Jazz Abstractions

Jazz Abstractions (subtitled John Lewis Presents Contemporary Music: Compositions by Gunther Schuller and Jim Hall) is a third stream album combining elements of jazz and classical music recorded in late 1960 for the Atlantic label.

Jazz Abstractions
Studio album by John Lewis, Gunther Schuller and Jim Hall
Released	ca. November 1961
Recorded	December 19–20, 1960 NYC
Genre	Jazz
Length	36:06
Label	Atlantic SD 1365
Producer	John Lewis, Nesuhi Ertegun
John Lewis chronology
The Wonderful World of Jazz (1960) Jazz Abstractions (1961) Original Sin (1961)

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Allmusic awarded the album 4 stars stating: "One of the most successful third stream efforts ...This is very interesting music".

Track listing

All compositions by Gunther Schuller except as indicated

1. "Abstraction" - 4:06
2. "Piece for Guitar & Strings" (Jim Hall) - 6:22
3. "Variants on a Theme of John Lewis (Django)" - 10:15
   1. "Variant I" - 5:27
   2. "Variant II" - 1:38
   3. "Variant III" - 3:10
4. "Variants on a Theme of Thelonious Monk (Criss-Cross)" - 15:23
   1. "Variant I" - 6:22
   2. "Variant II" - 1:49
   3. "Variant III" - 4:12
   4. "Variant IV" - 3:00

Personnel

• Gunther Schuller - arranger, conductor
• Jim Hall - guitar
• Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone (tracks 1 & 4)
• Eric Dolphy - alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute (tracks 3 & 4)
• Robert DiDomenica - flute (tracks 3 & 4)
• Bill Evans - piano (tracks 3 & 4)
• Eddie Costa - vibraphone (tracks 3 & 4)
• Charles Libove, Roland Vamos - violin
• Alfred Brown (track 2), Harry Zaratzian - viola
• Joseph Tekula - cello
• Alvin Brehm (track 1), George Duvivier (tracks 3 & 4), Scott LaFaro - bass
• Sticks Evans - drums (tracks 1, 3 & 4)