
Saxophonist Oliver Nelson worked primarily as a big band leader and arranger. Oliver Nelson, The Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse!)
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The 37-minute track that resulted out of this session was released as Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, a difficult but powerful and surprisingly accessible album that initially took a beating from the press that widely ignored its historical importance as a symbol of the desire for social harmony in the midst of America’s moment of turbulent unrest. He assembled two stellar quartets and had them play face to face, without predetermined chords and nothing but a set of tonal centers and brief written statements. On December 1960, with the blessing of Atlantic’s Ertegun brothers, he put together his most ambitious recording session to date.

The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (Atlantic)įor years, Ornette Coleman had promoted a type of collective improvisation that gave equal consideration to each player and allowed them unlimited possibilities.
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Importantly, My Favorite Things was also Coltrane’s first Atlantic release, and the record that established the bulk of his historic quartet, with McCoy Tyner on piano and Elvin Jones on drums, plus bassist Steve Davis, who would later be replaced by Jimmy Garrison. It also marked his departure from the bebop and hard bop of his previous albums, while anticipating his later free jazz ventures. My Favorite Things, an album of unique modal jazz takes on old Broadway tunes, was the first LP on which he showed his talent on his new instrument, playing it on two of its four tracks. However, Coltrane got on with it like a house on fire. The instrument had scarcely ever been used in jazz up to that point.

On March 1960, Miles Davis bought John Coltrane his first tenor sax while they were touring in Europe. John Coltrane, My Favorite Things (Atlantic)

We hope you join us as we travel through the music’s endlessly fascinating history, stopping every 12 months along the jazz timeline. ‘Year by Year’ is our attempt to bring you the most noteworthy albums of each year, complete with audio samples and fascinating backstories. Jazz may not have an official yearbook, but it does have a vast and well-documented discography.
