Ornette on Bass

A solo double-bass album by Marcin Oleś, devoted to the music of Ornette Coleman. Recorded without overdubbing, the program gathers twelve pieces — eight of Coleman's combo compositions reinterpreted on a single unaccompanied bass, alongside four of Oleś's own pieces ('Echoes,' 'Windows,' 'Shapes,' 'Questions') that frame and converse with the tribute material. Among the Coleman themes are 'Una Muy Bonita,' 'Lonely Woman' (presented in three distinct readings), 'Blessing,' 'Soap Suds,' 'Law Years,' and 'Humpty Dumpty.'

Oleś is thought to be among the first bassists to commit an entire solo record to Coleman's themes, and the instrument proves unexpectedly apt for the task: many of Coleman's heads harken back to the country blues string band tradition, so the double bass feels ideally suited to the material. Rather than treating these melodies as abstractions, Oleś allows the basic song-like quality of Coleman's themes to come out, drawing on the folk- and blues-rooted lyricism at their core. His approach ranges widely across technique and color — on 'Humpty Dumpty' he quickens the tempo, while at times his vibrations are such that plucks and the echoing, malleable harmonic tones almost sound like two basses, and on 'Blessing' he turns to relaxed pizzicato that ranges across all the strings.

The record reflects what critics describe as Oleś's gift for relocating American source material into a European idiom — adding a European sensitivity and aesthetic to Coleman's roots, so that the music reaches beyond a narrow mainstream-jazz frame toward ambitious contemporary improvised music. A solo bass project is among the most demanding undertakings in the jazz idiom, and Oleś meets that risk with assurance.

Widely admired on release, 'Ornette on Bass' was voted among the best albums of its year and received high recommendation in jazz magazines, standing as a landmark in Oleś's discography and a striking demonstration of the double bass as a melodic, self-sufficient voice. It can be heard as a companion to his twin brother Bartłomiej Brat Oleś's later solo-drums album Freedrum Suite, also issued by Not Two.