#417 Ornette Coleman, 'The Shape of Jazz to Come' (1959)

Previously #248

This album requires your complete attention. I repeat, do not listen to this in the background. Recorded in just one day in May 1959, with this album, Ornette Coleman takes Jazz and flips it on his head. The songs on this album feature no chord structure, in fact they feature hardly any structure at all. Other than brief thematic pieces in each song, the songs are essentially 38 minutes of free improvisation. Or Free Jazz, as it was coined. This album was a breakthrough for the movement and helped establish Free Jazz.

It’s difficult to pick favourite songs because this is a body of work that needs to be listened to in full. I won’t lie, this won’t be for everyone. It’s 4 different musicians doing their own thing on each song to come together as one. And it works in some weird way. 4 sounds thrown up into the air gently floating down to create something really unique. The album includes Coleman’s long-time collaborator and friend on the trumpet, Don Cherry, who later would be father to famous musician children Neneh and Eagle-Eye Cherry.

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