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Avant jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman's return to an acoustic setting — and his first use of piano in that format in over 35 years — triumphs, due to the artist's still-quixotic writing and improvisatory blueprints, his febrile alto saxophone solos, and the responsiveness of the band, particularly Gerri Allen's darting keyboard work. Both Sound Museum: Three Women and Sound Museum: Hidden Man mainly use the same compositions yet fairly burst with diversity. Whether his peers choose to follow him or not, Coleman still leads the jazz pack. Both: A


Posted Aug 23, 1996 | Published in issue #341-342 Aug 23, 1996 | Order Article Reprints