Peace

Peace sounds like a sigh that lingers too long, as if time had stretched itself just so that Ornette Coleman could say something without haste. It is not jazz in the sense of calculated solos or rigid structures: it is more like a dialogue where each instrument seems to answer with another question, with no one wanting to end the conversation. The trumpet of Don Cherry and the saxophone of Ornette Coleman tangle in lines that repeat but are never the same, while the bass of Charlie Haden and the drums of Billy Higgins weave a rhythm that oscillates between the free and the measured, as if you were walking a tightrope without falling. The piece lasts nearly nine minutes, yet at no point do you feel it drags: it is as if every note breathes on its own, without hurry.