Coleman, Ornette (1930- )

US alto saxophonist and jazz composer. In the late 1950s he rejected the established structural principles of jazz for free avant-garde improvisation. He has worked with small and large groups, ethnic musicians of different traditions, and symphony orchestras. His albums include The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959), Chappaqua Suite (1965), and Skies of America (1972). Although he performed in public only intermittently during the 1980s, the recording ‘Song X’ (1986) and a subsequent tour, both made with US jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, brought him and his music a degree of attention he had not enjoyed for some years.

In the 1980s, Coleman's group, Prime Time, performed and recorded as a septet with two guitarists, two bass guitarists, and two drummers. Prime Time's repertory draws on the various musical styles that have influenced Coleman (including Moroccan music, jazz-rock, and free-jazz improvisation). A film, Ornette: Made in America, compiled from footage made in the 1960s and the early 1980s, was released in 1984, and two concerts entitled Ornette Coleman Celebration took place at Carnegie Hall in 1987. Coleman remained a vital figure on the jazz scene throughout the 1990s.