Ornette Coleman

Multi-instrumentalist Ornette Coleman is the only musician fearless enough to back up a record presumptuously titled The Shape Of Jazz To Come. Now, 51 years after that influential release, Coleman continues to break and redefine the limits of jazz—though the seemingly chaotic nature of his improvised works belies Coleman’s commitment to the innovative composition technique he dubs “harmolodics.” An infrequent presence in the recording studio these days—his most recent LP was 2006’s Sound Grammar—Coleman can still be heard onstage regularly, playing with his wailing approach to the saxophone.

Updated 11/10/2010