Album of the Day

“The most important thing was for us to play together, all at the same time, without getting in each other's way, and also to have enough room for each player to ad lib alone - and to follow this idea for the duration of the album,” explained Ornette Coleman of FREE JAZZ. The 1961 Atlantic collection features a “double quartet” of saxophonist Coleman, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Billy Higgins playing on one stereo channel, and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ed Blackwell on the other. Much like the work of the painter who provided the cover art, Jackson Pollock, the set's approach was initially polarizing but is now hailed as a major leap forward. Few musicians are more strongly identified with the FREE JAZZ movement than Ornette Coleman, so we'll give the album a spin on what would have been his 90th birthday.