Dancing in Your Head

Ornette Coleman played Memorial Hall at UNC last night with his most recent quartet which includes his son Denardo on drums plus Tony Falanga on acoustic bass and Al MacDowell on electric bass...i was just excited to see the man in person for the first time and would have settled for little, but no need for that, it was amazing. frankly i got worried when i saw the electric bass, but MacDowell played it like a guitar and the interplay between him and Falanga, who was a powerhouse on his upright, was really spacious and cool. Ornette sounded great, he sounded like Ornette, and the setlist was a kind of career retrospective and made it clear what a thing he has honed over the years as his own voice despite the fact that his settings and lineups have changed so often. He saved Loney Woman for the encore and it was a moving, great way to go out.