---
product_id: 8831474
title: "The Complete Science Fiction Sessions"
brand: "ornette coleman"
price: "38503 kr"
currency: ISK
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.is/products/8831474-the-complete-science-fiction-sessions
store_origin: IS
region: Iceland
---

# The Complete Science Fiction Sessions

**Brand:** ornette coleman
**Price:** 38503 kr
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Complete Science Fiction Sessions by ornette coleman
- **How much does it cost?** 38503 kr with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.is](https://www.desertcart.is/products/8831474-the-complete-science-fiction-sessions)

## Best For

- ornette coleman enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted ornette coleman brand quality
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## Description

.com               This two-CD set combines a pair of Ornette Coleman's Columbia LPs, Science Fiction and Broken Shadows, and adds three tracks--a new piece, an alternate take, and an alternate mix. Most of the material comes from sessions in September 1971, when Coleman surrounded himself with old associates--including the group with which he'd made his startling New York debut a dozen years earlier: trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins. Also along were tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman, drummer Ed Blackwell, and trumpeter Bobby Bradford, another longtime associate. The seven musicians recorded as two distinct quartets, as a quintet with Bradford, and as a septet, while other guests contributed to still more permutations. All the musicians were deeply immersed in Coleman's musical language: the complex, sometimes jagged tunes; the emotional directness that drew on the wellspring of the blues; the sprung rhythms and melodic freedom that had first defined the free-jazz movement.  The set's first CD consists largely of quartet and quintet pieces. There are new groupings that take new directions, such as two evocative songs with the gifted Indian vocalist Asha Puthi, accompanied by a septet with two classical trumpeters and Higgins on tympani. And on "Science Fiction," the band breathes seething chaos around the poet David Henderson's voice. Much of the second CD concentrates on the septet, a group that inevitably invokes Coleman's most radical grouping, the "double quartet" that recorded Free Jazz in 1960, with five of the original members present. The pieces here are shorter, with more clearly defined compositional materials, but the collective improvisations are still bracing and the rhythmic dialogues often stunning. While Cherry and Coleman no longer worked together regularly, they shared a vision and empathy unique in jazz, and the shifting densities and internal meters of "Elizabeth" are something to behold. "Good Girl Blues" and "Is It Forever" catch Coleman layering and alternating different components--Kansas City blues, swing, bop, free, and classical--to create unique musical spaces. This is one of Coleman's strangest groupings, with his regular band joined by blues singer Webster Armstrong, guitarist Jim Hall, hard-bop pianist Cedar Walton, and a woodwind quintet. This is essential hearing, varied and intriguing music from one of the greatest architects, composers, and improvisers in the history of jazz. Stuart Broomer                  Review               Ornette Coleman is well represented in "The Complete Science Fiction Sessions," a two-CD set issued by Columbia/Legacy. In the early '70s, Columbia issued three albums by Coleman: "Science Fiction," "Broken Shadows," and "Skies of America." This set combines the first two and adds a few alternate takes, marking the first time any of this music has been available domestically on CD. Three pieces feature Coleman's original quartet: trumpeter Don Cherry, and bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Billy Higgins. Other tunes feature trumpeter Bobby Bradford, tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman, drummer Ed Blackwell, vocalist Asha Puthil, poet David Henderson, guitarist Jim Hall, and pianist Cedar Walton, among others.--- JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc. -- From Jazziz

## Images

![The Complete Science Fiction Sessions - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/818lemWDLZL.jpg)
![The Complete Science Fiction Sessions - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81APCvRqRfL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Long-awaited Ornette masterpiece as deluxe CD
  

*by A***S on Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2000*

At last!  SCIENCE FICTION on CD -- 24-bit mapped, and given the full Mosaic-style treatment by Michael Cuscuna.  Included are 2 alternate takes and 1 never before released track from the original 1971 sessions, along with  all the material from those sessions originally released in 1982 as BROKEN SHADOWS. SCIENCE FICTION is the first Ornette record I heard, in 1975, and I still love it.  Most of it sounds quite like the great Atlantic recordings  of 1959-62, with Charlie Haden on bass, either Ed Blackwell or Billy Higgins  on drums, and Don Cherry or Bobby Bradford on trumpet (and all 5 on some tracks).  Dewey Redman, in Ornette's working band of the time, also plays on many of the tracks.The twist is that there are several vocal tracks --  the 2 with Asha Puthli, the female pop/classical singer from Bombay, are stunningly beautiful.  (Some critics did not approve, but they weren't listening!)  The title track features the poet David Henderson, and it truly sounds like Science Fiction.  Two more vocal tracks, from BROKEN SHADOWS, are more conventional, and frankly can be safely skipped.  A highlight of the set is "Law Years," one of Ornette's best known and often covered compositions (by Old and New Dreams and Ken Vandermark,  among others).The variety of styles and textures made the original SCIENCE FICTION, to me, Ornette's greatest accomplishment as a cohesive album.  (Be aware that many critics disagreed.)  There is a wrenching intensity to every track on the original album, the first 8 of the 19 collected here, making a statement greater than the sum of the individual pieces, a testimony to Ornette's compositional vision.  It is interesting  to find that "School Work" is the theme used in DANCING IN YOUR HEAD, Ornette's first electric Prime Time recording from 1976. That was to be Ornette's new direction following this work, so SCIENCE FICTION stands as  the last great recording before Ornette's "Second Period."Absolutely essential!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    High water mark
  

*by H***B on Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2019*

First, if you are not an Ornette fan, or are just starting out, I wouldn't begin here. This is rough stuff. That said, I think it is some of his best work, especially the larger ensembles. I think the controversial vocal cuts have aged well also.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    6 stars !
  

*by J***R on Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2010*

I add another 5 star review; I wish I could give it more. I won't speak to the historical context and significance of these sets, others have done that. I limit my review to the visceral impact of listening. Coleman and the whole band are absolutely brilliant throughout. Lyrical, surprising (of course), laying it down jamming - this record really goes. All the players excel on these recordings at solos and there is no denying what is going on there. The ensemble playing really made an impression on me though.I just wish I had discovered this material 20 years ago.

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*Product available on Desertcart Iceland*
*Store origin: IS*
*Last updated: 2026-02-15*