1. Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer.
20 Facts About Ornette Coleman
1. 2.
Ornette Coleman is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation.
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Ornette Coleman's pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms.
4.
Ornette Coleman explored symphonic compositions with his 1972 album Skies of America, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra.
5.
Ornette Coleman subsequently switched to alto saxophone, first playing it in New Orleans after the Baton Rouge incident; the alto would remain his primary instrument for the rest of his life.
6.
Ornette Coleman then joined the band of Pee Wee Crayton and traveled with them to Los Angeles.
7.
Ornette Coleman worked at various jobs in Los Angeles, including as an elevator operator, while pursuing his music career.
8.
Ornette Coleman found like-minded musicians in Los Angeles, such as Ed Blackwell, Bobby Bradford, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, and Charles Moffett.
9.
Ornette Coleman's quartet received a long and sometimes controversial engagement at the Five Spot Cafe in Manhattan.
10.
On his Atlantic recordings, Ornette Coleman's sidemen were Cherry on cornet or pocket trumpet; Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro, and then Jimmy Garrison on bass; and Higgins or Ed Blackwell on drums.
11.
Ornette Coleman's complete recordings for the label were collected on the box set Beauty Is a Rare Thing in 1993.
12.
In 1960, Ornette Coleman recorded Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, which featured a double quartet, including Don Cherry and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, Haden and LaFaro on bass, and both Higgins and Blackwell on drums.
13.
In 1966, Ornette Coleman signed with Blue Note and released the two-volume live album At the "Golden Circle" Stockholm, featuring Izenzon and Moffett.
14.
Ornette Coleman explored his interest in string textures on Town Hall, 1962, culminating in the 1972 album Skies of America with the London Symphony Orchestra.
15.
The 1976 album Dancing in Your Head, Ornette Coleman's first recording with the group which later became known as Prime Time, prominently featured two electric guitarists.
16.
In 1991, Ornette Coleman played on the soundtrack of David Cronenberg's film Naked Lunch; the orchestra was conducted by Howard Shore.
17.
Ornette Coleman released four records in 1995 and 1996, and for the first time in many years worked regularly with piano players.
18.
Jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen stated in an interview with Marian McPartland that Ornette Coleman mentored her and gave her music lessons.
19.
Ornette Coleman died of cardiac arrest in Manhattan on June 11,2015, aged 85.
20.
Ornette Coleman's funeral was a three-hour event with performances and speeches by several of his collaborators and contemporaries.