Ornette Coleman is probably the most influential avant-garde musician in the world. Coleman is a leading force in jazz. His emotional alto saxophone style is based on melodic improvisation that is not constrained by chord changes. This style (and philosophy) was dubbed "Harmolodics" by Ornette Coleman and culminated in a small combo whose virtuoso playing had the power of the blues and the multi-rhythmic sophistication of Monk, Mingus or Coltrane. The Shape Of Jazz To Come is Ornette Coleman's Atlantic debut and his first recording with his revolutionary quartet: Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins. And it still defines the shape of the jazz of the future.
Ornette Coleman (as); Don Cherry (crt); Charlie Haden (b); Billy Higgins (dr)
It was John Lewis, the pianist from the Modern Jazz Quartet, who introduced Ornette Coleman to the renowned label Atlantic. "Ornette Coleman is the only one doing something new in jazz," he wrote at the time. This first Atlantic album was released in time for the Coleman Quartet's New York debut in November 1959. The fact that Coleman "opens up new avenues for the future of jazz" (according to Lewis) is also claimed by the album title, in English: "The Outline of Jazz to Come".
After the somewhat weary hard bop routine of the previous years, this music blew across the scene like a strong gust of wind. The fast tracks ("Eventuality", "Chronology") are reminiscent of wildly over-the-top bebop. Other themes (»Congeniality«, »Focus On Sanity«) juggle with catchy, almost folkloric short motifs. With "Peace" and "Lonely Woman", which was later also written and sung many times, the album contains two of Coleman's most beautiful compositions.
The model for the quartet without piano was the Mulligan Baker Quartet - and when the band swings along mid-tempo, it really reminds of cool jazz. However, the two horns love the unbridled ›cry‹ and the deliberately ›imprecise‹ interplay. They do not need clearly defined strophic forms or harmonies. "A record that lives up to its loudmouthed title," wrote jazz scholar Peter N. Wilson of this Rolling Stone five-star record.
This Speakers Corner production was made using analog master tape and mastering 100% purely analog. All licenses and GEMA contributions have been paid.
Recorded: Ma1 1959 at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California by Bones Howe Production: Nesuhi Ertegun.
