''Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation'' is the sixth album by jazz saxophonist and composer

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...

, released on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in September 1961: the fourth of Coleman's six albums for the label. Its title named the then-nascent free jazz movement. The recording session took place on December 21, 1960, at A&R Studios in New York City. The sole outtake from the album session, "First Take," was later released on the 1971 compilation '' Twins'' and subsequent CD reissues of ''Free Jazz''.

Music

The music is a continuous free improvisation with only a few brief pre-determined sections, recorded in one take with no overdubbing or editing. The album features what Coleman called a “double quartet,” i.e., two self-contained jazz quartets: each with a reed instrument, trumpet, bass, and drums. The two quartets are heard in separate channels, with Coleman's working quartet at the time (as featured on ''

Ornette! ''Ornette!'' is the seventh album by alto saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, released in February 1962 on Atlantic Records. The album features Scott LaFaro in place of Charlie Haden, who had left the Quartet but would work again with Colema ...

'') in the left channel, and the second quartet, including the former Coleman rhythm section of Charlie Haden and

Ed Blackwell Edward Joseph Blackwell (October 10, 1929 – October 7, 1992) was an American jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana, known for his extensive, influential work with Ornette Coleman. Biography Blackwell's early career began in New Orleans ...

, on the right. The two quartets play simultaneously, with the two rhythm sections providing a dense rhythmic foundation over which the wind players either solo or provide freeform commentaries, interspersed with pre-composed passages. The composed thematic material can be considered a series of brief, dissonant

fanfares A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...

for the horns which serve as interludes between solos. ''Free Jazz'' was the first album-length improvisation at thirty-seven minutes, unheard of at the time. The original LP package incorporated Jackson Pollock's 1954 painting ''The White Light''. The cover was a gatefold with a cutout window in the lower right corner allowing a glimpse of the painting; opening the cover revealed the full artwork, along with liner notes by critic Martin Williams. Coleman was a fan of Pollock's work as well as being a painter himself, and the cover of his 1966 LP ''

The Empty Foxhole ''The Empty Foxhole'' is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman released on the Blue Note label in 1966.

'' would feature his own artwork.

Reception

In the January 18, 1962 issue of '' Down Beat'' magazine, in a special review titled "Double View of a Double Quartet,"

Pete Welding Peter John Welding (15 November 1935 – 17 November 1995) was an American historian, archivist, and record producer specializing in jazz and blues. Born in Philadelphia, United States, Welding worked as a journalist for ''Down Beat'' magazine and ...

awarded the album Five Stars while John A. Tynan rated it No Stars. AllMusic critic Steve Huey described it in his five-star retrospective review as "a staggering achievement" which "practically defies superlatives in its historical importance." It served as the blueprint for later large-ensemble free jazz recordings such as '' Ascension'' by John Coltrane and '' Machine Gun'' by

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

. On March 3, 1998, ''Free Jazz'' was reissued on compact disc by Rhino Records as part of its "Atlantic 50" series marking Atlantic Records' fiftieth anniversary. The title track, split into two sections for each side of the LP, appeared here in continuous uninterrupted form, along with the previously issued "First Take".

Track listing

Original LP

1998 CD reissue

Timing of the various sections

* 00:00 Polyphonic introduction * 00:07 Ensemble introduction to Eric Dolphy * 00:22 Eric Dolphy – bass clarinet solo (right channel) * 05:12 Ensemble introduction to Freddie Hubbard * 05:40 Freddie Hubbard – trumpet solo (right channel) * 09:54 Ensemble introduction to Ornette Coleman * 10:05 Ornette Coleman alto saxophone solo (left channel) * 19:36 Ensemble Introduction to Don Cherry * 19:48 Don Cherry – pocket trumpet solo (left channel) * 25:21 Ensemble introduction to Charlie Haden * 25:26 Charlie Haden – bass solo (right channel) * 29:51 Ensemble introduction to Scott LaFaro * 30:00 Scott LaFaro – bass solo (left channel) * 33:47 Polyphonic ensemble introduction to Ed Blackwell * 34:00 Ed Blackwell – drum solo (right channel) * 35:19 Ensemble introduction to Billy Higgins * 35:28 Billy Higgins – drum solo (left channel)

Personnel

;Left channel *

–

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

* Don Cherry –

pocket trumpet 250px, Pocket trumpet in B-flat, with a standard size bell and medium-large bore The pocket trumpet is a B♭ trumpet that is constructed with the tubing wound into a much smaller coil than a standard trumpet, generally with a smaller diameter ...

* Scott LaFaro – double bass * Billy Higgins –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Right channel *

Eric Dolphy Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gai ...

–

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

– trumpet * Charlie Haden – bass *

– drums

Production

* Tom Dowd –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

Nesuhi Ertegün Nesuhi Ertegun ( Turkish spelling: Nesuhi Ertegün; November 26, 1917 – July 15, 1989) was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International. Early life Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesuhi ...

–

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

References

{{Authority control 1961 albums Atlantic Records albums Ornette Coleman albums Albums produced by Nesuhi Ertegun Free jazz albums Avant-garde jazz albums