Perhaps one of the most powerful and influential innovators of jazz of the last century, Ornette Coleman, the alto saxophonist, died on Thursday morning in Manhattan. He was a mighty 85 years old.
A visionary artist to say the least, The New York Times reported the cause of death to be cardiac arrest.
With a six-decade long career, Coleman was born in 1930 in Fort Worth, Texas. A traveling jazzer, he started out in New Orleans and only returned home briefly before venturing to Los Angeles, landing a position playing in a rhythm and blues band.
Per Ken Burns' Jazz documentary, it was here that Coleman began to hone his style into a mix of country blues and mathematical jazz theory. He performed and recorded all the way up until his death.
In the '50s, also, Coleman came Northeast and, upon arriving in New York City, was able to ink a deal with Atlantic Records, where he delivered such iconic releases like The Shape of Jazz to Come and Free Jazz.
Among his other accolades are the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for his live album Sound Grammar as well as the coveted MacArthur Genius award.
And as most musicians can empathize, in a 1997 interview with Jacques Derrida, the internationally revered philosopher, Coleman contemplated abandoning music as a whole:
"I was in Texas, I started to play the saxophone and make a living for my family by playing on the radio. One day, I walked into a place that was full of gambling and prostitution, people arguing, and I saw a woman get stabbed-then I thought that I had to get out of there. I told my mother that I didn't want to play this music anymore because I thought that I was only adding to all that suffering. She replied, 'What's got hold of you, you want somebody to pay you for your soul?'"
A most renowned musician, the entire genre and beyond has been impacted by his death. Our condolences, thus, to Coleman's family and loved ones.
Fondly take the musician into your home with a preview of the Free Jazz album below.
