Long Time No See

Ornette Coleman (alto sax), Pat Metheny (guitar synthesizer), Charlie Haden (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums) and Denardo Coleman (drums, percussion). From the album Song X (1986).

In 1969 DeJohnette replaced Tony Williams in Miles Davis’s group and was the main drummer in the emblematic album that initiated jazz fusion Bitches Brew. He also collaborated with other members of the band, like Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and Dave Holland. In 1972 he left Davis and worked for ECM Records from the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s as a leader and as a sideman, playing with such important musicians within the label as Kenny Wheeler, Jan Garbarek and Pat Metheny. In addition, he co-led the Gateway trio with John Abercrombie on guitar and Dave Holland on double bass, and formed the groups Compost, New Directions and Special Edition, which released Special Edition in 1979, and was the first to succeed among critics. It began as an acoustic free jazz set, but later became more commercial with the introduction of keyboards and electric guitars.

In 1983 he joined Keith Jarrett’s trio, recorded Standards, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and Changes, and from 1985 they started touring and recording standards for almost 30 years. In 2007 he published Peace Time and in 2009 Music We Are with Danilo Pérez on piano and John Patitucci on double bass. He later formed another trio with Ravi Coltrane on tenor sax and Matthew Garrison on electric bass, and in 2016 they recorded In Movement. Finally, in 2018 ECM released the double album After the Fall by Keith Jarrett’s trio, which had been recorded live in 1998.

Denardo Coleman makes a brief introduction with the electronic drums and the group exposes the theme, which is very short. The first one to enter is Metheny, who makes an eccentric and uninterrupted solo with a very solid rhythmic accompaniment. Later his speech becomes more melodic and suggestive. Then Coleman and Metheny play a small arrangement to give way to the saxophonist, who plays in a decisive and expressive manner while Metheny makes a sound mattress underneath wrapped in the powerful sound of the two drums. Coleman continues with his adventurous and versatile melodic line whose creativity seems endless. At some point Metheny starts to accompany him, the interpretation warms up and Coleman intensifies his improvisation until the re-exposition of the theme arrives.