Sound Grammar  

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Sound Grammar is an album by jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, recorded live in Ludwigshafen, Germany, on 14 October 2005. The album was produced by Ornette Coleman and Michaela Deiss, and released on Coleman's new Sound Grammar label. It is his first new album in almost a decade, since the end of his relationship with Verve in the 1990s. It features a mix of new and old originals (some of the latter given new titles).

One unusual feature of the album that critics have frequently noted is Coleman's use of musical quotation: his solo on the blues "Turnaround" includes snatches of Richard Rodgers' "If I Loved You" and Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer"; even more unexpectedly, the theme of "Sleep Talking" begins with the same notes as Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.

The reception of the album has been highly positive; it figured at or near the top of virtually every jazz magazine poll at the end of 2006, including Downbeat and Jazz Times.

In 2006, Sound Grammar received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance. The following year, Sound Grammar won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Track listing

1. "Intro" - 1:14 (MC's spoken introduction)
2. "Jordan" - 6:32
3. "Sleep Talking" - 8:55 (a.k.a. "Sleep Talk" from Of Human Feelings)
4. "Turnaround" - 4:06 (a.k.a. "Turnabout" from Tomorrow Is the Question!)
5. "Matador" - 5:57 (a.k.a. "Picolo Pesos" from Sound Museum)
6. "Waiting for You" - 6:50 (a.k.a. "House of Stained Glass" from Colors)
7. "Call to Duty" - 5:34 (has been performed live under the title Crying Without Tears)
8. "Once Only" - 9:40 (a.k.a. "If I only Knew as Much About You" from Tone Dialing)
9. "Song X" - 10:22 (from Song X)

All compositions by Ornette Coleman.

Personnel

• Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone, violin, trumpet
• Denardo Coleman - drums, percussion
• Gregory Cohen - bass
• Tony Falanga - bass