Artists House history: Emmanuel Ghent, Ornette and Electronics (1969) (article and music)

From Valerie Ghent:

The avant-jazz single Man on the Moon by Ornette Coleman, released in 1969 in response to the first moon landing, features my father, Emmanuel Ghent, on ‘electronic devices’ jamming with Ornette & an all-star band: Ornette Coleman – alto sax; Don Cherry – trumpet; Dewey Redman – tenor sax; Charlie Haden – bass; Ed Blackwell – drums; Emmanuel Ghent – electronic devices.

I was delighted to find this out of print recording on YouTube this week:

 

 

My father shares a writing credit w/ Ornette on the tune:

It is curious that the B-side of “Man on the Moon” is named “Growing Up”. For me personally, listening to “Man on The Moon” evokes memories of my childhood. When I was a child growing up in SoHo, Ornette lived in our building. In those years, artists (including my parents) were living in, working out of and renovating entire floors of empty factory buildings in SoHo – all before zoning allowed residential use.  In 1970, our building became known for a few years as ‘Artist House‘. Ornette intended Artist House to serve as a live-work performance space for ‘artists of all kinds’. According to jazz.com, residents of Artist House included Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins and Truvenza Coleman, Ornette’s sister.

Ornette lived on the third floor and used the ground floor to rehearse and perform. He would come upstairs to my father’s electronic music studio from time to time and they would jam. Apparently my father recorded a few of these sessions, because there are a few reel-to-reel tapes in my father’s archive with Ornette’s name on the spine. Wonder what is on them! Can you imagine? I hope they are still transferable.

A few years after the release of Man on the Moon (on Impulse), my father performed some of the electronics and studies used for this recording at The Kitchen, on January 17, 1972:

As you can imagine, as a young child I was fascinated by the electronics. Between falling asleep to Ornette’s rehearsals and having (albeit limited) access to the tape machines, who could resist? It was in my father’s studio, on 2-track and 4-track tape machines, that I began to learn the basics of recording.

This material comes from the site of Valerie Ghent: https://valghent.com/emmanuel-ghent-ornette-coleman-man-on-the-moon/


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Karl Berger and Ingrid Sertso (1965 and beyond) (interview)

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Music credit: The Jazz on the Tube podcast theme song is “Mambo Inferno” performed by The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria from the CD ¡Que Viva Harlem!

Ornette playing my violin c. 1985

Charlie Ellerbee (l) and Bern Nix (r)

Ornette’s violin was stolen in a robbery at the Rivington Street school. I lent him mine with a Barcus Berry pickup and he liked it.

– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube

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Ornette’s boyhood career


Download the mp3 here

Within months of picking up the saxophone, Ornette was a working musicians in some of the scariest dives in Fort Worth, bringing home much needed money for his family whose father, a baseball player and singer, died when Ornette was seven.

We talk about this and other topics and read from A.B. Spellman’s classic: “Four Lives in the Bebop Business”

Erratum:  Spellman refers to Melvin Lastie as “Melvin Lassister, a clarinetist.” It’s possible Melvin also played the clarinet, but he was most known for his trumpet playing.

The Lastie clan is one of the great New Orleans musical families and includes Herman Riley and the Andrews clan (James, Troy and Glenn) in their extended family. Frank Lastie introduced gospel drums to the Spiritual Church. and played with Louis Armstrong in the Waif’s Home Band. The family was very important in the Spiritual Church.

Others episodes from “Ornette: Deep from the Heart of Texas” here:

Part One: Ornette: Deep from the Heart of Texas – Conversation with Dave Oliphant

Part Two: Ornette in Amarillo

– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube

P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.

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