Given the gargantuan amount of Ornette reissues on the market it might be hard, at first sight, to argue the case for yet more of the same. Paradoxically, this 2CD release nonetheless serves a different kind of purpose: it's an appetiser rather than the feast of a complete box-set or comprehensive collection of all of his releases from those glorious early years. By choosing well from Something Else!, Tomorrow Is The Question, The Shape Of Jazz To Come, Change Of The Century and This Is Our Music the compilers give an insightful overview of the freshness and largely joyous invigoration of Coleman's brilliant composing and interplay with superb collaborators, among which were the likes of Percy Heath and Shelley Manne, as well as Cherry, Haden, Higgins and Blackwell. Although marketed as avant-garde the fact of the matter is that Coleman's muse was deeply rooted in blues and folk, but had sufficient vision, and, above all, technical prowess to enable him to stretch these forms in unexpected ways, bucking convention on harmony, melody, rhythm and the relationship between leader and accompanists. Dedicated Ornette fans need not apply, but newcomers would do well to sit down to this well presented, palatable offering.