RIP: Sirone

SironeOn October 21st 2009 legendary free jazz bassist and composer Norris Jones, better known as Sirone, passed away at the age of 69 in Berlin, Germany.

Sirone was part of Revolutionary Ensemble, a jazz group formed in 1971 which featured violinist Leroy Jenkins, drummer Jerome Cooper and Sirone on bass. The group was one of the most innovative at the time. Sirone would play with both pizzicato and arco styles and the trio formed what is now referred to as “chamber jazz” with their five album releases.

A very diverse musician, Sirone went beyond gigs and albums to dedicate his efforts towards composing as well as playing music for the theater, film and television.

Sirone had high expectations for what became known as “free” jazz, having said “I put a definite attention towards the composition merely as a path of reaching the point where we can find that magical moment when you understand…that to reach that point of that freedom is discipline and that discipline is a study, this is why that word [free] doesn’t sit so well with me because it has been abused, the music has been abused by that word ‘free’. Sometimes you get a lot of noise.”

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  1. […] a Sirone quote taken from No Treble: I put a definite attention towards the composition merely as a path of reaching the point where we […]