The Avant-Garde (album)
| The Avant-Garde | |
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| Studio album by John Coltrane and Don Cherry | |
| Released | 1966 |
| Recorded | June 28, 1960 July 8, 1960 |
| Genre | Jazz, free jazz, avant-garde jazz |
| Label | Atlantic |
| Producer | Nesuhi Ertegün |
| Alternative Cover | |
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | |
The Avant-Garde is an album credited to jazz musicians John Coltrane and Don Cherry, released in 1966 on Atlantic Records, catalogue SD 1451. It features Coltrane playing the compositions of Ornette Coleman accompanied by the members of Coleman's quartet: Cherry, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell. It is assembled from unissued results of two separate recording sessions at the Atlantic Studios in New York City in 1960. As Coltrane's fame grew during the 1960s long after he had stopped recording for the label, Atlantic, like Prestige before it, used unissued recordings to create new marketable albums without Coltrane's input or approval. This is the last known album by John Coltrane in this category, and only the second collaboration in this category of recordings.
The Avant-Garde is one of seven albums that Coleman recorded for Atlantic records between 1959 and 1962. The Free Jazz style of this album was viewed as radically controversial and "lacking the necessary discipline to represent America's Art Form" (Anderson 135) This New Jazz composition by Coleman features surprising rhythmic accents, asymmetrical melodic phrases, and the incorporation of brass instruments and drums into the melody of the song. A unique feature of this album is its lack of pianist and usage of brass instruments to carry each piece. Also, Cherry and Coltrane complement each other with contrasting sound as Coltrane "leaps into [the music] like a man possessed, while Cherry Answers with a Feathery tone." (Larkin)
Many listeners consider this album to sound more like one of Coleman's works than Coltrane's. Coleman's playing style had few (if any) chord changes. Coltrane preferred to utilize numerous chord changes, often playing multiple inversions of a single chord before a change. These are challenges faced by Coltrane in performing with Coleman's classic quartet.
Reviews are split among listeners. Some believe this album to be a record of Coltrane's progress as a musician while others feel as though The Avant-Garde sounds nothing like Coltrane. By the time this record was released in 1966, it was no longer considered avant-garde. The playing styles of Cherry and Coltrane had changed dramatically from the time of the album's conception to the release date. Both musicians had taken different musical paths.
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