Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms. Instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. Thom Jurek of AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history," noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud."
The Shape of Jazz to Come is the third album by the jazz musician Ornette Coleman. Released on Atlantic Records in 1959, it was his debut on the label and his first album featuring the working quartet including himself, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins. The recording session for the album took place on May 22, 1959, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California. Although Coleman initially wished for the album to be titled Focus on Sanity after the LP's fourth track, Atlantic producer Nesuhi Ertegun suggested the final title, feeling that it would give consumers "an idea about the uniqueness of the LP."
Old and New Dreams was an American jazz group that was active from 1976 to 1987. The group was composed of tenor saxophone player Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell. All of the members were former sidemen of free jazz progenitor and alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and the group played a mix of Coleman's compositions and originals by the band members.
Change of the Century is a studio album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It was released through Atlantic Records in May 1960. It sold very well from soon after its release. Recording sessions for the album took place on October 8 and 9, 1959, in New York City.
This Is Our Music is the fifth album by saxophonist Ornette Coleman, recorded in 1960 and released on Atlantic Records in March 1961. It is the first with drummer Ed Blackwell replacing his predecessor Billy Higgins in the Coleman Quartet, and is the only one of Coleman's Atlantic albums to include a standard, in this case a version of "Embraceable You" by George and Ira Gershwin.
Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation is an album by the jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman. It was released through Atlantic Records 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.
Song X is a collaborative studio album by American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It is a free jazz record that was produced in a three-day recording session in 1985. The album was released in 1985 by Geffen Records.
The Avant-Garde is an album credited to jazz musicians John Coltrane and Don Cherry that was released in 1966 by Atlantic Records. It features Coltrane playing several compositions by Ornette Coleman accompanied by the members of Coleman's quartet: Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell. The album was assembled from two unissued recording sessions at Atlantic Studios in New York City in 1960.
Twins is an album credited to jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, released by Atlantic Records in 1971. The album was assembled without Coleman's input, comprising outtakes from recording sessions of 1959 to 1961 for The Shape of Jazz to Come, This Is Our Music, Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, and Ornette! Sessions for "Monk and the Nun" took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California; for "First Take" at A&R Studios in New York City, and all others at Atlantic Studios also in Manhattan. The track "First Take" was a first attempt at "Free Jazz" from the album of the same name.
Crisis is a live album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman recorded at New York University in 1969 and released on the Impulse! label.
Old and New Dreams is the self-titled second album by jazz quartet Old and New Dreams, recorded in 1979 and released on ECM later that year. The quintet features trumpeter Don Cherry, saxophonist Dewey Redman, and rhythms section Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell—their debut, released on Black Saint, was also self titled.
Playing is a live album by American jazz quartet Old and New Dreams recorded at the Cornmarket Theater in Austria and released on ECM the following year. The quartet consists brass section Don Cherry and Dewey Redman and rhythm section Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell.
A Tribute to Blackwell is a live album by jazz quartet Old and New Dreams. Recorded in 1987, it features trumpeter Don Cherry, saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ed Blackwell. It was released on the Italian Black Saint label.
Ornette on Tenor is the eighth album by the American jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, released in 1962 on Atlantic Records, his sixth and final one for the label. It features Coleman playing tenor saxophone rather than his usual alto, and bassist Jimmy Garrison before he joined the John Coltrane Quartet. This would be the last record by the Coleman Quartet started in the 1950s; he would disband this group and form the Coleman Trio later in the year. Recording sessions took place on March 22 and 27, 1961, at Atlantic Studios in New York City. One outtake from the March 27 session, "Harlem's Manhattan," would appear on the 1970 compilation The Art of the Improvisers.
The Art of the Improvisers is an album credited to jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, released by Atlantic Records in 1970. The album was assembled without Coleman's input, comprising outtakes from recording sessions of 1959 to 1961 for The Shape of Jazz to Come, Change of the Century, This Is Our Music, Ornette!, and Ornette on Tenor. Recording sessions in 1959 took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California; those in 1960 and 1961 at Atlantic Studios in New York City.
Beauty Is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings is a box set by American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman compiling his master recordings made for Atlantic between 1959 and 1961, released on Rhino Records on November 16, 1993.
Friends and Neighbors: Live at Prince Street is a live album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman recorded in 1970 and released on the Flying Dutchman label.
Live in Paris 1971 is a live album by Ornette Coleman. It was recorded in November 1971 in Paris, and was released by Jazz Row in 2007. On the album, which was recorded one day before The Belgrade Concert, Coleman is joined by saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell.
Jazzbühne Berlin '88 is a live album by Ornette Coleman and his band Prime Time. It was recorded on June 5, 1988, at the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, and was released in 1990 by Repertoire Records as Volume 5 of their Jazz Bühne Berlin / Rundfunk der DDR series.
The Love Revolution: Complete 1968 Italian Tour is a two-CD live album by the Ornette Coleman Quartet. Three tracks were recorded on February 5, 1968, in Milan, Italy, while the remaining four tracks were recorded on February 8, 1968, in Rome. The album was released in 2005 by Gambit Records, and was reissued in 2015 by Solar Records. The quartet format is unusual in that it features Coleman with two bassists, Charlie Haden and David Izenzon, along with drummer Ed Blackwell. On the Milan tracks, Coleman is heard on alto saxophone, while on the Rome tracks, he also plays trumpet and, on a track titled "Buddha Blues," shehnai.
