The Ornette Coleman Quartet, This is Our Music (side A)

1961's This is Our Music is the third the famous trilogy of Ornette's quartet albums that captured his approach and in many ways created his legacy.  After two records with Billy Higgins on drums, Ed Blackwell appears here—Higgins's aggressively pulsing cymbal work is replaced with Blackwell's greater emphasis on toms and polyrhythms.  Ornette's compositions are still lyrical and can border on romantic, but they hint even more at the abstract ideas that would follow.  The amazing photo and cover design have grown canonical and been imitated.  My 90s pressing is mastered to make Haden's bass a bit more clearly audible, but it also emphasizes some of the harshness in Cherry's pocket-trumpet that I'd rather not hear so well.