Ornette Coleman

The Shape of Jazz to Come

First released1959

The Shape of Jazz to Come was recorded in Los Angeles in 1959 at two sessions, primarily at the Contemporary Records studio. The album was produced by Lester Koenig of Contemporary Records, with engineer Roy DuNann handling the technical aspects of the sessions. Ornette Coleman's quartet, featuring Don Cherry on cornet, Charlie Haden on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, performed in a relatively straightforward recording setup that captured the group's live interplay without extensive overdubbing or studio manipulation. The recording was notable for its documentation of Coleman's radical harmonic approach and free improvisation techniques, which departed significantly from bebop conventions and represented a pivotal moment in jazz history. The album's clean, direct sound reflected the technical standards of Contemporary Records and became influential in establishing the aesthetic of the free jazz movement that emerged in the early 1960s.