Ornette Coleman

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Fort Worth TX, United States (1930 – present)

Ornette Coleman (born March 9th, 1930) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is one of the major innovators of the 1960s free jazz movement and one of the most notable figures in jazz history.

Coleman was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where he began performing rhythm and blues and bebop initially on tenor saxophone. He later switched to alto, which has remained his primary instrument. Coleman’s timbre is perhaps one of the most easily recognized in jazz: his keening, crying sound draws heavily on blues music. Part of the uniqueness of his sound came from his use of a plastic saxophone on his classic early recordings (Coleman claimed that it sounded drier, without the pinging sound of metal), though in more recent years he has played a metal saxophone.

Ornette Coleman is most famous for his albums ‘The Shape of Jazz to Come’ (1959), ‘Free Jazz’ (1961), and ‘Skies of America’ (1972). In ‘The Shape of Jazz to Come’, he and his famous quartet, consisting of Don Cherry on trumpet, Charlie Haden on upright bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, play solos free of a chordal structure, due in part to the absence of the pianist or guitarist that were traditional to previous jazz groups. On ‘Free Jazz’ Ornette Coleman brings together his quartet from ‘The Shape of Jazz to Come’ and multi-instrumental reedist Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Ed Blackwell for a forty minute double-quartet recording.

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jazz, free jazz, avant-garde, saxophone, experimental
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The Shape of Jazz to Come
Ornette Coleman
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The Music Of Ornette Coleman: Something Else!!!
Ornette Coleman
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Science Fiction
Ornette Coleman
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Ken Burns Jazz
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Top Tracks

1	Congeniality	533
2	Lonely Woman	372
3	Eventually	178
4	Law Years full track	166
5	Peace	150
6	Chronology	138
6	Focus on Sanity	138
8	Street Woman full track	137
9	What Reason Could I Give full track	94
10	Happy House full track	85
11	Rock the Clock full track	84
12	All My Life full track	72
13	Science Fiction full track	55
14	Just for You full track	49
15	Civilization Day full track	46

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marbley wrote:
Friday afternoon

man is a GOD

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Morngrim wrote:
Wednesday afternoon

Yup, king of free jazz.

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Martinchus89 wrote:
Wednesday morning

genius

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YoungHate wrote:
last week

who does the vocals from the title track of Science Fiction?

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SixShooterSam wrote:
13 days ago

I like his mid to late 70's output the best.

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YoungHate wrote:
13 days ago

yeah, next to koaru abe, this guy is my fave.

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KlangHarcun wrote:
15 days ago

One of the great jazz composers of all time!!!

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Master_ov_Khaos wrote:
25 days ago

Peace is the best track on The Shape of Jazz to Come

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reza79 wrote:
last month

One of the best Jazzmen out there. Iloe Free/avant-garde jazz. Screw the bland trad stuff...

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nonviolent wrote:
last month

Ornette Coleman really knows how to pick his bassists.

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qwrtyboy wrote:
last month

I finally tuned into The Shape of Jazz to Come a few months back. Got to say, the bassline on this one is tremendous, I'm hooked instantly.

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Dornelas wrote:
last month

I agree. "Change of the century" is the most similar. I like all albuns before the "The Shape of Jazz to Come". "Something Else", "Change of the Century", "The shape of jazz to come" and "Science Fiction" are my favorites. The lastest album, "Soud Grammar" is wonderful too.

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semenretentum wrote:
September 2009

or This Is Our Music

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tombom23 wrote:
September 2009

change of the century sounds very similar, if you liked what you heard!!!!!

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allbadendsall wrote:
August 2009

I've got "The Shape of Jazz...", what would be a good second album?

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optimistic_tour wrote:
August 2009

blow, man. blow!

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Welshybb wrote:
August 2009

Air Ship is a wonderful song

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Scentlesss wrote:
June 2009

Dancing In Your Head - good one.

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schokone wrote:
June 2009

what

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sergio_ross wrote:
June 2009

Still and forever THE MAN! Coleman.

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