus/BMG, 1992)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Tao of Mad Phat
(Novus/BMG, 1993) With Roy Hargrove Roy HargroveRoy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
on one track - Steve Coleman and Metrics: A Tale of 3 Cities (The EP) (Novus/BMG, 1994) With rappers Kokayi, Shahliek, Utasi, Sub Zero, Black ThoughtBlack ThoughtTariq Trotter , better known as Black Thought, is an American hip-hop artist who is the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots and occasional actor...
and Najma AkhtarNajma AkhtarNajma Akhtar born in the UK, also known as Najma, is a British singer of Asian ancestry. She was born in 1964 Chelmsford, England.Najma studied chemical engineering at Aston University, Birmingham: her father, brother and sister are also engineers... - Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Def Trance Beat (Novus/BMG, 1994)
- Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society: Myths, Modes and Means (Live at the Hot Brass, Paris) (Novus/BMG, 1995) Forms a triology with the following two recordings and released as 3 cd set in 1996
- Steve Coleman and Metrics: The Way of the Cipher (Live at the Hot Brass) (Novus/BMG, 1995)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Curves of Life (Live at the Hot Brass)(Novus/BMG, 1995) With David MurrayDavid MurrayDavid Murray may refer to:In politics and society*David Murray, 1st Viscount of Stormont *David Murray, 4th Viscount of Stormont *Sir David Murray, 2nd Baronet *David Murray, 5th Viscount of Stormont...
on two tracks - Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society in collaboration with AfroCuba de Mantanzas: The Sign and the Seal (BMG, 1996)
- Steve Coleman and the Council of Balance: Genesis (BMG, 1997) Large ensemble with strings; released together with the following
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Opening of the Way (BMG, 1997)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Sonic Language of Myth (BMG, 1998) Large ensemble with strings and vocals
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Ascension to Light (BMG France, 2001)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Resistance Is Futile (Label Bleu, 2001)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Alternate Dimension Series I (Free download, 2002)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: On the Rising of the 64 Paths (Label Bleu, 2002)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Lucidarium (Label Bleu, 2003) Large ensemble with vocals and percussion, among others with Gregoire MaretGregoire MaretGrégoire Maret was born in 1975 in Geneva, Switzerland. He began playing the harmonica at the age of 17. He graduated from high school in 1994....
, Mat ManeriMat ManeriMat Maneri, born on October 4, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York is an American composer, improviser and jazz violin and viola player, specifically derivatives such as the five-string viola, the electric six-string violin, and the baritone violin...
and introducing Jen ShyuJen ShyuJen Shyu is a singer, composer, and instrumentalist. She has received several awards including a MacDowell Fellowship. She sings with the band Jade Tongue and also performs with Steve Coleman’s Five Elements.-Awards:* MacDowell Fellowship* 2007 BRIO award... - Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Weaving Symbolics (Double CD with DVD) (2006)
- Steve Coleman: Invisible Paths: First Scattering (Tzadik, 2007) Solo album
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Harvesting Semblances and Affinities (Pi, 2010)
- Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Mancy of Sound (Pi, 2011)
Collaborations
- Strata Institute (Double Trio with Greg OsbyGreg OsbyGreg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...
): Cipher Syntax (JMT/Polydor Japan, 1989) - Strata Institute: Transmigration (Rebel-X/ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, 1991) With Von Freeman - Steve Coleman & Dave HollandDave HollandDave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
Duo: Phase-Space (Rebel-X/DIWDIW RecordsDIW Records is a Japanese record label. It is a subsidiary label of Disc Union and specializes in jazz and avant garde music. Kazunori Sugiyama was an executive producer for the label before starting Tzadik Records with John Zorn.-Discography:...
, 1991) - M-BaseM-BaseThe term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African-American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sound and specific ideas about creative expression...
Collective: Anatomy of a Groove (Rebel-X/DIW/Columbia, 1992)
As sideman
With Sam RiversSam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
- ColoursColours (Sam Rivers album)Colours is an album by American jazz saxophonist Sam Rivers featuring Winds of Manhattan, an 11 piece woodwind orchestra, recorded in 1982 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:...
(Black Saint, 1982) - Rivbea All-Star Orchestra: Inspiration (BMG France, 1999)
- Rivbea All-Star Orchestra: Culmination (BMG France, 1999)
With Doug Hammond
Doug Hammond
Doug Hammond is a free funk/avant-garde jazz drummer, professor, composer, poet and producer from Tampa, Florida, U.S.A...
- Perspicuity (L+R Records, 1991, rec. 1981/82)
- Spaces (Idibib, 1982; Rebel-X, 1991)
With Abbey Lincoln
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...
- Talking to the Sun (Enja, 1984)
- Who Used to Dance (Gitanes/VerveVerve RecordsVerve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, 1997)
With Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
- Jumpin' InJumpin' In (album)Jumpin' In is an album by bassist Dave Holland's Quintet recorded in 1983 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars stating "Bassist Dave Holland leads one of his most stimulating groups on this superlative quintet date.....
