Ornette and all that jazz at the National Arts Club

Chelsea Now photos by Jefferson Siegel

Left, Ornette Coleman performs some new jazz at the National Arts Club, where he received the club’s Gold Medal of Honor for Jazz. Right, Coleman with Robert Tierney, chairperson of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

By Jefferson Siegel

At a late-night ceremony on Dec. 14 at the National Arts Club on Gramercy Park S., jazz legend Ornette Coleman, 76, was awarded the club’s Gold Medal of Honor for Jazz.

Coleman came to national prominence in the late 1950s with forays into a new style called “free jazz” in performances at the legendary Five Spot at 5 Cooper Square at E. Fourth St. in the East Village.

Robert Tierney, chairperson of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, presented Coleman with a letter of congratulation from Mayor Bloomberg.

Tierney later said, “I love jazz and go to the [Village] Vanguard at least once every two weeks.”

N.A.C. President O. Aldon James Jr. presented the award to Coleman.

After receiving the letter and medal, Coleman told the gathering, “The most sincere thing about being alive is that we don’t have to die.”

After the brief ceremony, Coleman and his quartet played some music newly composed for the event. With a start time of 11 p.m., an appropriate time for jazz musicians, the club’s Grand Gallery was packed for the one-hour concert.