As jazz's first extended, continuous free improvisation LP, Free Jazz practically defies superlatives in its historical importance. Ornette Coleman's music had already been tagged "free," but this album took the term to a whole new level. Aside from a predetermined order of featured soloists and several brief transition signals cued by Coleman, the entire piece was created spontaneously, right on the spot. The lineup was expanded to a double-quartet format, split into one quartet for each stereo channel: Ornette, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Billy Higgins on the left; trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell on the right.
Few jazz artists can claim the versatility and breadth of musical sympathies of Herbie Hancock. His 1998 album Gershwin's World marked the centenary of the composer by putting his music in the context of the origins of jazz and ragtime, and featured a range of star singers. Taking the album on the road, the individual numbers gradually became abstracted into the instrumentals to be heard here.
An acoustic guitarist with a very pretty tone, Earl Klugh does not consider himself a jazz player and thinks of Chet Atkins as being his most important influence. Klugh played on a Yusef Lateef album when he was 15 and gained recognition in 1971 for his contributions to George Benson's White Rabbit record. He played regularly with Benson in 1973, was a member of Return to Forever briefly in 1974, and then in the mid-'70s, began recording as a leader. After a couple well-received solo albums on different Capitol imprints including Blue Note, Klugh hit pay dirt with 1979's One on One, a Grammy-winning collaboration with pianist Bob James.