Ornette Coleman
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Innovator
Experimentor
Jazz legend
David Mashkevich - IDC 1001H - Professor Hoffman
Background
◈ Born in Fort Worth, TX
◈ Played saxophone at a young age
◈ Started his first band in high school
◆ The Jam Jivers
◈ Joined Silas Green (traveling show) - New
Orleans
◈ Pee Wee Crayton (band) - Los Angeles
Breakout
◈ 1959 - The Shape of Jazz to Come
◆ Experimental style
◈ Atlantic Records
◈ Lenox School of Jazz
“
A watershed event in the genesis of
avant-garde jazz, profoundly steering
its future course and throwing down
a gauntlet that some still haven’t
come to grips with
-Steve Huey (AllMusic)
Free Jazz Movement
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Did not obey traditional
harmonic patterns
Influenced by Thelonious
Monk and Horace Silver
Gave the performer a much
broader control over how
he chose to string together
different notes and rhythms
Influence in New York
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Five Spot Jazz Club - early 1960s
Met with divided reaction
Support: Leonard Bernstein, Lionel Hampton
Opposition: Miles Davis
Lost his label
Refused to change his style to please audiences
Later Years
◈ Continued experimenting with music
◈ Began to involve his son as a drummer
◆ Denardo Coleman
◈ 1972 - London Symphony Orchestra
◆ Skies of America
Themes Represented
◈ What makes New York City unique?
◆ Fostered Coleman’s innovative work
◈ What is art and what is its purpose?
◆ Challenge the status quo
◈ Meaningfulness
◆ Coleman’s work stood out (for good or bad)
Sources
◈ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ornette-Coleman
◈ http://www.biography.com/people/ornette-coleman-92531
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◈ http://www.nndb.com/people/990/000029903/
◈ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ornette-coleman-mn00004
84396/biography
THANKS!