Personnel: Ornette Coleman (alto & tenor saxophones); Don Cherry (trumpet, pocket trumpet, cornet); Charlie Haden, Jimmy Garrison, Scott La Faro (bass); Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins (drums). Engineers: Bones Howe, Tom Dowd, Phil Iehle. Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California on May 22 and October 8 & 9, 1959; Atlantic Studios, New York on July 26, 1960, January 31 & March 27, 1961. Originally released on Atlantic (1572). Includes liner notes by Martin Williams. ART OF THE IMPROVISORS is a collection of outtakes culled from sessions between 1959 and 1961, a period--which many praise as Ornette Coleman's finest--that yielded such landmark recordings as THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME and FREE JAZZ. Given the explosive, revolutionary quality of Coleman's musical vision (these compositions sound futuristic even today) and the impeccable personnel (a variation on Coleman's early Atlantic quartet), ART adds up to much more than a bundle of odds and ends. Tracks like The Circle With a Hole in the Middle, and The Alchemy of Scott La Faro (in which La Faro provides a blistering bass line that propels the song into the stratosphere) highlight Coleman's frenetic free mode. On these cuts, Coleman's elastic alto lines, with their expressive, emotional illogic, counterbalance Don Cherry's jagged, fast-forward trumpet solos. Elsewhere, the ensemble uses tradition as a springboard for invention, as on the swinging The Legend of Bebop and the tender, evocative ballad Just For You. As with most of Coleman's work, the presence of challenging ideas, keen technical facility, and an exploratory sensibility makes for fresh, engaging material. This set is a valuable supplement to the artist's already legendary Atlantic albums.

NB! Omtalen refererer til CD-utgaven av dette albumet