2 CD Deluxe Box Set - Contemporary Records 70th Anniversary Series
Ornette Coleman – Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums features two seminal releases, 1958’s Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman and 1959’s Tomorrow Is the Question! The New Music of Ornette Coleman. These albums transformed an unknown jazz visionary from the hinterlands into the talk of the New York scene. Featuring Coleman’s working band with Don Cherry on trumpet, pianist Walter Norris, bassist Don Payne and drummer Billy Higgins, the album Something Else!!!! sounds less radical today than strikingly individual and steeped in the blues. With nine Coleman originals, the session introduced several tunes that became standards, including “The Blessing” and “When Will the Blues Leave?” Featuring Cherry, Shelly Manne, and either Percy Heath or Red Mitchell on bass, the emphatic, pianoless follow up Tomorrow Is the Question! made it clear that Coleman’s concepts were both insistently innovative and tethered to bedrock African American idioms. Consisting entirely of Coleman originals, the album introduced several more tunes that became an essential part of the jazz canon, including “Tears Inside,” “Rejoicing” and “Turnaround.”
Tracklist:
DISC ONE - Something Else!!!!: The Music of Ornette Coleman
1. Invisible (4:43)
2. The Blessing (4:45)
3. Jayne (7:17)
4. Chippie (5:37)
5. The Disguise (2:48)
6. Angel Voice (4:30)
7. Alpha (4:12)
8. When Will The Blues Leave? (4:56)
9. The Sphinx (4:14)
Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone
Don Cherry - trumpet
Walter Norris - piano
Don Payne - bass
Billy Higgins – drums
DISC TWO - Tomorrow is the Question!: The New Music of Ornette Coleman
1. Tomorrow Is The Question! (3:09)
2. Tears Inside (5:00)
3. Mind And Time (3:08)
4. Compassion (4:37)
5. Giggin' (3:19)
6. Rejoicing (4:04)
7. Lorraine (5:55)
8. Turnaround (7:55)
9. Endless (5:18)
Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone
Don Cherry - trumpet
Percy Heath - bass (Disc Two, Side 1)
Red Mitchell - bass (Disc Two, Side 2)
Shelly Manne - drums
FEATURES:
Both albums were recorded by Contemporary Records' legendary engineer Roy DuNann and are newly mastered from the original tapes by Bernie Grundman
44-page booklet features vintage photos and extensive new liner notes by GRAMMY® Award-winning music historian Ashley Kahn.
Features collective personnel: Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone, Don Cherry - trumpet, Walter Norris - piano, Don Payne - bass, Percy Heath - bass, Red Mitchell - bass, Billy Higgins - drums, Shelly Manne - drums
Box set produced by Nick Phillips