This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.

Public support for Festival 2017 is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

July 12 Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse

Lincoln Center Festival lead support is provided by American Express

Approximate performance time: 1 hour and 20 minutes, with no intermission

Ornette: Made in America (1985)Documentary film by Shirley Clarke

Ornette Coleman:Tomorrow is the Question

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A Note on the Program

Louis Armstrong built the rocket ship thatlifted humans off the earth. We went fromcaves, ocean surfaces, jungles, prairies,and deserts to outer space. This tripenabled us to provide definitive answers tosome cosmic questions. Yes, the earth isround. No, the sun does not revolve aroundus. And, yes, the speed of Pop’s horn wasproof that light does indeed bend.

Twenty years after Louis, Charlie Parkerpiloted that rocket ship to a meeting withGod. Their conversation was so profound itresulted in a Big Bang, creating Universesand Galaxies, places unconceived ofbefore, ideas unconceived of before,energy unconceived of before. It washuman inspiration blazing away at its high-est level.

Less than 20 years after Bird, OrnetteColeman took that rocket ship and returnedfrom beyond the known galaxy with theinsight that man and even life itself are butideas. The free search for ideas and resolu-tions had loosened the moorings of con-ventional Gravity. Ideas can take manyforms. Man is not the only life form. Theother life form is Freedom. Other energiesflowed in, and so did other ways of being.Ornette was hailed as a hero by some,screamed at as a fraud by others.

In 1997 Lincoln Center Festival askedOrnette what he would like to present forits second summer season. Ornette choseto design a career retrospective. There washis Original Quartet with Don Cherry,Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins, which hadnot performed together for many years. (Asit happened, Don was dealing with a healthissue and Ornette invited Wallace Roney tofill in on trumpet.) There were two nights ofOrnette’s symphony, Skies of America, per-

formed by the New York Philharmonic underthe direction of Kurt Masur. And there wasOrnette’s Prime Time band with specialguests Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson.

Two decades later, when Lincoln CenterFestival wanted to honor Ornette again, itwas bittersweet, as he is no longer with us.But his legacy lives on, and I was pleased totake advantage of the opportunity to hearhis music performed by long-time bandmembers, special guests, and many friends.

Naked Lunch—a 1991 film and soundtrackalbum—was one of the rare times thatOrnette played over someone else’s music.Inspired by William Burroughs’ namesakenovel, David Cronenberg’s film adaptation,and Howard Shore’s score, Ornette con-jured up his own Harmolodic Interzone. Thecurrent performance will feature an orches-tra and a quartet comprising HenryThreadgill, Ravi Coltrane, Charnett Moffett,and yours truly.

Ornette: Made in America is an experimen-tal art piece by filmmaker Shirley Clarke.Begun in 1968 and finished in 1983, itstarts off with Ornette receiving the keys tothe city of Ft. Worth, Texas, his hometown.Clutching the keys, he says wryly, “I’mgonna let all the dogs out.” “Edgy” is anoverused term when it comes to art, butthis film qualifies.

Ornette’s Prime Time band first took shapein 1975, when Ornette and four youngmusicians were stranded in Paris for sixmonths after a European tour fell through.The result was the seminal album Dancingin Your Head. A sonic breakthrough, therehas been nothing that funky and freelyimprovised before or since.

In 1962 Ornette, fed up with his musicbeing relegated to basement jazz clubs,

LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

rented Town Hall and produced his ownconcert. When he recounted the story inlater years, he noted, “On that day in NewYork City, there was a snowstorm, a sub-way strike, and a newspaper strike. But Ididn’t lose any money.” The program onthat occasion included a performance ofOrnette’s first chamber work, whichsparked his interest in classical composi-tion. On July 16 a selection of Ornette’schamber works will be heard.

As with all of his work, my father continuallylooked ahead: “Tomorrow’s the Question.”

