Ornette Coleman
The Art Of The Improvisers (LP)
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condition (record/cover): EX / NM
Atlantic's 1970 gathering of vault material from the 1959-61 sessions - which, given the source, means an outtakes album stronger than most artists' best work, assembled from the richest two years any American label ever recorded. Ornette Coleman with the classic circle of Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro, Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins, in performances left off the original albums for reasons of space and sequencing rather than quality - the era's quality control problem, happily inherited by posterity. "The Circle with a Hole in the Middle" alone earns the ticket, and the rest keeps paying: alternate angles on the revolution, each one singing. For anyone who has worn out The Shape of Jazz to Come and its siblings, this is the natural next room in the same glorious building, with the same architecture and fresh windows.
US Atlantic pressing, and a record whose modest reputation is purely an accident of release order.
Release notes
Recorded in New York, May 22, 1959 - March, 1961. Rainbo pressing chronology approximates this pressing to 2001. The label is white with black printing. There is an orange, purple and black fan around the center hole of the record. "ATLANTIC" is at the top of the label in an orange and purple band that extends around the perimeter of the label.
| A1 | The Circle With A Hole In The Middle | 4:53 | |
| A2 | Just For You | 3:48 | |
| A3 | The Fifth Of Beethoven | 6:35 | |
| A4 | The Alchemy Of Scott La Faro | 8:48 | |
| B1 | Moon Inhabitants | 4:28 | |
| B2 | The Legend Of Bebop | 7:14 | |
| B3 | Harlem's Manhattan | 8:10 |
- Ornette Coleman
- Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Written-By
- Charlie Haden
- Bass (A1, A2, A3, B1, B2)
- Jimmy Garrison
- Bass (B3)
- Scott LaFaro
- Bass (A4)
- Don Cherry
- Cornet, Trumpet
- Billy Higgins
- Drums (A1, A2)
- Ed Blackwell
- Drums (A3, A4, B1, B2, B3)
- David Cheppa
- Lacquer Cut By, Mastered By
- Nesuhi Ertegun
- Producer
