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Modern improvisational jazz starts here. With one quartet placed in the left stereo channel and another situated in the right, Free Jazz unloads with two simultaneously playing rhythm sections and a 37-minute-plus title cut devised entirely on the spot.
Distinctive from the copycat attempts that followed, this 1960 magnum opus claims melody and harmony, solidifying Ornette Coleman’s reputation as a compositional genius. Of course, the presence of Don Cherry, Scott LaFaro, Billy Higgins in the left channel and Coleman, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell in the right doesn't hurt.