(ECM, 1984) - Seeds of TimeSeeds of TimeSeeds of Time is an album by bassist Dave Holland's Quintet recorded in 1984 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars stating "The all-star musicians pack plenty of music and concise solos into each performance , and the unique group...
(ECM, 1985) - The Razor's EdgeThe Razor's Edge (album)-Track listing:# "Brother Ty" - 4:34# "Vedana" - 4:53# "The Razor's Edge" - 7:52# "Blues For C.M." - 9:15# "Vortex" - 8:11# "5 Four Six" - 4:26# "Wights Waits for Weights" - 5:25...
(ECM, 1987) - TriplicateTriplicate (album)-Track listing:All tunes written by Dave Holland, except as noted.# "Games" - 5:04# "Quiet Fire" - 5:47# "Take The Coltrane" - 6:24# "Rivers Run" - 9:14# "Four Winds" - 4:18# "Triple Dance" - 8:05...
(ECM, 1988) - ExtensionsExtensions (Dave Holland album)-Track listing:# "Nemesis" - 11:31# "Processional" - 7:16# "Black Hole" - 10:10# "The Oracle" - 14:32# "101° Fahrenheit " - 4:50# "Color Of Mind" - 10:11...
(ECM, 1990)
With Chico Freeman
Chico Freeman
Chico Freeman is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman...
- Tangents (Elektra Musician, 1984)
With Billy Hart
Billy Hart
William "Billy" Hart is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.-Biography:Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C...
- Oshumare (Gramavision, 1985)
With The Errol Parker Tentet
- Live at the Wollman Auditorium (Sahara Records, 1985)
With David Murray
David Murray
David Murray may refer to:In politics and society*David Murray, 1st Viscount of Stormont *David Murray, 4th Viscount of Stormont *Sir David Murray, 2nd Baronet *David Murray, 5th Viscount of Stormont...
- David Murray Big Band Live at "Sweet Basil" Vol. 1 (Black Saint, 1985)
- David Murray Big Band Live at "Sweet Basil" Vol. 2 (Black Saint, 1986)
With Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her...
- Point of View (JMTJMT RecordsJMT Records was a record label that specialised in contemporary jazz. It was run by Stefan Winter.JMT recorded artists included Steve Coleman, Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby, and Django Bates. The entire JMT catalogue is being re-released by Winter & Winter, Stefan Winter's new label....
, 1986) - Days Aweigh (JMT, 1987)
- Jump World (JMT, 1990)
With Geri Allen
Geri Allen
Geri Allen is an American composer/pianist educator jazz pianist, raised in Detroit, Michigan, and educated in the Detroit Public Schools. Allen has worked with many of the greats of modern music, including Ornette Coleman, Ron Carter, Ravi Coltrane, Tony Williams, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette,...
- Open on All Sides in the Middle (Minor Music, 1987)
With Michele Rosewoman
Michele Rosewoman
Michele Rosewoman is an American jazz pianist born in Oakland, CA. She is most notable for her work and recordings with her Quintessence ensemble as well as for several trio and quartet recordings, and for her New Yor-Uba ensemble featuring Orlando 'Puntilla' Rios , an Afro-Cuban jazz big band...
- Quintessence (Enja, 1987)
With Lonnie Plaxico
Lonnie Plaxico
Lonnie Plaxico is an African American jazz bassist.Plaxico was born in Chicago, Illinois into a musical family, and started playing the bass at the age of twelve, turning professional at fourteen...
- Plaxico (MuseMuse RecordsMuse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s...
, 1990)
With The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
- Do You Want More?!!!??!Do You Want More?!!!??!Do You Want More?!!!??! is the second studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released January 17, 1995 on DGC Records. The band's major label-debut, it was released two years after their independent debut album, Organix . Do You Want More?!!!??! has been considered by critics as a classic...
(DGCDGC RecordsDGC Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and currently operates as an auxiliary label of Interscope Records.-Company history:...
/GeffenGeffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
, 1995) - Illadelph HalflifeIlladelph HalflifeThe New York Times writer Neil Strauss called the album "one of the year's best rap offerings" and wrote that "The Roots move indiscriminately from politically conscious lyrics to silly rhymes "...
(DGC/Geffen, 1996)
With Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane is an American post-bop jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced artists such as pianist Luis Perdomo , guitarist David Gilmore and trumpeter Ralph Alessi....
- Moving Pictures (BMG France, 1998)
With Anthony Tidd’s Quite Sane
- Child of Troubled Times (CoolHunter Music, 2002)
Documentary film
The DVD „Elements of One“ by Eve-Marie Breglia shows Steve Coleman (and his band) in the years from 1996 to 2003 encountering: Von FreemanVon Freeman
Earle Lavon Freeman Sr. is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist. He is the father of jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman.-Biography:...
, Afro-Cuban musicians in Cuba, West-African and Afro-Cuban musicians in Senegal, rappers in the United States, Indian musicians in India, ancient Egyptian philosophy in Egypt, and a computer-music research centre in Paris. The DVD contains the 98 minutes long documentary and additional scenes (60 minutes).