"Lonely Woman" is a jazz composition by Ornette Coleman. Coleman's recording of it was the opening track on his 1959 Atlantic Records album The Shape of Jazz to Come. Alongside Coleman's alto saxophone, the recording featured Don Cherry on cornet, Charlie Haden on double bass and Billy Higgins on drums.
Origin In an interview with Jacques Derrida, Coleman spoke of the origin of the composition:
Other versions Haden and Cherry revisited the song on Old and New Dreams (ECM, 1979), Haden doing so again on Etudes (1987) and In Angel City (1988).
Pianist John Lewis first recorded the song in January 1962 with the Modern Jazz Quartet for their album of the same name which was one of the earliest recorded covers of a Coleman number.jazzdisco.org entry for Lonely Woman accessed March 14, 2018Cook, S. Allmusic Review accessed June 6, 2012 Later that year, in July, Lewis recorded it again for his album European Encounter.jazzdisco.org entry for European Encounter accessed March 14, 2018
Vocal versions, with lyrics written by Margo Guryan, have been recorded by Chris Connor (1962), Freda Payne (1964, on After the Lights Go Down Low and Much More!!!) and Carola Standertskjöld (1966). A version with different lyrics by Chris Karrer appeared on the 1974 album "Hijack" by the German rock band Amon Düül II.
Discography Year Performer Album Source 1962 Modern Jazz Quartet Lonely Woman 1965 Denny Zeitlin with Charlie Haden Shining Hour - Live at The Trident 1968 Helen Merrill and Dick Katz A Shade of Difference 1969 Marzette Watts with Patty Waters The Marzette Watts Ensemble 1971 Zurich International Festival All-Stars From Europe with Jazz 1974 Lester Bowie with Julius Hemphill Fast Last! 1977 Hugh Hopper Hopper Tunity Box 1979 Old and New Dreams Old and New Dreams 1982 Masayuki Takayanagi Lonely Woman 1982 Billy Bang and Dennis Charles Bangception 1984 Jaki Byard Phantasies 1987 Charlie Haden with Paul Motian and Geri Allen Etudes 1987 Kronos Quartet White Man Sleeps 1987 Branford Marsalis with Kenny Kirkland Random Abstract 1988 Charlie Haden In Angel City 1990 John Zorn with Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Frith, and Joey Baron Naked City 1992 8 Bold Souls Sideshow 1992Radka ToneffLive in Hamburg (recorded 1981) 1994 Charlie Haden The Montreal Tapes: with Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell 1995 The Denison/Kimball Trio Soul Machine 1998 J. D. Allen In Search of 2002 Greg Malcolm Homesick for Nowhere 2005 Joshua Redman Momentum 2005 Ahmed Abdullah Tara's Song 2005 Sunny Murray Perles Noires Volume 1 2007 Basquiat Strings Basquiat Strings 2009 Miroslav Vitouš Group w/ Michel Portal Remembering Weather Report 2011 Archie Shepp and Joachim Kühn Woman 2011 Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays Modern Music 2013 Benoît Delbecq and Fred Hersch Fun House
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