—Denardo Coleman

About the Artists

Ornette Coleman (Composer) taught theworld new ways of hearing music since heburst onto the New York jazz scene with hislegendary engagement at the Five Spot. In1958, with his debut album SomethingElse, it was clear that Coleman had usheredin a new era in jazz history. With his coremusical partners—trumpeter Don Cherry,double bass player Charlie Haden, anddrummer Billy Higgins—their music, freedfrom the prevailing conventions of harmony,rhythm, and melody, transformed the artform. From 1959 (which saw the release ofhis seminal albums Tomorrow Is theQuestion! and The Shape of Jazz to Come)and through the 1960s, Coleman releasedmore than 20 critically acclaimed albums onthe Atlantic and Blue Note labels, most ofwhich are now recognized as jazz classics.In the classical realm, Coleman studiedtrumpet and violin, expanding the scope ofhis repertoire to include string quartets,woodwind quintets, and orchestral works.Coleman’s symphony Skies of America,recorded by the London PhilharmonicOrchestra, was released in 1972. After hisjourneys to villages in Morocco and Nigeriain the 1970s, he created a new sound that

was full of his trademark musical theoryHarmolodics, leading to the creation of hisband Prime Time, which released the land-mark album Dancing in Your Head in 1977.Coleman defined Harmolodics as “the useof the physical and the mental of one’s ownlogic made into an expression of sound tobring about the musical sensation of unisonexecuted by a single person or with agroup.” In the next decade, more surprisesincluded trendsetting albums Song X withguitarist Pat Metheny (1986); Virgin Beautyfeaturing the late Grateful Dead leader JerryGarcia (1988); and Tone Dialing (1995); aswell as music performed on the sound-tracks for the films Naked Lunch (1991) andPhiladelphia (1993). In 1994 OrnetteColeman was named a MacArthur Fellowand in 1997 was inducted into the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Letters. That sameyear, Lincoln Center Festival presentedOrnette Coleman: ? Civilization, with perfor-mances of Coleman’s symphony Skies ofAmerica by Kurt Masur and the New YorkPhilharmonic; an evening with Coleman,Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, and specialguests; and Coleman: Tone Dialing withColeman’s band Prime Time, Lou Reed,Laurie Anderson, and Fireplay. In 2007 hisrecording Sound Grammar was awardedthe Pulitzer Prize for Music. He received aGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award, andhis third album The Shape of Jazz to Comewas inducted into the Grammy Hall of Famein 2015, the same year he passed away.

Shirley Clarke (Director), born in 1919 inNew York, began as a dancer studying withsuch innovative choreographers as MarthaGraham, Hanya Holm, and Doris Humphrey.Soon she turned to cinema, becoming afilmmaker at a time when few women werein the field. Her early shorts reflected herlifelong love of dance along with a growingmastery of the new medium. In her award-winning films, she captured movement onfilm in a new way, eschewing close-ups in

LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

favor of long takes and innovative editing.An active member and advocate of NewYork’s independent film community, shelater turned her attention to social-issuefilmmaking. Despite the success of herfourth feature, the 1967 documentaryPortrait of Jason, she found it increasinglydifficult to get financing for her films. From1975 to 1985, she redirected her talents toteaching film and video production at UCLA.Her fifth and final feature, Ornette: Made inAmerica, was a portrait of the eccentricmusical genius and a cinematic comebackfor Clarke. Once again, she was on the cut-ting edge of film style, weaving documen-tary footage, video art, music videos, andarchitecture into a vibrant collage that mir-rored Coleman’s groundbreaking jazz. Shedied in Boston in 1997.

Lincoln Center Festival, now in its 22ndseason, has received worldwide attentionfor presenting some of the broadest andmost original performing arts programs inLincoln Center’s history. The festival haspresented 1,465 performances of opera,music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinaryforms by internationally acclaimed artistsfrom more than 50 countries. To date, thefestival has commissioned 44 new worksand offered 145 world, U.S., and New Yorkpremieres. It places particular emphasis onshowcasing contemporary artistic view-points and multidisciplinary works thatchallenge the boundaries of traditional per-formance. For more information, visitLincolnCenterFestival.org.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts(LCPA) serves three primary roles: presen-ter of artistic programming, national leaderin arts and education and communityengagement, and manager of the LincolnCenter campus. A presenter of more than3,000 free and ticketed events, perfor-

