View source for In All Languages

{{For|the Godflesh album|In All Languages (Godflesh album)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = In All Languages
| type       = [[Double album]]
| artist     = [[Ornette Coleman]]
| cover      = OrnetteColemanInAllLanguagesCover.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = February 1987
| recorded   =
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Free jazz]], [[harmolodics|harmolodic funk]]
| length     = 73:29
| label      = [[Caravan of Dreams]]
| producer   = [[Denardo Coleman]]
| prev_title = [[Song X]]
| prev_year  = 1986
| next_title = [[Virgin Beauty]]
| next_year  = 1988
}}

'''''In All Languages''''' is a 1987 [[double album]] by [[Ornette Coleman]]. Coleman and the other members of his 1950s quartet, [[trumpet]]er [[Don Cherry (jazz)|Don Cherry]], [[double bass|bassist]] [[Charlie Haden]], and [[drum]]mer [[Billy Higgins]], performed on one of the two [[Gramophone record|record]]s, while his [[electric instrument|electrified]] ensemble, [[Prime Time (band)|Prime Time]], performed on the other.  Many of the songs on ''In All Languages''  had two renditions, one by each group.

The double album was originally released by [[Caravan of Dreams]], which also issued the title as a single [[Compact audio cassette|cassette]] or [[compact disc]].  Coleman's record label, [[Harmolodics|Harmolodic]], re-issued ''In All Languages'' in 1997 through a marketing and distribution deal with [[Verve Records]].<ref name="bb1997">{{Cite magazine | title=Jazz/Blue Notes | last=Macnie | first=Jim | magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] | pages=44 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fA8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44 | date=May 24, 1997 | publisher=BPI Communications | issn=0006-2510 | access-date=October 3, 2012}}</ref><ref name="bb1995">{{Cite magazine | title=Harmolodic Label Is Pure Coleman | last=Macnie | first=Jim | magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] | pages=1, 84 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Q0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PP3 | date=September 16, 1995 | publisher=BPI Communications | issn=0006-2510 | access-date=October 3, 2012}}</ref>

== Recording and music ==
For the album, Coleman recorded both his original quartet and his newer Prime Time band in the same studio within the same period. ''[[Option (music magazine)|Option]]'' magazine remarked that ''In All Languages'' showcases the differences between his original quartet's [[free jazz]] and the [[harmolodics|harmolodic funk]] of his Prime Time band.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[Option (music magazine)|Option]]|year=1987|title=Review: In All Languages|page=78|quote=Coleman has released an album which definitively spells the musical disparities between the free-bop of his original quartet and the rampaging harmolodic funk of his Prime Time conglomeration. This 2-record set is probably most inspiring because Ornette chose to record each group in the same studio during the same time period.}}</ref> [[Geoffrey Himes]] of ''[[JazzTimes]]'' said the album's approach "may sound very [[avant-garde jazz|avant-garde]], but it's not so different from a [[Dixieland]] combo that stands to solo all at once on the final chorus or from a pre-war blues band that shifts from D to D-flat and from 12 bars to 13 in pursuit of a song."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[JazzTimes]]|year=2005|volume=35|issue=6–10|page=54|last=Himes|first=Geoffrey Himes|title=Review: In All Languages}}</ref>

== Critical reception ==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="yanow" />
| rev3 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev3Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]|year=1992|last1=DeCurtis|first1=Anthony|author-link1=Anthony DeCurtis|last2=Henke|first2=James|last3=George-Warren|first3=Holly|page=152|publisher=[[Random House]]|isbn=0679737294|edition=3rd}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''
| rev4Score = 8/10<ref>{{cite journal|last=Michaels|first=Rob|date=October 1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G-86CzNjg9cC&pg=PA144|title=Spins|page=144|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|location=New York|access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>
| rev2 = [[Tom Hull (critic)|Tom Hull]]
| rev2Score = A<ref>{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=n.d.|url=http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/nm/shop/jazz-40s.html|title=Jazz (1940–50s) (Reference)|website=tomhull.com|access-date=March 4, 2020}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev5Score = A<ref name="Christgau"/>
}}
Reviewing the album for ''[[The Village Voice]]'' in 1987, [[Robert Christgau]] applauded Coleman as a persistently lyrical iconoclast and said the Quartet sounded more intense than ever before because of how they follow Coleman's [[Harmolodics|harmolodic funk]] approach and "the dense flow of ''[[Of Human Feelings]]''".<ref name="Christgau">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=July 28, 1987|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv7-87.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref> In another piece for ''[[Playboy]]'', Christgau cited the album as "an ideal introduction" to Coleman's music and remarked that, despite Coleman's restless playing, Prime Time's chemistry and the brevity of the songs "assure a coherence that coexists with constant surprise as in no other music."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=October 1987|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/play/1987-10.php|title=Ornette Coleman|journal=[[Playboy]]|access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref> ''In All Languages'' was voted the eleventh best album of the year in ''The Village Voice''{{'}}s annual [[Pazz & Jop]] critics poll for 1987.<ref>{{cite news|date=March 1, 1988|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres87.php|title=The 1987 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref> Christgau, the poll's creator, named it the fourth best album of 1987 in his own list.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/deans87.php|title=Pazz & Jop 1987: Dean's List|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|date=March 1, 1988|access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>

