So the man has passed on.

Not sure how I managed to miss the news of Ornette Coleman’s death at the time six weeks back, but I did. Now it’s reached me I find myself locked in a bittersweet combination of sadness-at-the-passing and recollection of the joy and inspiration his music has so often provided me. Above all it was thanks to Ornette that at the age of 16 I discovered the world of free jazz, of boundless improvisational freedom bound together with collective emphathy and  responsiveness in a musical embrace that – for me at least – opened up amazing new worlds.

As is the way with new enthusiams, I quickly tried to convert others to the cause. It was uphill work. When aged 17 I was given the opportunity to select a piece of music for me and my college contemporaries to listen to, I went straight for Coleman’s Free Jazz, a seminal recording in the history of modern music that remains as stimulating as it is – difficult. Can’t say my efforts to bring more bright young teenagers into the free/improv music fold were that successful. Afterwards, however, I consoled myself with the thought that: well, at least I tried.

Back to Ornette: for some reason I never did get to see the man live. But I never stopped listening to him over the years – and even played a few of his compositions with jazz-inclined university mates. Challenging? Yes, often. Capable of exquisite beauty laced with an often piercing sadness? Definitely.

So here’s a small tribute to him . or rather by him. ‘Lonely Woman‘, an early ballad from the seminal album ‘The Shape of Jazz To Come’.

Here is a thoughtful review of Sri Lankan Tamil intellectual and human rights activist Rajan Hoole’s new book: Palmyra Fallen; From Rajani to War’s End. Having made my way through a fair bit of the book – which could certainly have used a decent editor – I find myself firmly in agreement with this reviewer’s main conclusions, reproduced below:

Former Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapaksa meets with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo in 2013.

“Hoole does not exonerate the Sri Lankan military and indeed, at considerable personal risk, he has meticulously reported on their war crimes and human rights abuses. But, he argues, the state’s sins are well known and widely reported while the LTTE’s grisly record has not received the attention it deserves, especially now that many Tamils are glorifying the Tamil Tigers. Hoole asserts that the LTTE had a number of chances to cut a deal with the government that would have been acceptable to the Tamil population, but walked away from compromises that would have spared the nation so much sorrow and loss.