Turn Around is part of the second album of Ornette Coleman, released in 1959, “Tomorrow Is the Question!”

The album generally received better press than did Something Else!!!!.  Allmusic’s Thom Jurek notes the interplay of Coleman and Cherry on tunes he described as “knottier and tighter in their arrangement style” than those of the previous album. Ekkehard Jost, in his book Free Jazz, noted that “as early as the 1958/59 recordings for Contemporary, the most pronounced features of Coleman’s saxophone playing were set. His bent for improvisations that were largely unrestrained harmonically is evident, even in pieces whose outward make-up is anything but revolutionary.” Others have hailed the removal of the piano as a positive move: for Mike Andrews, “a marked conceptual improvement can be immediately recognized” as the lack of harmonic instrument allowed greater freedom for the soloists.

Release history

Originally released as an LP by Contemporary Records in 1959, the album was later reissued on the Original Jazz Classics label on July 1, 1991.

Track listing

All pieces written by Ornette Coleman.

1. “Tomorrow Is the Question!” – 3:09
2. “Tears Inside” – 5:00
3. “Mind and Time” – 3:08
4. “Compassion” – 4:37
5. “Giggin'” – 3:19
6. “Rejoicing” – 4:01
7. “Lorraine” – 5:55
8. “Turnaround” – 7:58
9. “Endless” – 5:18

Track 7 recorded on January 16, 1959; tracks 8 and 9 on February 23; tracks 1-6 recorded on March 9 and 10, 1959.

Personnel

Performance

• Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
• Don Cherry – trumpet
• Percy Heath – bass (tracks 1–6)
• Shelly Manne – drums
• Red Mitchell – bass (tracks 7–9)