Free Jazz

Free jazz on vinyl: jazz without a safety rail

In short: In the late fifties and the sixties free jazz broke away, partly or largely, from set chord sequences and fixed metre; composed themes and a pulse could remain. Ornette Coleman’s 1961 album “Free Jazz” gave the style its name; Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler and Don Cherry took the path further – and soon musicians all over Europe too. The Vinyl Room currently has 99 free jazz records.

What is free jazz?

Instead of improvising only over fixed chord changes, the musicians react more freely to each other – with cries, sound fields and sudden silence. Albert Ayler recorded “My Name Is Albert Ayler” in Copenhagen in 1963 for the Danish label Debut. Don Cherry, once Ornette Coleman’s trumpeter, is here with “Where Is Brooklyn?”.

Europe quickly found its own language: Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg from the Netherlands play with South African saxophonist Dudu Pukwana on “Yi Yole”, “Jazz Meets India” brings Irene Schweizer, Manfred Schoof and Indian musicians together, and in France Jef Gilson experimented. Today bands such as Ill Considered from London carry the freedom on.

What to look for

Many free jazz records came out on small labels in small runs. Besides originals there are numerous reissues – which edition you get is noted with each copy.

From our stock

First pressings

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FAQ

What is free jazz? Jazz that breaks away, partly or largely, from set chord sequences and fixed metre and improvises more freely.

Where does free jazz get its name? From Ornette Coleman’s 1961 album “Free Jazz”.

Is there free jazz from Europe? Yes – here, among others, from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and France.

What does Denmark have to do with it? Albert Ayler recorded “My Name Is Albert Ayler” in Copenhagen in 1963 for the Danish label Debut.