Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation
| Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation | ||||
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| Studio album by Ornette Coleman | ||||
| Released | September 1961 | |||
| Recorded | December 21, 1960 Atlantic Studios, New York City |
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| Genre | Free jazz Avant-garde jazz |
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| Length | 37:10 | |||
| Label | Atlantic SD 1364 |
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| Producer | Nesuhi Ertegün | |||
| Ornette Coleman chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [1] |
| Yahoo! Music | (favorable)[2] |
Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation is the sixth album by jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, recorded in 1960. Its title established the name of the then-nascent free jazz movement. The album features a double quartet, one in each stereo channel; the rhythm sections play simultaneously, and though there is a succession of solos as is usual in jazz, they are peppered with freeform commentaries by the other horns that often turn into full-scale collective improvisation. The pre-composed material is a series of brief, dissonant fanfares for the horns which serve as interludes between solos. Not least among the album's achievements was that it was the first LP-length improvisation, nearly forty minutes in length, which was unheard of at the time.
The album was identified by Chris Kelsey in his Allmusic essay "Free Jazz: A Subjective History" as one of the 20 Essential Free Jazz Albums.[3] It served as the blueprint for later large-ensemble free jazz recordings such as John Coltrane's Ascension and Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Free Jazz" – 37:10
- "First Take" – 17:02 Bonus track on CD reissue; first issued on 1971 compilation LP, Twins.
- All compositions by Ornette Coleman
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Left channel
- Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone
- Don Cherry – pocket trumpet
- Scott LaFaro – bass
- Billy Higgins – drums
[edit] Right channel
[edit] Production
[edit] Cover
The original LP package incorporated Jackson Pollock's 1954 painting The White Light.[4] The cover was a gatefold with a cutout window in the lower left corner, allowing a glimpse of the painting; opening the cover revealed the full artwork, along with liner notes by critic Martin Williams.
The CD reissue replaces the window and Pollock painting with a contemporary photograph of Coleman.
[edit] References
- ^ Allmusic Review
- ^ Yahoo! Music review
- ^ Kelsey, C. Free Jazz: A Subjective History accessed December 7, 2009
- ^ Jazz: A Film By Ken Burns, Episode 9, 2001.
