Free Jazz

The 1998 reissue of FREE JAZZ contains all the original tracks and liner notes, plus additional tracks and rare photos. Ornette Coleman Double Quartet: Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Don Cherry (pocket trumpet); Eric Dolphy (bass clarinet); Scott LaFaro, Charlie Haden (bass); Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell (drums). Producer: Nesuhi Ertegun. Reissue producer: Bob Carlton, Patrick Milligan. Recorded at A&R Studios, New York, New York on December 21, 1960. Originally released on Atlantic (1364). Includes liner notes by Martin Williams and Gunther Schuller. Digitally remastered by Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch (DigiPrep). Personnel: Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone); Eric Dolphy (bass clarinet); Don Cherry, Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro (bass); Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell (drums). Recorded in 1960. The original cover of "Free Jazz" (1960) featured a reproduction of one of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, "White Light." The reference is an apt one--like Pollock, Ornette has always had faith that out of chaos, intuition and freedom, beauty will emerge. For the recording session of "Free Jazz," Ornette brought with him two quartets (each with bass drums, and two horns) and had them play simultaneously, giving them only a few very vague directions. What emerged was, like a Pollock painting, a thing of primal beauty and power, formally strange and surprisingly dance-like. It is also (like a Pollock) better experienced than described. Each quartet occupies their own stereo channel (Ornette, Don Cherry, Scott LaFaro and Billy Higgins are on the left channel; and Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell are on the right). The music that comes out of the speakers is much more than an experiment; it's also much more than just the collective sound of all these wonderful musicians. It's an ecstatic work that has been an inspiration to creative musicians for over 40 years, and it will continue to be for many years to come.