Ornette Coleman – Round Trip: Ornette Coleman On Blue Note

Bought from a reputable retailer at a nice discount. Beautiful packaging but disappointing pressings - both love call and new york is now play with pretty awful high frequency distortion coming from Elvin's ride cymbal. Both of my originals don't have this problem. I will be sending back, very bummed.

Buying this set was a bit of a revelation.

I already had most of the music in it on CD, and at first it did feel frivolous duplicating recordings that for the most part are not Ornette Coleman’s most celebrated.

But this reissue really brings the music out. The Golden Circle disks (the main draw) are incredible, as expected. One of the reviews I read said close your eyes and you’re at a front table in the Gyllene Cirkeln jazz club, and it certainly feels like that. For what it’s worth, I love Ornette’s violin, although I know it divides opinion.

The sound quality is exceptionally good, and that enhances the music, way above the CDs which sound flat by comparison.

This is true of all the disks, and all the others are far from the footnotes some would have you believe. I had always avoided the Empty Foxhole having read that the drumming makes it all but unlistenable. In places yes it would certainly have benefitted from Charles Moffett taking up the sticks, but other than the odd moment here and there you’re not a million miles from the Golden Circle performances which predated it by nine months. Side two is especially good in my opinion.

The disks themselves are all spotless and play without any unwanted noise. One is slightly warped, but thankfully it doesn’t detract from the playback at all. The thick card gatefold sleeves are of the usual Tone Poet quality. The exception being the two Golden Circle volumes, which are facsimiles of the originals with tip on sleeves – even better.

If I had to nit-pick, the slip box does have a bit of a rip on the cover that wasn’t noticeable until after I had removed the shrinkwrap. In other words whoever packaged the set in the factory would have seen that. No matter.

This is surely the ultimate release of Ornette Coleman’s Blue Note catalogue, and rewards repeated playing. I find it very hard to believe the original pressings were as good as these.

If there's anyone here wanting to sell one or both volumes of "Live At The Golden Circle," please personal message me. Thank You! :)

No pressing is perfect, but these are very, very good. One of my jackets had a seam split, but the jackets and box are beautiful to look at. The music is amazing, just great. The only one of these albums I knew beforehand was "The Empty Foxhole", which I think is underrated. The Jackie McLean record reminds me that I love Jackie McLean and need more of his albums in my collection. Who else could play sax while Coleman plays trumpet and not make you wish the roles were reversed!? This is a package of albums to live with, to learn from, and to enjoy for a lifetime. When you compare with something like the recent Stanley Turrentine Tone Poet, there is really no comparison. I might play the Turrentine once a year or once every couple years and I will enjoy it when I hear it. The Coleman albums are records I could play every week and never tire of. This box is S Tier musically and sonically.

Got mine today from Acoustic Sounds after having it from the local library twice. I skipped the recent Blue Note sale of $137, thought it was still too high. But I couldn't resist the $100 price on AS. So glad I grabbed it. Yes, the music is out there, but that's why I like it. It's "active' music, really requiring you to listen, or at least notice. It doesn't float into the background. I keep returning to it because some of it I don't yet fully enjoy, but I'm trying to do so, and making progress!

Beyond that, the package is awesome, pressings perfect, and jackets excellent as usual. What a great set of records to spin and add to the collection. Can't beat it for the price!

This is amazing!

as a Swede, it's absolutely fantastic to listen to Live at the golden circle volume 1 & 2. I'm blown away after looking at the pictures from the session that Rune Andreasson could capture the music in sich a way. Detailed but at the same time the feeling of it being alive!

box set is currently under 100 USD at Acoustic Sounds, so I do not know much Ornette Coleman but believe me, I am going to GET to know!

Six Tone Poet records for under a hundred bucks, bet that can't be beat all that often!

jb

I have to agree with previous reviewer ReinerH, At the Golden Circle vol 1 & 2 is worth the ission alone. The presence and sound of those recordings are fantastic. The rest of the box set is great too, perhaps it could do without the McLean one, as it stylistically differs from the rest of the recordings.

The packaging and presentation is first class. I love that cracking sound when opening the gatefolds the first time, do it slowly folks! (that way you won't rip anything).

I've never been a huge fan of Ornette Coleman, buying this set I took a chance after reading so many good reviews. I was not disappointed. The sound quality really lifts the music and makes it more accessible compared to what I heard when I streamed the music.

Addition, late 2023

I'm really glad I bought this set. Not only is the product and the production excellent as many have already pointed out. But it also made me get into Ornette's music, finally. I've listened to a lot of other "avant garde" jazz, like late Coltrane, Dolphy etc but I never really got to with Ornette's stripped down peculiarity. I decided to get this anyway, trusting the Tone Poet label to be quality if nothing else.

The Golden Circle got me interested and after a few listens and time ed I've come to love these albums, all of them. This is why it is so important this music gets re-released at this level of quality. It is perpetually ahead of it's timeless time, and there's so much to discover out there.

It is great to be able to review Coleman's Blue Note years in such a fantastic edition. I listened to the set on three consecutive days, two LPs each day, that is the max for me with such intense music. Overall, the music is amazing. The set is worth owning for the two Stockholm live albums alone which bring Coleman's approach out so clearly: He is not a conventional virtuoso on his instrument, but he wants to achieve certain effects, moods, and he shies not away from beauty. To my ear he uses his instruments, in particular, the violin and the trumpet, much like samples, loops, or digital instruments were employed several decades later: as elements in a larger conception. This makes Coleman's music quintessentially modern and it sounds totally fresh. Perhaps it is only now, in retrospect of the developments coming much after, that we can fully appreciate his vision.

Whenever Coleman sounds strange then this is IMO fully intended. From this point of view it is of secondary importance to which degree he technically mastered the instruments.

The second best pair of albums for me are the two final sessions with Redman, Garrison, and Jones. I like "Love Call" a tick better, it seems slightly more coherent. But both albums contain superb music. Clearly, Coleman benefits from a world class rhythm section. These records also document Dewey Redman's breakthrough moment.

The McLean record is very good, but Coleman doesn't take center stage. Many reviewers don't like that he is playing trumpet throughout. I think that works quite well (in the sense of what I wrote above), but it is simply not an Ornette Coleman date. I am least convinced by "The Empty Foxhole", where IMO Coleman's concept finds its limits in having his young son play drums in a pianoless trio. For a ten year old child, Denardo Coleman plays amazingly well, but it is a very far cry from a professional appearance. Over the length of a whole LP, the effect that Coleman wanted to achieve, wears thin. Coleman's playing on the album, though, is excellent, as is Haden's, but the latter sounds a little subdued , even in the remaster.

The sound on all records is amazing, with the Stockholm live date standing out in every respect. The pressing quality and the production of the covers and box are impeccable.

Happy to report my box set came in great shape. Looks good, sounds great. Well done!