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Ornette Coleman 1930–, African-American saxophonist and composer, b. Fort Worth, Tex. Largely self-taught, he began playing the alto saxophone in rhythm-and-blues bands. He later developed an unorthodox and impassioned style of free jazz characterized by broken rhythms, atonal harmonies, and improvised melody, which made him an enduringly controversial figure in the jazz avant-garde. Coleman made his first real impact in the commercial jazz world in 1959 and has since played in a number of small groups with various musicians. In the mid-1970s he formed the Prime Time band. Coleman has written several modernist concert pieces, notably the orchestral Skies of America (1972).
See biography by B. McRae (1988).
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