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Buy this album with The Shape of Jazz to Come ~ Ornette Coleman today!

Buy Together Today: $21.98

Sound Grammar ~ Ornette Coleman  (11)  $14.99

Out to Lunch ~ Eric Dolphy  (60)  $10.99

Mingus Ah Um ~ Charles Mingus  (48)  $10.99

Change of the Century ~ Ornette Coleman  (10)  $8.98

A Love Supreme ~ John Coltrane  (85)  $8.97

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1. Free Jazz	Listen	Listen
2. First Take	Listen	Listen

Amazon.com essential recording
By 1961, when Free Jazz was released, alto saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman was infamous in the jazz world. His searing alto sax and full-ensemble take on melody were assailed by critics. Free Jazz only furthered Coleman's infamy, with its seamless, seemingly atonal high energy and wholesale lack of a melodic or harmonic center. For the session, Coleman assembled two complete quartets and had them play the same music opposite each other, with diving power and a kind of strange grace usually associated with acoustic blues. The music is raw and incisive, with sharp tones and biting solos appearing amidst propulsive rhythms that still seem whispery in their swishing shuffle. This recording helped cast the 1960s--and every decade since--in jazz. It drew a line in the sand, and critics, fans, and musicians are still haggling over the line today. --Andrew Bartlett