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Ornette Coleman

Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015)[1] 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.

Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015)[1] 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.

Beauty Is A Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings
Ornette Coleman has been a leading force in jazz since his startling debut in the late '50s, Coleman's emotive alto saxophone style relies on melodic improvisation unbound by chord changes. This style (and philosophy) was dubbed by Ornette 'harmelodics' and reached its peak in a small combo whose virtuoso playing had the power of the blues and the multi-rhythmic sophistication of Monk, Mingus, or Coltrane. The landmark series of albums Coleman released in the late '50s and early '60s still defin…
Something Else!!!!
This 1958 debut recording by the Ornette Coleman Quintet, which featured Coleman on his trademark white plastic alto, Don Cherry on trumpet, Billy Higgins on drums, Walter Norris on piano, and Don Payne on bass, shook up the jazz world -- particularly those musicians and critics who had entered the hard bop era with such verve and were busy using the blues as a way of creating vast solo spaces inside tight and short melody lines. Something Else!!!! is anathema to that entire idea, and must have …
Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation
2016 repress. Originally released in 1960, Free Jazzwas recorded in one uninterrupted take: Coleman, Scott LaFaro, Don Cherry, & Billy Higgins are on the left stereo channel; Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell are on the right. "We were expressing our minds and emotions as much as could be captured by electronics." Gatefold exact repro reissue, manufactured by Rhino.
To Whom Who Keeps a Record
"In the late 1950s, Ornette Coleman set the jazz world on fire. From his own unique playing style to his fundamental deconstruction of harmony and complete rethinking of group performance, Coleman at once confounded critics and inspired a new generation. This revolutionary music eventually became known as free jazz, but Coleman's influence extended well beyond -- into avant-garde rock and art circles -- and today his name is synonymous with artistic freedom. Originally released in Japan o…
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