Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell came together to celebrate the work of mentor Ornette Coleman, but the repertoire of their Old and New Dreams quartet soon blossomed into a project of much wider scope, addressing also the musical experiences the players had made individually in their travels around the world. As well as superlative versions of Ornette’s “Lonely Woman“ and “Open or Close“ this highly influential album, now regard as a classic of new jazz, includes pieces by Cherry and Blackwell inspired by African music, Redman’s enigmatic “Orbit of La-Ba”, and Haden’s impressionistic “Song for the Whales”. Recorded in Oslo in August 1979 and produced by Manfred Eicher, this vinyl reissue includes new liner notes providing historical context and background information.