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Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman

Born: 9th March 1930, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.

Died: 11th June 2015, New York City

Nationality: American

Artist's website: http://www.ornettecoleman.com/

Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He was best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms. Instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation, rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history," noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud."

Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Coleman taught himself to play the saxophone when he was a teenager.

Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornette_Coleman

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Further Reading: Ornette Coleman

Recording of the Week, Ornette Coleman, 'Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Recordings'

29th April 2022

An archival re-issue by Craft Recordings offers the perfect excuse to revisit a major visionary of jazz music's earliest recordings.

Artist Profile, Ornette Coleman

21st November 2019

Ornette Coleman's reputation as the man who broke jazz often gets in the way of some of the most celebratory music of any age, which continues to communicate 60 years on.

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