Today’ open thread is dedicated to a jazz great that we lost earlier this week, Ornette Coleman.
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960’s, a term he invented with the name of an album. Coleman’s timbre was easily recognized: his keening, crying sound drew heavily on blues music. He was awarded aMacArthur Fellowship (genius grant) in 1994. His album Sound Grammar received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for music. Mr. Coleman widened the options in jazz and helped change its course. Partly through his example in the late 1950’s and early ’60’s, jazz became less beholden to the rules of harmony and rhythm.
When Will the Blues Leave?
Ramblin’
Buddha Blues
Lonely Woman
Bourgeois Boogie