| Coleman Classics Volume 1 | |
| Type: | Live album |
| Artist: | Paul Bley, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins |
| Cover: | Coleman Classics Volume 1.jpg |
| Released: | 1977 |
| Recorded: | October 1958 |
| Venue: | The Hilcrest Club, Los Angeles, California |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Length: | 35:14 |
| Label: | Improvising Artists IAI 37.38.52 |
| Producer: | Paul Bley |
| Chronology: | Paul Bley |
| Prev Title: | Live at the Hilcrest Club 1958 |
| Prev Year: | 1958 |
| Next Title: | Footloose! |
| Next Year: | 1963 |
Coleman Classics Volume 1 is a live album by pianist Paul Bley, saxophonist Ornette Coleman, trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Billy Higgins and bassist Charlie Haden recorded in California in 1958 and released Bley's on the Improvising Artists label in 1977.[1] The album is an early live recording of Ornette Coleman, made shortly after his first album, Something Else!!!! and featuring the group (without Bley) that would soon record the Atlantic albums The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) and Change of the Century (1960).
Allmusic reviewer Scott Yanow observed: "Coleman already had his very original style pretty much together at this early stage. Paul Bley was wise enough to mostly stay out of the way and he clearly benefited from this encounter with some of the pioneers of free jazz".[2]
All compositions by Ornette Coleman except as indicated