The four albums in question are rather good: The Shape Of Jazz To Come, Ornette (the one with the tune-titles consisting of initials), Ornette On Tenor and Free Jazz. The only surprise is that, in order to get 79'59” of music on each CD with no omissions, Shape has been split between the two discs – ‘Lonely Woman’ and ‘Eventually’ still open the show, but the rest of that classic comes on CD2 after two tenor tracks, with Free Jazz as the programme closer. The music still packs quite a punch, especially with little breathing space between tracks, and Coleman's expansiveness on both his instruments is mightily impressive. The comparison between the two drummers is instructive, likewise the three bassists, and when all of them (except for Garrison) work together on Free Jazz, you get almost the only collective “free” playing – as opposed to the themesolos-theme model inherited from bebop. Thought-provoking as well as gripping and, until Atlantic follows its recent Coltrane and Mingus repackages by reissuing the Beauty Is A Rare Thing box with all the outtakes and originally unissued material, this may be the cheapest way of acquiring such historically important music.