Ornette Coleman: Too Much, Too Soon! on 2 CDs

Featuring: Ornette Coleman (as), Don Cherry (pocket tp), Walter Norris (p), Don Payne, Red Mitchell, Percy Heath, Charlie Haden (b), Billy Higgins, Shelly Manne (d)

With his harsh, shrill tone and weird white plastic alto saxophone, Ornette Coleman’s sudden arrival on the unsuspecting late 50s jazz scene came as an out-of-the-blue shock.

On his first album, “Something Else!” he was accompanied by his pocket-trumpet-playing partner Don Cherry and a traditional piano-bass-drums rhythm section. In the light of his later work it was an immature debut. The feel of his themes recalled the early Parker-Gillespie quintets, unjustly casting him back to the days of early bop. His subsequent albums—”Tomorrow Is the Question” and “The Shape of Jazz to Come”—dropped the piano, and a responsive bass allowed his music to come through vividly, more reassuring and provocative. His voice was his alone, and the quartet’s playing as a unit was cohesive and empathetic. He proved he was not just “another Parker”. His essential contribution to jazz was himself. Many critics and musicians thought he would point the way to a new direction in jazz, while others felt he had been pushed into the limelight before his time.

Ornette Coleman has always been bigger than life and, quite often, far ahead of his peers. But his debut was, for some, too much, too soon.

Jordi Pujol, from the CD liner notes.

(freshsoundrecords. com)