As posted on Dave Wild's Wildplace:
Ornette's major appearance in 1997 was an unprecedented three-day concert series in New York City. David Hargis, at that time one of our contacts inside GRP Impulse, provided us with some details:
…Wednesday was his performance of "Skies Of America" and last night was the "reunion" concert with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins. "Skies" was plagued by sound problems. Prime Time was occassionally muffled (I could only hear parts of Denardo's kit, usually Badal Roy was inaudible, and the upright bass was completely enveloped by the surrounding din) and that made the transitions from NY Philharmonic to the octet awkward - unbalanced and distracting. There were, however, wonderful moments. It was certainly an event.
The reunion concert was beautiful. The trio performed, there was an intermission, and then Kenny Barron and Wallace Roney joined (with a couple appearances by vocalists - the folks from Sound Museum, I think, although I have yet to confirm - doing songs strangely Disneyesque). The choice of Wallace and Kenny seemed strange, but it worked very well.
Last night of the Ornette show was not quite up to the reunion, but was tremendously fun nonetheless. Video played in the background, three dancers on stage (different types represented: one hip-hop, one African, one modern), Prime Time in full force, and a few performance artists prior to intermission (a pair of limber, scantily clad women frolicking on a bed of nails, a plate spinner who swallowed the pole as the plate spun on top, and a women walking - and jumping - on broken glass).
Here's the band as listed in the program:
Ornette (as, v, t); Denardo Coleman (d); Dave Bryant (keyboards); Bradley Jones (acoustic bass); Al MacDowell (elec. bass); Chris Rosenberg (g); Kenny Wessel (g); Badal Roy (tabla); Avenda Khanijah Ali (female rapper); Wunmi Olaiya (female African dancer); Veronica Fierro Fernandez (female modern dancer); Lakai Worrel (male hip-hop dancer); Jacky Kamhaji (video artist)
Lou Reed also performed two songs, later Laurie Anderson performed one, and then they both did one together. I felt this interrupted the flow of the show and was generally unexciting. I can see Lou Reed any day of the year, but Ornette shows up here once a decade. Also, I believe there was one female singer not listed in the program. I did not catch her name.
"Skies" was performed by the same musicians along with the NY Philharmonic and directed by Kurt Masur. The reunion show was:
Ornette (as,v,t); Charlie Haden (b); Billy Higgins (d)
first half was the trio, after intermission they were joined by:
Kenny Barron (p); Wallace Roney (t)
and two singers (one white female, one black male) whose names I do not know - it was in yesterday's NY Times, but I can't find it. The Times described the vocal tunes as "dreadful," but I didn't think they were that bad. Not as good as "Hakuna Matata," though.
(Ornette Coleman: ?Civilization Lincoln Center Festival 97, at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, NYC, July 9 - 11 1997, Tuesday through Friday. Skies, revised for this performance, was performed on two consecutive nights; the trio performance followed; and on the last night Ornette appeared with Prime Time. In addition to the Times review which Dave mentioned, there’s a long review in Jazziz and other magazines will probably also cover the event—as Dave said, Ornette shows up once in a decade…).
This may also be of interest (excerpted from an article by Vivien Goldman):
Drawing together many facets of Coleman's work, the Lincoln Center presented Prime Time with dancer Wunmi Olaiya, rapper Avenda Ali and singers Chris Walker & Lauren Kinhan. A downtown frisson was added by Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, and was matched by the audacious antics of elegant circus contortionists writhing on beds of nails. But perhaps the most eagerly awaited aspect of all four nights was the first New York appearance in two decades of the Original Quartet, performing all new material. Hearing the familiar, still stimulating blend of Coleman, Haden and Higgins, (supplemented by pianist Kenny Barron and trumpeter Wallace Roney,) was an emotional experience for many listeners, who found in the depth of the players' empathy a yardstick of their own lives and the fulfillment of dreams they had when they first heard the Quartet shatter conceptions of music.
After a careful reading of the following article from "Dave Wild's Wildplace" website, I think it can be determined that the show with Lou and Laurie took place on Friday, July 11, 1997.