Beauty Is a Rare Thing

Beauty Is a Rare Thing is a compilation box set collecting all the master recordings made for Atlantic Records between 1959 and 1961 by the American jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman.[1] The set was released on Rhino Records in 1993, and reissued in March 2015.[2][3]

Beauty Is a Rare Thing
(The Complete Atlantic Recordings)
Compilation album by
ReleasedNovember 16, 1993
RecordedMay 22, 1959 โ€“ March 27, 1961
StudioRadio Recorders (Los Angeles); Atlanic (New York City); A&R (New York City)
GenreJazz
Length424:09
LabelRhino Records
ProducerYves Beauvais

Background

Prior to signing with Atlantic in 1959, Coleman and his group had recorded Something Else!!!! and Tomorrow Is the Question! for the Los Angeles-based label Contemporary Records. Coleman had not been completely pleased with either, and he found audiences dwindling at the Hillcrest Club (not the Hillcrest Country Club) in Los Angeles where he played regularly.[4] However, one evening, pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet saw the Coleman group and immediately became an evangelist for Ornette's new approach, securing Coleman both a summer residency at the Tanglewood Music Center and a recording contract with the MJQ's label, Atlantic, through the label's executive in charge of jazz, Nesuhi Ertegun.[5]

Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles on May 22, and October 8 and 9, 1959, at Atlantic Studios in New York City on July 19 and 26, and August 2, 1960, and January 31, and March 22 and 27, 1961, and at A&R Studios in New York on December 19, 20 and 21, 1960. The producer of the original recording sessions was Nesuhi Ertegun.

Content

The box presents the material in chronological recording order. The set includes the total tracks from all six of his Atlantic albums, The Shape of Jazz to Come (October 1959), Change of the Century (June 1960), This Is Our Music (February 1961), Free Jazz (September 1961), Ornette! (February 1962), and Ornette on Tenor (December 1962), as well as the later compilations The Art of the Improvisers (November 1970), Twins (October 1971), and the Japan-only To Whom Who Keeps A Record (1975). Two additional tracks were released on the Gunther Schuller album John Lewis Presents Contemporary Music: Jazz Abstractions โ€“ Compositions by Gunther Schuller and Jim Hall of 1961, and six previously unreleased performances appear here for the first time. The insert booklet contains text by Robert Palmer, forewords by Coleman and trumpeter Don Cherry, as well as various quotes of reaction to Coleman's music by Paul Bley, Miles Davis, Roy Eldridge, Gil Evans, Maynard Ferguson, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, John Lewis, Shelly Manne, Jackie McLean, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz๐Ÿ‘‘[7]

The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek states that "this is, along with John Coltrane's Atlantic set and the Miles and Coltrane box, one of the most essential jazz CD purchases".[6] The Penguin Guide to Jazz in all editions prior to its ninth awarded the set one of its rare crown accolades.[8]

Track listing

All compositions by Ornette Coleman except "Embraceable You" by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, and "Abstraction" and "Variants on a Theme of Thelonious Monk" by Gunther Schuller.
Disc one
No.TitleSourceLength
1."Focus on Sanity"The Shape of Jazz to Come6:49
2."Chronology"The Shape of Jazz to Come6:04
3."Peace"The Shape of Jazz to Come9:02
4."Congeniality"The Shape of Jazz to Come6:44
5."Lonely Woman"The Shape of Jazz to Come4:57
6."Monk and the Nun"Twins5:53
7."Just for You"The Art of the Improvisers3:51
8."Eventually"The Shape of Jazz to Come4:20
9."Una Muy Bonita"Change of the Century5:59
10."Bird Food"Change of the Century5:28
11."Change of the Century"Change of the Century4:41
12."Music Always"To Whom Who Keeps A Record5:29
Disc two
No.TitleSourceLength
1."The Face of the Bass"Change of the Century6:55
2."Forerunner"Change of the Century5:13
3."Free"Change of the Century6:20
4."The Circle with a Hole in the Middle"The Art of the Improvisers4:52
5."Ramblin'"Change of the Century6:35
6."Little Symphony"Twins5:14
7."The Tribes of New York"previously unreleased4:33
8."Kaleidoscope"This Is Our Music6:34
9."Rise and Shine"previously unreleased6:11
10."Mr. and Mrs. People"previously unreleased4:40
11."Blues Connotation"This Is Our Music5:17
12."I Heard It Over the Radio"previously unreleased6:24
Disc three
No.TitleSourceLength
1."P.S. Unless One Has (Blues Connotation No. 2)"To Whom Who Keeps A Record5:53
2."Revolving Doors"previously unreleased4:26
3."Brings Goodness"To Whom Who Keeps A Record6:38
4."Joy of A Toy"Twins4:55
5."To Us"To Whom Who Keeps A Record4:32
6."Humpty Dumpty"This Is Our Music5:21
7."The Fifth of Beethoven"The Art of the Improvisers6:37
8."Motive for Its Use"To Whom Who Keeps A Record5:39
9."Moon Inhabitants"The Art of the Improvisers4:31
10."The Legend of Bebop"The Art of the Improvisers7:15
11."Some Other"To Whom Who Keeps A Record7:20
12."Embraceable You"This Is Our Music4:55
13."All"To Whom Who Keeps A Record4:30
Disc four
No.TitleSourceLength
1."Folk Tale"This Is Our Music4:47
2."Poise"This Is Our Music4:37
3."Beauty Is A Rare Thing"This Is Our Music7:13
4."First Take"Twins17:03
5."Free Jazz"Free Jazz37:03
Disc five
No.TitleSourceLength
1."Proof Readers"previously unreleased10:25
2."W.R.U."Ornette!16:24
3."Check Up"Twins10:10
4."T & T"Ornette!4:35
5."C & D"Ornette!13:10
6."R.P.D.D."Ornette!9:38
7."The Alchemy of Scott LaFaro"The Art of the Improvisers9:50
Disc six
No.TitleSourceLength
1."EOS"Ornette on Tenor6:35
2."Enfant"Ornette on Tenor6:26
3."Ecars"Ornette on Tenor7:35
4."Cross Breeding"Ornette on Tenor11:17
5."Harlem's Manhattan"The Art of the Improvisers8:10
6."Mapa"Ornette on Tenor9:05
7."Abstraction"Jazz Abstractions4:07
8."Variants on a Theme of Thelonious Monk (Criss Cross)"Jazz Abstractions15:22

Personnel

Additional personnel

References

  1. Ornette Coleman discography accessed November 28, 2011
  2. "Now Available: Ornette Coleman, Beauty Is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings". Rhino Records. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  3. "Beauty Is A Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings". Warner Jazz (UK). Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  4. Beauty Is A Rare Thing, Rhino 71410-2, liner notes, p. 24.
  5. Beauty Is A Rare Thing, liner notes, p.26.
  6. Jurek, T. AllMusic Review accessed November 28, 2011
  7. "Penguin Guide to Jazz: 4-Star Records in 8th Edition". Tom Hull. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  8. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Eighth Edition, ISBN 978-0-141-02327-4.
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