The Avant Garde

Recorded in 1960 but not landing in record shops until six years later, The Avant-Garde arrived in a very different world, after the assassination of JFK and the British rock invasion. That delay may be part of the reason it never quite found the audience it deserved, because this is a record that was, and still is, way ahead of its time.

The avant-garde movement in jazz is arguably the art form at its most adventurous, and The Avant-Garde belongs right up there near the summit. While Ornette Coleman doesn’t perform on the album, his presence is felt throughout. The record features several of his key sidemen, including trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Ed Blackwell, and bass players Charlie Haden and Percy Heath.

Ornette Coleman casts a long shadow here, but this album stands tall in its own right: bold, forward-thinking, and still sounding remarkably fresh decades on.