Track Listing

1. Lonely Woman
2. Eventually
3. Peace
4. Focus On Sanity
5. Congeniality
6. Chronology

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47192 in Music
• Released on: 2001-09-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .15 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
On this highly influential 1959 album, Ornette Coleman's unique writing style and idiosyncratic solo language forever changed the jazz landscape. On classics such as "Lonely Woman", "Congeniality", and "Focus on Sanity", Coleman used the tunes' moods and melodic contours, rather than their chords, as a basis for his improvisations. In so doing, he opened up jazz soloing immensely and ushered in new freedoms--both individually and collectively. Lest these innovations sound too dry or abstract, it must be noted that both Coleman and trumpeter Don Cherry play with a deep-felt emotion and joy that is as infectious today as it was then. This is truly an essential jazz recording, marking the end of one era, providing the blueprint for the next. --Wally Shoup

CD Description
As the 50s ended, Ornette Coleman became the new herald of the future of jazz, surpassing for a time, even John Coltrane. Intent on feeling and with often scant regard for technique, he plunged headlong into a musical form that defied categorization and dismayed orthodox musicologists. Especially aware of the blues, Coleman eschewed a rigid structure in themusic and favoured instead explorations of its poetic content. Free jazz to Coleman and his followers was jazz freed not only from musical restraints but also from sociological and cultural parameters. This album demonstrates his radicalism and his awareness of both past and future jazz.

Customer Reviews

One of the jazz records which everyone should own
This is the ideal place to start for anyone interested in Coleman and a recording to rank along Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme. Coleman's departure ("abandonment" is too prejudicial a word) from the chord-based blues and jazz tradition gave him a reputation for difficulty before his forays into free jazz but, as I once read, the startling thing about "The Shape of Jazz to Come" is how melodic and rhythmic is it. "Lonely Woman", stately, mournful and passionate, is one of the finest openings to an album ever but the quality does not abate. The interplay between Coleman and Don Cherry on cornet is spellbinding and the Haden-Higgins bass and drums section is integral in propelling the music with a frequent spring and swing (witness Haden's bassline, including the bowed opening, on the centrepiece "Peace").

This is not a recording to fear or from which to shy. It is groundbreaking but accessible. I had the pleasure to see Coleman live a few years ago on his 75th birthday. His engaged and even ferocious playing belied his frailty and disarming modesty and compelled me to return to his blueprint literally of the shape of jazz to come. To paraphrase someone, this recording is, and is intended to be, seminal.

Brilliant Album
I always find it terribly irritating when people tell me 'owe yes, its a classic' about any album. What have they told me? Absolutely nothing, and so often this is the case with jazz 'classics'. The word 'free' is also often thrown at this album, but is infrequently explained. Well, it is a classic and the word free does have something to do with it. The music here is certainly not of the free jazz scene we see later, in artists such as Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders and in some of Coltrane's work to name but a few. The rhythm section thumps along with the thrust of a bop band, especially in tracks like 'Eventually' and 'Congeniality'. However, while Coleman's sax isn't screeching high and low, it is varying much more in improvising than others were doing at the time. It has the makings of a genre in it, but remains firmly attached to its own time.

Whats really fantastic about this album, is that it has that semi 'free' element to it, while maintaining the freshness of bop. There's something about the way its recorded, that makes it quite a breazy record. The later musings of free jazz officiandos tend to be brooding and dark, but this is much lighter on the pallet. A great album, could be a starting point, but be warned: if someone's told you this is free jazz, then you're in for quite a shock.

Don't be Afraid - Essential Listening
A recent BBC series about jazz described the year this album was released (along with those by Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus and Miles Davies) as the year that changed jazz and this album as one of the key influences and the start of free jazz. For many listeners this could be a major turn-off - but don't be, this is fabulous listening.

Coleman has an original approach to jazz that focusses on not on chords but individual expression. The opening moments of the first track, Lonely Woman, has Coleman and Cherry playing together without chords but it all merges to be exciting, emotional playing. The remaining tracks build on this and as a piece this creates a memorable album.

like many jazz enthusiasts, I have lost whole evenings to free jazz and wondered why I'd bothered. This album shows what can be done in the hands of a master.