The Shape of Jazz to Come was the first free jazz album ever recorded. It was recorded in 1959 by Ornette Coleman's piano-less quartet, which included Ornette Coleman on alto saxophone, Don Cherry on cornet, Charlie Haden on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The album was considered shocking at the time, because it had no recognizable chord-structure and included simulataneous improvisation by the performers in a much freer style than previously in jazz. However, the album is probably also one of the most accessible and easy to enjoy free jazz albums ever recorded. It is nothing like the later free jazz albums by Ornette and others which are more typically avant-garde. Free jazz, or progressive jazz, is a movement of jazz music characterized by diminished dependence on formal constraints. ... Ornette Coleman (born March 19, 1930) was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s, and one of the more notable figures in jazz history. ... Don Cherry is the name of more than one notable person. ... Charles Edward Haden (born August 6, 1937) is a jazz bassist who first made his name playing with Ornette Coleman in the early late 1950s and 1960s. ... Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936–May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. ... Improvisation is the act of making something up as you go along. ...

The breakthrough that Ornette made was to leave out the chord playing instruments from the band. There is a brief melody, much like the tune to a typical jazz song, and then several minutes of free improvisation follows, and then the tune is played again, much like a bebop format, where the form is melody/solos/melody. However, unlike the bebop tune, where the chords and song form are repeated throught the solos, Ornette's music leaves the chords and song form by the wayside.

The album was a breakthrough work, in that it founded the free jazz movement. Later free jazz was very different than this, but the work laid the foundation for the format in which nearly all later free jazz would be played.

Track listing

• Lonely Woman
• Eventually
• Peace
• Focus on Sanity
• Congeniality
• Chronology