In a retrospective review for [[AllMusic]], jazz critic [[Scott Yanow]] said that Prime Time "almost makes the acoustic unit sound conservative in comparison. While the quartet displays subtle use of space and interplay between the musicians, Prime Time comes across as overcrowded and loud, but no less stimulating. Highly recommended to fans of Ornette Coleman."<ref name="yanow">{{AllMusic | last=Yanow | first=Scott | authorlink=Scott Yanow | class=album | id=in-all-languages-mw0000192985 | accessdate=2012-10-03}}</ref> Michael G. Nastos, writing for ''[[All Music Guide to Jazz]]'', wrote that "the utterly no-nonsense approach and high intensity make this a recording challenged listeners must have," also noting that the quartet's "work is still vital."<ref name="nastos">{{Citation | last=Nastos | first=Michael G. | author-link=Ron Wynn | editor=Ron Wynn | editor-link=Ron Wynn | others=M. Erlewine, V. Bogdanov | year=1994 | title=[[All Music Guide to Jazz]] | place=San Francisco | publisher=Miller Freeman | page=[https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidetoj00wynn/page/163 163] | isbn=0-87930-308-5 }}</ref> Lloyd Sachs of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' said that the music is "so compulsively melodic and rhythmically alive, I dare anyone to utter the usual stuff about how 'difficult' Ornette is after a single listening."<ref>{{cite news|last=Sachs|first=Lloyd|date=December 16, 1990|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB3731C484057A1&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Building a library of great CD|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|page=4|access-date=August 1, 2013}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

==Track listing==
All compositions by Ornette Coleman, Phrase Text Music, [[ASCAP]]. This track listing reflects the original double album configuration.
{{Track listing
| headline        = Side A (the Quartet)
| title1 = Peace Warriors | length1 = 2:35
| title2=Feet Music | length2=3:32
| title3=Africa is the Mirror of All Colors | length3=2:58
| title4=Word for Bird | length4=3:16
| title5=Space Church (Continuous Service) | length5=3:59
}}

{{Track listing
| headline        = Side B (the Quartet)
| title1=Latin Genetics | length1=3:39
| title2=In  All Languages | length2=3:33
| title3=Sound Manual | length3=3:08
| title4=Mothers of the Veil | length4=3:45
| title5=Cloning | length5=3:14
}}

{{Track listing
| headline        = Side C (Prime Time)
| title1=Music News | length1=3:00
| title2=Mothers of the Veil | length2=4:28
| title3=The Art of Love is Happiness | length3=2:29
| title4=Latin Genetics | length4=2:45
| title5=Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow | length5=3:10
| title6=Listen Up | length6=2:29
| title7=Feet Music | length7=3:49
}}

{{Track listing
| headline        = Side D (Prime Time)
| title1=Space Church (Continuous Service) | length1=4:34
| title2=Cloning | length2=2:28
| title3=In All Languages | length3=3:06
| title4=Biosphere | length4=2:20
| title5=Story Tellers | length5=2:49
| title6=Peace Warriors | length6=2:23
}}

==Personnel==
; Sides A and B (the Quartet)
*Ornette Coleman – [[alto saxophone|alto]] and [[tenor saxophone]]
*Don Cherry – trumpet
*Charlie Haden – double bass
*Billy Higgins – drums

; Sides C and D (Prime Time)
*Ornette Coleman – saxophone and trumpet
*[[Denardo Coleman]] – drums
*[[Calvin Weston]] – drums
*[[Jamaaladeen Tacuma]] – [[bass guitar]]
*Al MacDowell – bass guitar
*Charlie Ellerbee – [[electric guitar]] <!-- Note: interview in Cadence Magazine, Nov. 2005, spells it "Charlee Ellerbe" -->
*[[Bern Nix|Bernie Nix]] – electric guitar

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Discogs master|type=album|116850}}
{{Ornette Coleman}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1987 albums]]
[[Category:Caravan of Dreams albums]]
[[Category:Ornette Coleman albums]]
[[Category:Free jazz albums]]