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Coleman eventually called the theory “Harmolodics,” a word that sums up his ideas about the equality of rhythm, harmony, and melody—a compositional method that freed jazz from its dependence on European forms and returned it, in a way, to its roots in a call-and-response tradition.
- Ornette Coleman
- Eric Dolphy
- John Coltrane
- Alice Coltrane
- Cecil Taylor
- Albert Ayler
- Sun Ra
- Anthony Braxton
- Archie Shepp
- Peter Brötzmann
Regarded as one of the founders of free jazz, saxophonist Ornette Coleman possessed a unique improvisational voice. His quartet’s arrival in New York, with a much-discussed residency at the Five Spot, was hugely controversial, and the band’s sound was unlike any that had come before it. The quartet would play one of Ornette’s memorable themes as th...
A multi-instrumentalist, Dolphy is best known as an alto saxophonist, and for being one of the first musicians to play the bass clarinet in a jazz setting. He also played flute and, less frequently, clarinet & piccolo. Initially rooted in bebop (there exists a private recording of him practising with the great trumpeter Clifford Brown) Dolphy becam...
A musician who needs little introduction, Coltrane’s distinctive tenor saxophone soundwas heard in a range of stylistic settings through the 1950s and ’60s, both as a bandleader and as a sideman. The hard bop of the First Great Miles Davis Quintet and his own Blue Train was followed by the new modal approach of Milestones and Kind of Blue and then ...
Born Alice McLeod in Detroit, Michigan, she worked as a jazz pianist in various straight-ahead and swinging settings, including with Lucky Thompson, Kenny Clarke and the vibraphonist Terry Gibbs’ quartet. After she met John Coltrane the pair’s lives and music became more overtly spiritual, and she replaced McCoy Tyneras the pianist in John’s band i...
Another major pioneer of American free jazz, Cecil Taylor was noted for his radical, percussive piano playing and, like Ornette Coleman, was playing highly experimental forms of jazz as early as the late 1950s in New York. Classically trained, he displayed the influence of modern European composers including Bela Bartók and Karlheinz Stockhausen. T...
After initially playing R&B, Albert Ayler’s 1960s free jazz recordings prioritise pure, raw expression. His tenor saxophone sound is like no one else’s: honking, otherworldly and primal. He was initially mentored by John Coltrane, making overtly spiritual music and turning to Coltrane for financial help when he was destitute, but the older saxophon...
Sun Ra’s highly idiosyncratic music draws on the whole history of jazz – from ragtime, the sounds of New Orleans, bebop, modal jazz, jazz fusion and free jazz – to create a cosmic sound world that was enhanced by his highly theatrical live performances. Born Herman Poole Blount, he adopted the name Le Sony’r Ra, which was later shortened to Sun Ra....
One of many notable musicians to emerge from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the Chicago-based advocacy & education group, saxophonist Anthony Braxton would go on to win a ‘ Genius Grant ‘ from the MacArthur Foundation (1994) and be named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master (2004). His huge discography ra...
Tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp burst onto the nascent Avant-garde jazz scene in 1960s New York with appearances in high profile bands led by Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane. Along with fellow tenor player Pharoah Sanders, he was at the forefront of a movement that took influence from various African cultures and traditions. He has been involved in t...
The German saxophonist and clarinettist Peter Brötzmann was one of the first European musiciansto embrace the new free jazz sounds of the mid-1960s, as American pioneers of the form found that they received a warmer response when touring in Europe than in the United States. Brötzmann’s brutal tenor sound is primarily inspired by Albert Ayler and, h...
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) [1] was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation.
Jan 22, 2024 · Ornette Coleman is widely regarded as one of the key pioneers of Free Jazz. Born in 1930 in Fort Worth, Texas, Coleman challenged the traditional conventions of jazz by introducing a new approach to improvisation and composition.
Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, [1] is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes.
Jun 13, 2015 · He was only the second jazz performer to win a Pulitzer Prize, for his 2006 album Sound Grammar, and he was the rare jazzman voted into the elite American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Sep 1, 1985 · Coleman planted the seed for the free jazz movement of the 1960s, which in turn gave rise to a school of European themeless improvisors, led by the guitarist Derek Bailey and the saxophonist...
