This Is Our Music (Ornette Coleman album)

This Is Our Music
Studio album by
The Ornette Coleman Quartet
ReleasedMarch 1961
RecordedJuly 19 and 26,
August 2, 1960
GenreFree jazz
Length38:46
LabelAtlantic SD 1353
ProducerNesuhi Ertegün
The Ornette Coleman Quartet chronology
Change of the Century
(1960) 		This Is Our Music
(1961) 		Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation
(1961)

This Is Our Music is the fifth studio album by American jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, recorded in July and August of 1960 and released on Atlantic Records in March 1961. It was Coleman's first album with drummer Ed Blackwell (replacing Billy Higgins),[1] and his only album on Atlantic to include a standard, in this case a version of "Embraceable You" by George and Ira Gershwin.[2]

The album was recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York City over the course of three sessions on July 19 and 26 and August 2, 1960, with seven selections culled from 23 masters from the sessions.[3][4] The outtakes from the two July sessions would later appear on the 1970s compilations The Art of the Improvisers, Twins, and To Whom Who Keeps A Record, along with the 1993 box set Beauty Is A Rare Thing, named for a track on this album, which collected all of the material that Coleman recorded for Atlantic from 1959 to 1961.[4] Coleman was evidently pleased with the recordings, stating: "In July, 1960... we did thirty tunes in three weeks. All originals. Everything I've ever recorded has been a piece of my own. Until I heard these last tapes, I hadn't realized all the different approaches we'd been developing in the past few months. I think the new albums will give the public and the musicians a more accurate idea of what we're trying to do."[5]

In his liner notes for the album, Coleman was careful to place his music in historical context, writing:

the most important part of our music is the improvisation, which is done as spontaneously as possible, with each man contributing his musical expression to create the form. Now - let's look back. Group improvisation is not new. In early jazz, that kind of group playing was known as Dixieland. In the swing era, the emphasis changed and improvisation took the form of solos based on riffs. In modern jazz, improvisation is melodic and harmonically progressive. Now we are blending the three together to create and give more freedom to the player and more pleasure to the listener.[6]

He also paid tribute to his bandmates, writing: "The experience of playing with these men is unexplainable and I only know that what they know is far beyond a technical explanation for me to convey to you."[6] He concluded the notes by writing: "Since there isn't too much I haven't told you about my music, I really told you about myself through it. The other autobiography of my life is like everyone else's. Born, work, sad and happy and etc. We do hope you enjoy our music."[6]

  1. ^ Morton, Brian; Cook, Richard (2010). The Penguin Jazz Guide. Penguin Books. p. 157.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference allmusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Golia, Maria (2020). Ornette Coleman: The Territory and the Adventure. Reaktion Books.
  4. ^ a b "Ornette Coleman Discography". Jazzdisco.org. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  5. ^ Hentoff, Nat (1961). The Jazz Life. Da Capo. p. 244.
  6. ^ a b c This Is Our Music (liner notes). Ornette Coleman. Atlantic Records. 1961. SD 1353.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)