VA - The Avant-Garde (1986)

Part of a 12-volume set of LPs that covered Atlantic's history of jazz slotted into neat little genre labels, Atlantic Jazz: The Avant Garde is not an entirely satisfying disc. Partially this is because most of the artists represented here -- including Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, and Don Cherry -- did their most exploratory and adventurous work for other labels. Atlantic Records was no ESP-Disk, and even their most out-there records were more rooted in convention than most. That said, it's hard to fault the material included here, like a 12-minute take on Charles Mingus' "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" recorded at the 1960 Antibes Jazz Festival and two early Ornette Coleman tracks. There's not enough Rahsaan Roland Kirk; although the strident "Black Mystery Has Been Revealed" and the lovely "The Inflated Tear" are two of his most famous Atlantic works, his work for the label is intriguing enough to warrant a further exploration. Most useful for the absolute beginner in modern jazz, Atlantic Jazz: The Avant Garde is OK as an introduction and fine as a 45-minute compilation, but it's hardly definitive.~Atlantic Jazz: The Avant Garde Review by Stewart Mason