Genesis Of Genius: The Contemporary Albums

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About a year prior to his historic New York breakthrough in 1959, alto saxophonist and free-jazz innovator Ornette Coleman made two albums for Contemporary with producer Lester Koenig. Everything from “Invisible” to “The Sphinx” on this collection first appeared on <i>Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman</i>, his 1958 debut. It’s a document of an artist in transition: trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Billy Higgin, who would soon upend the jazz world on Coleman’s Atlantic breakthrough, <i>The Shape of Jazz to Come</i>, are already in place here. Don Payne is the bassist, and Walter Norris plays piano, an instrument that Coleman basically never used again (the rare exception being his mid-’90s <i>Sound Museum</i> recording, featuring the great Geri Allen). New mastering by Bernie Grundman makes <i>Genesis of Genius</i> pop sonically in a way that benefits the material. Recorded during Coleman’s early-career stint in Los Angele, these albums straddle a fascinating line between convention and anticonvention: <i>Something Else!!!!</i> is straight bebop in some respects—“Chippie” and “Alpha” sound like good vehicles for any respectable post-Charlie Parker jam session. Yet these are all Coleman original, and the distinctly angular, bluesy melodic conception and skewed harmony of his mature style is strongly evident (not to mention the airtight rapport with Cherry on winding unison melodies and fearless solo flights). .

via Apple Music

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