Celebrating Ornette

Is there a particular reason why Celebrate Brooklyn! is staging an Ornette Coleman tribute now—a birthday, an anniversary or somesuch? Not that we can tell, but when you're talking about a body of work as radical, influential, diverse, emotive, engaging and straight-up human as Coleman's, there's no reason the celebration should ever stop. The saxophonist himself, now 84, isn't scheduled to appear here; instead, Denardo—his son and constant collaborator of nearly 50 years—heads an all-star cast of associates and admirers, including Bill Laswell, Bruce Hornsby, Flea, David Murray, the Master Musicians of Jajouka, Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson, Thurston Moore, Henry Threadgill and more. On paper at least, this looks simply stunning.