''Tomorrow Is the Question!'', subtitled ''The New Music of Ornette Coleman!'', is the second album by American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician

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 ...

, originally released in 1959 by

Contemporary Records Contemporary Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Lester Koenig in Los Angeles in 1951. Contemporary produced music from a variety of jazz styles and players. West Coast players Contemporary became identified with a style of ja ...

. It was Coleman's last album for the label before he began a highly successful multi-album series for

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 1959. As well as regular sideman

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

on trumpet, the album features bassists

Percy Heath Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout ...

and Red Mitchell, and drummer

Shelly Manne Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, s ...

. Unlike Coleman's debut ''

Something Else!!!! ''Something Else!!!!'' (subtitled ''The Music of Ornette Coleman'') is the debut album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It was released by Contemporary Records in September 1958. According to AllMusic, the album "shook up the jazz world", rev ...

'', on which he was contractually obliged to feature a pianist, there is no piano on the album.

Reception

The album generally received better press than did ''Something Else!!!!''.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Thom Jurek notes the interplay of Coleman and Cherry on tunes he described as "knottier and tighter in their arrangement style" than those of the previous album. Ekkehard Jost, in his book ''Free Jazz'', noted that "as early as the 1958/59 recordings for Contemporary, the most pronounced features of Coleman's saxophone playing were set. His bent for improvisations that were largely unrestrained harmonically is evident, even in pieces whose outward make-up is anything but revolutionary." Others have hailed the removal of the piano as a positive move: for Mike Andrews, "a marked conceptual improvement can be immediately recognized" as the lack of harmonic instrument allowed greater freedom for the soloists.

Release history

Released as an LP by Contemporary Records in 1959. Reissued in 1991 on the

Original Jazz Classics Original Jazz Classics (or OJC) is a record label that founded in 1983 as an imprint of Fantasy Records. Under this name original editions of jazz LPs have been reissued on CD and LP, and formerly on cassette as well. The recordings in the seri ...

label.

Track listing

''All pieces written by

.'' #"Tomorrow Is the Question!" – 3:09 #"Tears Inside" – 5:00 #"Mind and Time" – 3:08 #"Compassion" – 4:37 #"Giggin'" – 3:19 #"Rejoicing" – 4:01 #"Lorraine" – 5:55 #"Turnaround" – 7:58 #"Endless" – 5:18 ''Track 7 recorded on January 16, 1959; tracks 8 and 9 on February 23; tracks 1-6 recorded on March 9 and 10, 1959.''

Personnel

Performance

– alto saxophone *

– trumpet *

– bass (tracks 1–6) *

– drums * Red Mitchell – bass (tracks 7–9)

Production

* Roy DuNann – engineer *

Nat Hentoff Nathan Irving Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for ''The Village Voice'' from 1958 to 2009. Fol ...

–

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

Lester Koenig Lester Koenig (December 3, 1917 – November 20, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and founder of the jazz record label Contemporary Records. Biography Koenig was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Minna (Harli ...

– producer

References

External links

Ornette Coleman official site
{{Authority control 1959 albums Contemporary Records albums Ornette Coleman albums