Free-jazz pioneer and all-around awesome saxophonist Ornette Coleman has filed a lawsuit against Jordan McLean of Antibalas and drummer Amir Ziv for allegedly releasing the tapes of what is described, in a Rolling Stone article, as a session in which Coleman intended to “share his knowledge” with the musicians.
The lawsuit claims that McLean and Ziv pulled a move akin to car manufacturer Opel in their attempts to collaborate with Tom Waits; Coleman was approached about the idea of commercially releasing the tapes of their session, and when consent was refused, they proceeded regardless, albeit with some additional parts and players included under the title New Vocabulary. It’s not quite on the blatant level of the Opel/Waits lawsuit, where they sought a sound-a-like after consent was refused, but the lawsuit does get complicated, because it hinges on whether the commercial release of a jam session requires consent of all the players and whether the aforementioned additional parts added to New Vocabulary would render it a new artistic work.
The defendants issued a statement in response, which denies any wrongdoing and states that “the album is the end result of multiple deliberate and dedicated recording sessions done with the willing participation and consent of Mr. Coleman and the other performers. Any suggestion to the contrary is unfounded.”
There can be only one winner in all of this, and that will be the lawyers.
In the meantime, you should revisit a recording that Coleman most definitely does approve of, The Shape of Jazz to Come which was placed in The Recording Academy Hall of Fame earlier this year.
• Ornette Coleman: http://www.ornettecoleman.com
More about: Antibalas, Ornette Coleman
