9. “Faces and Places (Live),” The Ornette Coleman Trio, At the Golden Circle, Vol. 1 (1965)

When he first appeared on the scene, Ornette Coleman was considered an enfant terrible. Wielding a cheap plastic alto sax, and playing a form of stripped-down jazz rooted in blues but divorced from traditional chord changes, Coleman left critics and musicians sharply divided. His 1959 New York debut at The Five Spot delighted the New York Philharmonic’s Leonard Bernstein; trumpeter Roy Eldridge, meanwhile, was unmoved. “I listened to him high and I listened to him cold sober,” he told a music critic. “I even played with him. I think he’s jiving, baby.”
 
In December of 1960, Coleman recorded a riotous album that would only add fuel to the critical fire: Free Jazz consisted of a single 40-minute continuous improvisation with no recurring melodic themes. Two quartets played simultaneously, separated into the left and right stereo channels; the session boasted two competing rhythm sections, trumpeters Don Cherry and Freddie Hubbard, and bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy—all roaring together for one continuous take split over two album sides. With Free Jazz, Coleman had basically invented a new form of music, but not a profitable one: Atlantic records dropped him within the year for poor sales.
 
At the Golden Circle is the sound of Coleman having climbed back onstage after a two-year hiatus. Now recording for Blue Note, and touring Europe with an intimate trio format—just bass and drums behind him—Coleman played with dynamic, ever-shifting good humor. On “Faces and Places,” he jumps from one melodic or rhythmic idea to the next, jousting with elastic virtuoso bassist David Izenzon. The recording is anchored by thick washes of drummer Charles Moffett’s ride cymbal, sitting up-front in the soundstage and humming with overtones. Both volumes of At the Golden Circle show a jazz explorer in top form with like-minded players, emerging from self-imposed exile to newfound acceptance.