The last couple of e-mails I have received from Phil Oppenheim have been entitled "Who Knew?" So I think it is time for a new regular feature called "'Who Knew?' with Phil Oppenheim." This time Phil writes in about the influence of an early twentieth-century cantor on Ornette Coleman. In the article Phil sent along, Ornette is quoted as saying, "I started crying like a baby. The [cantor]... was crying, singing, and praying, all in the same breath. And none of it was crossing each other. I said, 'Wait a minute. You can’t find those "notes." They don’t exist.'" (Unlike the picture of McNeil in "McNeil's Thoughts I've Been A-Thinkin'," this really is Phil.)
