Ornette Coleman: Rare Print Interview with John Litweiler, 1 of 2

[Sonny Rollins (1930-2026) passed away a few days before I posted today’s essay. As you can see in my index, which is updated every week, I’ve already published 15 essays here on Substack about Rollins, featuring audio interviews and some amazing rare recordings. There will be much more to come, I promise.]

John Litweiler, a jazz journalist based in Chicago, was on the Board of Directors of the Jazz Institute Of Chicago from 1977 to 1988. In addition to hundreds of articles and reviews in periodicals such as DownBeat, he is the author of three books—a respected survey of “free jazz” called The Freedom Principle, a novel called Sundidos, and a biography of Ornette Coleman. While preparing the latter, he interviewed Ornette at length. Jazz researcher and discographer David Wild—who is also one of my coauthors on the John Coltrane Reference book—transcribed the interview and published most of it in his own journal, disc’ribe (sic). Since the journal only ran for three issues, and few people ever saw this interview, I am happy to present it here as it appeared in disc’ribe 3, Fall 1982. It’s long, so I’ll share it in two parts. I thank both John and David for giving permission.

A few details: The interview was conducted in the offices of Sid Bernstein, who became a key initiator of the “British invasion” by bringing over the Beatles and other groups to the U.S.A. He produced other events as well, including some with Ornette’s group Prime Time. In the first paragraph below, David mentions plans to publish his own interview with Ornette. That never appeared anywhere, to my knowledge. The sketch of Ornette is by David’s late mother Sylvia, who was an artist.

This first part of the interview is focused on Ornette’s early years, including his first understanding of transpositions between instruments, which led to his later “Harmolodic” concept. Please note that the last name of the trumpeter Melvin in New Orleans is written incorrectly here—it was Melvin Lastie. (Thank you to subscriber Tim Campbell for this correction.):

Fascinating! We will conclude this interview in the next installment.

All the best,

Lewis