Symposium For Jazzcats: The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet – Free Jazz (1961)

Welcome to the second session of Symposium for Jazzcats in 2025 – this time exploring the question: Free – what does it mean in the context of Jazz?

We invite you to immerse yourself in a landmark of sonic exploration: 

Ornette Coleman Double Quartet’s Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. Released in 1961, this genre-defining album challenged the boundaries of structure, harmony, and improvisation, opening up a new frontier in jazz.

Coleman brought together two separate quartets—each recorded on its own stereo channel—creating a dynamic left-right interplay that allows us, the listeners, to experience a true conversation in sound. What unfolds is a continuous, unedited 37 minutes long performance where freedom doesn’t mean chaos, but a new kind of order—a collective language built in real time.

So lean in, listen deeply, and let’s explore together: what does free really mean in the context of jazz?

__________________________________________________

Left Channel Quartet

• Ornette Coleman – Alto Saxophone

• Don Cherry – Pocket Trumpet

• Scott LaFaro – Double Bass

• Billy Higgins – Drums​

__________________________________________________

Right Channel Quartet

• Eric Dolphy – Bass Clarinet

• Freddie Hubbard – Trumpet

• Charlie Haden – Double Bass

• Ed Blackwell – Drums​

Cover Painting: Jackson Pollock

__________________________________________________

✨ We open 6:30 PM, needle drop 8:30 PM.
✨ No reservations.
✨ We ask for silent listening during the length of the record.
✨ Come early and/or stay late for a chat and a drink!