The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet

Free Jazz

First released1961

Free Jazz by The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet was recorded on December 21, 1960, at Atlantic Records' studio in New York City. The album featured two quartets playing simultaneously in a single take, with Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry on cornet, Charlie Haden and Scott LaFaro on bass, Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell on drums, and Freddie Hubbard and Eric Dolphy on trumpet and alto saxophone respectively. Producer Nesuhi Ertegun and engineer Tom Dowd oversaw the session, which represented a landmark moment in free jazz development as the musicians improvised without predetermined chord changes or formal structure. The album was released in 1961 and marked a significant departure from conventional jazz recording practices, capturing the avant-garde movement's experimental approach to collective improvisation.