free jazz (1960)

Ornette Coleman, alto sax; Eric Dolphy, bass clarinet; Donald Cherry, Freddie Hubbard, trumpets; Scott LaFaro, Charlie Haden, basses; Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell, drums.

Even in the landmark recording Free Jazz, Ornette Coleman does not abandon all jazz trappings. The rhythmic underpinning is steady throughout the performance, and Coleman tends to preserve a certain allegiance to time in most of his performances. His innovations are centered more in melodic and harmonic directions. Notice how he swings all the time. Compared to others here, he is perhaps the most rhythmically conservative. Notice how Cherry and Dolphy seem to be at home in this texture, while Hubbard seems a little awkward at times. This was not his natural style. This is a double quartet: there are two drummers, two bass players, two woodwind players, and two trumpet players.
