Broken Shadows
Broken Shadows is a jazz album by Ornette Coleman. It was recorded in September 1971 and on September 7–8, 1972 during the same sessions as Science Fiction, but it wasn’t released by Columbia until 1982. The album runs about 50 minutes and was produced by Jim Fishel. Although it came out later, the music captures Coleman just before he formed his Prime Time band.
The contents were later included in the 2000 compilation The Complete Science Fiction Sessions. Critics note its place near a turning point in Coleman’s career: a retrospective look at his early work and hints of what would come next. AllMusic’s Scott Yanow says the performances reflect his career up to that point. The New York Times’ Robert Palmer called it a wonderful album, perhaps even better than Science Fiction, and highlighted the track Good Girl Blues as an imaginative update of Southwestern jump blues with a blend of bluesy and atonal sounds. The Washington Post’s Geoffrey Himes says the release shows Coleman between his free-jazz roots and his later, more chaotic harmolodic style, while also showing his gift for melodic and bluesy ideas.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:34 (CET).