The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet

Free Jazz

First released1961

"Free Jazz" by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet was recorded on December 21, 1960, at the A&R Studios in New York City in a single session. The album was produced by Nesuhi Ertegun for Atlantic Records and engineered by Tom Dowd, one of the era's most respected recording engineers. The recording featured an unconventional stereo separation technique where Coleman's quartet occupied the left channel and Don Cherry's quartet occupied the right channel, creating a distinctive spatial effect that was innovative for jazz recording at the time. The session was conducted as a collective improvisation without predetermined chord changes or formal arrangements, capturing approximately 37 minutes of continuous music that was later edited into the album's single track. This recording became a landmark in free jazz history and demonstrated new possibilities for both ensemble improvisation and studio production in jazz.