Jacques Derrida interviews Ornette Coleman

This is one of those rare moments when two great minds from different cultural and professional backgrounds meet and discuss the abstract realms of sound and language. The interview took place in 1997, before and during Coleman’s three concerts at La Villette, a museum and performing arts complex north of Paris. Although the conversation ranges from Coleman’s early days in Texas, then New York, racial injustice and music theory, to the impact of technology on music, the heart of the interview was deeply philosophical and discusses the “language of origin” and similar subjects. Derrida and Coleman have something in common: both are the fathers of movements - Derrida is the creator of “deconstruction” in philosophy and Coleman is considered the inventor of “free jazz”. That means that both of them were “deconstructing” the things that were considered standard and mainstream in their time. For all Coleman fans and philosophy enthusiasts, I strongly recommend you read the whole interview here.

Part of the interview took place on stage, but the audience didn’t find it so much interesting. Though Derrida had been invited by the saxophonist, Coleman’s impatient Parisian fans booed him, eventually forcing him off the stage. In a Time magazine interview, the philosopher recalled it as “a very unhappy event.” But, he says, “it was in the paper the next day, so it was a happy ending.”