Album of the Day

THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME may have seemed a bold title for Ornette Coleman's Atlantic Records debut, but the music on the 1959 collection absolutely justified it. With an emphasis on melody and improvisation over chords and harmony (Coleman called his approach “harmolodic”), these six originals introduced the standard “Lonely Woman,” and offered the quartet – which included future stars Don Cherry on cornet and Charlie Haden on bass - plenty of room to strut their instrumental stuff. A cornerstone of the free jazz movement, the album was initially controversial, but its landmark status is now unquestioned, and THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME has been named to both the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.