These were all pivotal events in Coleman's career, who in June 1959 suggested to Nesuhi Ertegun, who handled Atlantic's jazz recordings, that he was considering abandoning music in order to study religion. Ertegun, confident of Coleman's potential, urged him to reconsider. Although Coleman initially wished for the album to be titled "Focus on Sanity", after one of the songs on the album, it was ultimately titled "The Shape of Jazz to Come" at the urging of Ertegun, who felt that the title would give consumers "an idea about the uniqueness of the LP."