Tomorrow is the Question!
Year: 1959
Format: Spotify
Grade: B+
For Harvey
I remembered remarkably late into the process of Our Music Year that Harvey Pekar, the man whose work inspired the project's title, wasn't just a scribe of comic books, but that he also was a prolific jazz critic.
So for the penultimate entry in the project, I chose one of Pekar's favorites.
Pulitzer Prize winning jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman's Tomorrow is the Question! was his second and final effort for Contemporary before making the move to Atlantic Records and cutting the far more well-known The Shape of Jazz to Come.
Departing from his Contemporary debut, Something Else!!!!, Coleman ditched the piano and invited back only trumpeter Don Cherry. The two voices work well together, sometimes harmonizing. In solos, they spur each other on, playing a game of one-upsmanship with each other.
Still, Coleman is the headliner on Tomorrow. His ability to dance up and down the sax pads shines on "Mind and Time." Coleman fashions himself a man of his era by starting with hard bop, but his solos can wildly disregard the tempo and phrasing expected of him.
Considering Pekar had a penchant for avant-garde stylings, it's no wonder Tomorrow was among his favorites.
Tomorrow's entry: Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power
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