Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Ornette Coleman, Arthur Blythe (alto saxophone) McCoy Tyner (piano)
Benefit Concert for the Urban Coalition, DAR Constitution Hall, Washington DC, May 14, 1982. Audience Recording.
“As part of a wide array of Columbia jazz artists each performing a short set of songs, McCoy Tyner played a solo version of Prelude to a Kiss before being joined by Arthur Blythe for a version of Ruby My Dear. Then to everyone's surprise, Tyner and Blythe were joined by Ornette Coleman (whose Prime Time had performed about a half hour earlier). The trio played Coleman's "The Straight Line and The Circle." This may be the only time that Tyner and Coleman have performed together in public.” (Notes from the anonymous taper) Information from the third issue of David Wild’s Disc'ribe (Fall 1982) suggests that Coleman and Prime Time recorded a version of the piece at the Power Station in New York in 1982 that remained unissued. The piece was subsequently recorded as 'Space Church (Continuous Services)' on 'In All Languages' (1987): youtube.com/watch?v=V9UNsRf9Rus
(The photograph shows Coleman at the Ontario Place Forum, Ontario, Canada, the same year as this performance. Photograph © Gary Lawrence Murphy, via Wikimedia Commons.)
Ornette Coleman, Arthur Blythe (alto saxophone) McCoy Tyner (piano)
Benefit Concert for the Urban Coalition, DAR Constitution Hall, Washington DC, May 14, 1982. Audience Recording.
“As part of a wide array of Columbia jazz artists each performing a short set of songs, McCoy Tyner played a solo version of Prelude to a Kiss before being joined by Arthur Blythe for a version of Ruby My Dear. Then to everyone's surprise, Tyner and Blythe were joined by Ornette Coleman (whose Prime Time had performed about a half hour earlier). The trio played Coleman's "The Straight Line and The Circle." This may be the only time that Tyner and Coleman have performed together in public.” (Notes from the anonymous taper) Information from the third issue of David Wild’s Disc'ribe (Fall 1982) suggests that Coleman and Prime Time recorded a version of the piece at the Power Station in New York in 1982 that remained unissued. The piece was subsequently recorded as 'Space Church (Continuous Services)' on 'In All Languages' (1987): youtube.com/watch?v=V9UNsRf9Rus
(The photograph shows Coleman at the Ontario Place Forum, Ontario, Canada, the same year as this performance. Photograph © Gary Lawrence Murphy, via Wikimedia Commons.)
