Something Else!!!!

While working as an elevator operator in a department store in Los Angeles, Ornette assembled a group of musicians—teenaged cornet player Don Cherry, double bass player Charlie Haden, and drummers Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins—with whom he could explore his unusual jazz compositions.[http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/artists/ornettecoleman/index.htm Ornette Coleman 3 Bass Quintet] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070802064057/http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/artists/ornettecoleman/index.htm |date=2007-08-02 }}. Accessed September 28, 2007.[http://www.ornettecoleman.com/then.html Then] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929205536/http://www.ornettecoleman.com/then.html |date=2007-09-29 }} Official Ornette Coleman website. Accessed September 28, 2007. Coleman was introduced to music producer Lester Koenig of Contemporary Records by a bebop bassist friend of Cherry's, Red Mitchell, who thought Koenig might be interested in purchasing Coleman's songs. When other musicians found the tunes too challenging, Coleman was invited to perform the compositions himself.

{{Music ratings

|rev1 = Allmusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r136819|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]

|rev2 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| rev2Score = {{rating|4|5}}{{Cite book

|editor-last=Swenson

|editor-first=J.

| author-link =

| year = 1985

| title = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| publisher = Random House/Rolling Stone

| location = USA

| isbn = 0-394-72643-X

| pages = 45

}}

|rev3 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

|rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=274}}

}}

Though often controversial at the time,[http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2007/music/bio/ Prize in Music – Biography Ornette Coleman] Pulitzer. Accessed September 28, 2007 music from Coleman's first album is now generally well received. Rolling Stone commented admiringly on the composer's "genuinely original voice" and "freakishly structured tunes".Brackett, Nathan, ed. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, 4th edition. Simon & Schuster. 2004. Page 178. All About Jazz reviewer John Barrett Jr. cautions that, though dissonant, this album is not the first of the free jazz movement with which Coleman is so associated.Barrett, Jr. John. (December 1, 1998). [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=3176 Something Else!!!!—The Music of Ornette Coleman] All About Jazz. Accessed September 28, 2007. Nevertheless, in 2007, All About Jazz credited the album with introducing "a new era in jazz", transforming the genre by demonstrating a style of music "freed from the prevailing conventions of harmony, rhythm and melody".[https://archive.today/20120721204158/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=15028 Ornette Coleman, 2007 Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, Opens the 2007/08 UCLA Live Jazz Series Sept. 26] September 5, 2007. Accessed September 28, 2007.

Pianist Ethan Iverson has written at length about this album and other recordings from Coleman's early period.{{cite web |url=http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/this-is-our-mystic.html |title=This is Our Mystic |last=Iverson |first=Ethan |author-link=Ethan Iverson |date=September 19, 2010 |work=Do the Math |publisher= |access-date=June 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320233301/https://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/this-is-our-mystic.html |archive-date=March 20, 2012 |url-status=dead}} His argument is that on his early albums Coleman's attempts to break free of chords and chorus-structures are hampered by sidemen who are unwilling to follow his cue.

Originally released under the Contemporary imprint in mono and then later (either in 1959 or 1960) issued with a different cover photo and in stereo. The stereo remix of the album was re-released in 1992 on LP, compact disc and compact cassette in collaboration between Contemporary and OJC.

All tracks composed by Ornette Coleman.

1. "Invisible" – 4:11
2. "The Blessing" – 4:45
3. "Jayne" – 7:17
4. "Chippie" – 5:37
5. "The Disguise" – 2:46
6. "Angel Voice" – 4:19
7. "Alpha" – 4:09
8. "When Will the Blues Leave?" – 4:58
9. "The Sphinx" – 4:13

• Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone
• Don Cherry – cornet
• Walter Norris – piano
• Don Payne – double bass
• Billy Higgins – drums
• Lester Koenig – producer
• Roy DuNann – engineer
• Nat Hentoff – liner notes

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Category:1958 debut albums

Category:Ornette Coleman albums

Category:Contemporary Records albums