mances, tours, and educational activitiesannually, LCPA offers 16 series, festivals,and programs, including AmericanSongbook, Avery Fisher Career Grants andArtist program, David Rubenstein Atriumprogramming, Great Performers, LincolnCenter at the Movies, Lincoln CenterEmerging Artist Awards, Lincoln CenterFestival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors,Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project,Midsummer Night Swing, Mostly MozartFestival, White Light Festival, the EmmyAward–winning Live From Lincoln Center,which airs nationally on PBS, and LincolnCenter Education, which is celebrating 40years enriching the lives of students, educa-tors, and lifelong learners. As manager ofthe Lincoln Center campus, LCPA providessupport and services for the Lincoln Centercomplex and the 11 resident organizations:The Chamber Music Society of LincolnCenter, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazzat Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School,Lincoln Center Theater, The MetropolitanOpera, New York City Ballet, New YorkPhilharmonic, New York Public Library forthe Performing Arts, School of AmericanBallet, and Lincoln Center for thePerforming Arts. Lincoln Center hasbecome a leading force in using new mediaand technology to reach and inspire a widerand global audience. Reaching audienceswhere they are—physically and digitally—has become a cornerstone of making theperforming arts more accessible to NewYorkers and beyond. The re-imagination ofDavid Geffen Hall will play an important partin these efforts. For more information, visitLincolnCenter.org.

AcknowledgmentsOrnette: Made in America is a Caravan ofDreams Production and a Milestone FilmRelease.

LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

Upcoming Events in Ornette Coleman: Tomorrow is the QuestionJuly 14 at 8:00 pm Alice Tully Hall

Prime Time: A ReunionSpecial GuestsTrumpet Wallace RoneySaxophone Kidd Jordan, David Murray, Joshua Redman

Prime TimeGuitar Charlie Ellerbe, Kenny WesselTablas Badal RoyBass Al MacDowell, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Chris WalkerDrums Calvin Weston, Denardo ColemanKeyboards Dave Bryant

Original members and friends of Ornette Coleman’s celebrated jazz-funk fusion band, Prime Time,come together for a one-night-only musical tribute. With two electric guitarists, two drummers,one (or sometimes two) electric bassists, and Coleman’s horn in the center, Prime Time wouldlater become Ornette’s primary vehicle for exploring how his system of harmolodics could fit intogroove-based music.

July 16 at 2:00 pm Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse

Ornette: Chamber MusicTrinity (Fantasy for Solo Violin) (1986)Violin Olivia De Prato

Forms and Sounds (1967)

In Honor of NASA and the Planetary Soloists (1986)Oboe Soloist Jacqueline Leclair

The Sacred Mind of Johnny Dolphin (1984)Guest Trumpet Soloist Seneca Black

Ensemble SignalConductor Brad Lubman

Even as he was pushing the boundaries of improvisation, Ornette was also focused on capturingwhat he heard in his head in through-composed works. His orchestral piece Skies of America, per-formed at Lincoln Center Festival in 1997, and numerous chamber works earned him accoladesfrom many classical music innovators, including Virgil Thomson and Leonard Bernstein, who ofteninvited Ornette to performances and rehearsals at Lincoln Center. Join members of EnsembleSignal as they illuminate this intriguing corner of Coleman’s artistry.

For more information, visit LincolnCenterFestival.org.

LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 ORNETTE COLEMAN: TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION

Looking Ahead: Compagnie XY’s Il N’est Pas Encore Minuit

From July 19–22, the renowned French circus collective Compagnie XY will present its newest work, Il N’est Pas Encore Minuit. In collaboration with choreographer Loïc Touzé, 22 acrobats will use their uniquely rhythmic and expressive brand of physical theater to explore the ways in which humanity deals with instability and imbalance. Il N’est Pas Encore Minuit is an incredible experience for audiences of all ages. Le Monde calls it “a pure marvel conquering the sky.”

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Looking Ahead: Le Trio Joubran

On July 29, in the final event of the Nomadic Nights series, the oud ensemble comprising Nazareth-born brothers Samir, Wissam, and Adnan Joubran and percussionist Youssef Hbeisch performs an immersive tribute to the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. In the Shadow of Words is a soulful dialogue between worlds, with the trio’s unique blend of traditional Arabic music, jazz, rock, and flamenco responding to Darwish’s recorded voice, all within a rich multimedia environment. The Guardian ranks Le Trio Joubran

“among the most inventive musicians in the Arab world,” while NPR calls the trio “hypnotic and bliss-inducing.”

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For more information and a complete schedule of Lincoln Center Festival events, visit LincolnCenterFestival.org