Lonely Woman

By Stef   

It's been a while that I gave an update on my "Lonely Woman" collection, scanning the internet for new covers of Ornette Coleman's genial composition. Check the "Lonely Woman" tag on the right to get all more recent albums too.

Benoît Delbecq & Fred Hersh Double Trio - Fun House (Songlines, 2013) 

On this great album between two master pianists, joined by Jean-Jacques Avenel and Mark Helias on bass, and Steve Argüelles and Gerry Hemingway on drums, you can expect the best. And it is. Lonely Woman ends the album, a three minute piece, and hence too short, but both pianists manage to capture the composition's dark melancholy extremely well.

Bushman´s Revenge: Electric Komle - Live! (Rune Grammofon, 2013) 

The band is a power guitar trio that mixes jazz with rock and more skronky modern approaches. Even Helte Hermansen is on guitar, Rune Nergaard on bass and Gard Nilssen on drums. Their Lonely Woman is a mid-tempo rocker full of tension and emotional outbursts, while at the same time infusing it with an unexpected fragile sensitivity. A great cover that respects the original while adding something new to it.


Alan Broadbent - Heart To Heart (Chilly Bin Records, 2013). On this solo piano album, Broadbent brings a ten-minute long version of Lonely Woman. His performance is dark and ominous at the beginning,then moves into a more uptempo middle piece, with quite some stellar piano-playing, yet at the same time leaving the piece's original mood, rather unfortunately, and when the darkness comes through again at the end, it has become a mix of blues and classical touches. You get it : it's more about the musician than about the music.


Charnet Moffett - Spirit Of Sound (Motema, 2013) - A very bass-centric approach to Coleman's tune, full of very fast technical acumen, more than a little betraying the composition's original feel of desolation and tension. His son Max's drumming offers great support.


Todd Bishop Group - Little Played Little Bird (Origin, 2012). Drummer Tod Bishop is joined by Richard Cole on bass clarinet, baritone, tenor and soprano saxophones, Tim Willcox on tenor and soprano saxophones, Weber Iago on piano, and Bill Athens on bass, for this Ornette Coleman Tribute album. Their take on Lonely Woman is dragging and somewhat bleak.

Other noteworthy covers that I captured from the last years are

• Brad Mehldau, Kevin Hays & Patrick Zimmerli - Modern Music (Nonesuch, 2011)
• Vic Juris - Omega Is The Alpha (Steeplechase, 2010)
• Lisa Manosperti - Where The West Begins : Voicing Ornette Coleman (Dodicilune, 2012)