Originally released in 1960 on the Jazzland record label and re-issued in 1998 through Universal Jazz - Harriott's recorded output was scarce and virtually none of it remains in print. Free Form is now restored to all its former glory and fully remastered, slipcased and with new 2007 sleevenote.Harriott was, like his contemporary Eric Dolphy, a consummate stylist whose tonal and harmonic inquiries led him off the left-hand path of mainstream jazzers. Harriott was interested in how mode and interval, when stretched to their limits by extended harmonics, could create "impressions" of lyricism and melody, without actually engaging them.Freeform has the kind of timeless quality that makes it stand up as a worthwhile addition to any serious jazz collection. It received the highest rating of five stars in the influential Downbeat jazz magazine and the quintet became a popular attraction around the jazz festivals of Europe.
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