Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He was best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms. Instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation, rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history," noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud."
Charles Moffett was an American free jazz drummer.
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is the debut solo studio album by Japanese artist and musician Yoko Ono, released on Apple Records in December 1970 alongside her husband's album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Ono's album features her vocal improvisations against backing by the Plastic Ono Band, with the exception of the track "AOS", which is backed by the Ornette Coleman Quartet.
Marion Brown was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, writer, visual artist, and ethnomusicologist. He was a member of the avant-garde jazz scene in New York City during the 1960s, playing alongside musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai. He performed on Coltrane's landmark 1965 album Ascension. AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow described him as "one of the brightest and most lyrical voices of the 1960s avant-garde."
Charnett Moffett was an American jazz bassist. A consummate and versatile bassist, and composer, he was an apparent child prodigy. Moffett began playing bass in the family band, touring the Far East in 1975 at the age of eight. In the mid-1980s, he played with Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis.
This Is Our Music is the fifth album by saxophonist Ornette Coleman, recorded in 1960 and released on Atlantic Records in March 1961. It is the first with drummer Ed Blackwell replacing his predecessor Billy Higgins in the Coleman Quartet, and is the only one of Coleman's Atlantic albums to include a standard, in this case a version of "Embraceable You" by George and Ira Gershwin.
Town Hall, 1962 is an album by Ornette Coleman, recorded on December 21, 1962 at New York City's Town Hall and released in 1965 by the ESP-Disk label. It was the first recording to feature Coleman's new trio, which included bassist David Izenzon and drummer Charles Moffett.
At the "Golden Circle" Stockholm is an avant-garde jazz live album in two volumes by the Ornette Coleman Trio, documenting concerts on the nights of December 3 and 4, 1965, at the Gyllene Cirkeln jazz club in Stockholm. Both volumes were released in early 1966. This marked the beginning of Coleman's contract with Blue Note after he left Atlantic Records. It also debuted Coleman’s usage of the trumpet and violin, instruments in which he took three years teaching himself to play after leaving Atlantic.
Song X is a collaborative studio album by American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It is a free jazz record that was produced in a three-day recording session in 1985. The album was released in June 1986 by Geffen Records.
The Revolutionary Ensemble was a free jazz trio consisting of violinist Leroy Jenkins (1932–2007), bassist Sirone and percussionist/pianist Jerome Cooper (1946–2015). The group was active from 1970–1977, and reunited briefly in 2004. Musician George E. Lewis described the trio as "one of the signal groups of the period." Writer John Fordham stated that the group "was remarkable for its concentration on texture, tone colour and the then unclaimed territory between jazz and contemporary classical music." A DownBeat reviewer, writing in 1972, described them as "a unique, utterly contemporary unit of extraordinarily talented players who possess a world understanding of what 'organized sound' is all about."
Something Else!!!! is the debut album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It was released by Contemporary Records in September 1958. According to AllMusic, the album "shook up the jazz world", revitalizing the union of blues and jazz and restoring "blues to their 'classic' beginnings in African music". It is unusual in Coleman's output in that it features a conventional bebop quintet instrumentation ; after this album, Coleman would omit the piano, creating a starker and more fluid sound.
David Izenzon was an American jazz double bassist.
Denardo Ornette Coleman is an American jazz drummer. He is the son of Ornette Coleman and Jayne Cortez.
Ornette! is the seventh album by alto saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, released in February 1962 on Atlantic Records. The album features Scott LaFaro in place of Charlie Haden, who had left the Quartet but would work again with Coleman in the future.
Chappaqua Suite is a free jazz album by alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman which was recorded in 1965 for Columbia Records.
In the Beginning 1963–1964 is a 4-CD compilation album by American free jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders recorded in 1963-1964 and released in 2012 on the ESP-Disk label. It features previously unreleased recordings of Sanders performing with groups led by Don Cherry and Paul Bley, complete concert recordings of Sanders' appearances with Sun Ra, a re-release of Sanders' first album, and various interviews.
Perfection is an album by the Murray, Allen & Carrington Power Trio, featuring saxophonist David Murray, pianist Geri Allen, and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. It was recorded at Avatar Studios in New York City in June 2015, and was released by Motéma Music in 2016. Guest musicians Wallace Roney (trumpet), Craig Harris (trombone), and Charnett Moffett (bass) appear on one track.
Who's Crazy?, Volumes 1 and 2, is a pair of albums by Ornette Coleman containing music that was intended as the soundtrack for a film of the same name, directed by Thomas White and featuring members of The Living Theatre. The albums, which feature Coleman on alto saxophone, trumpet, and violin, accompanied by double bassist David Izenzon and percussionist Charles Moffett, were recorded in Paris during 1966, and were initially released on vinyl by Atmosphere Records, an imprint of the French I.R.I. label, with the title Who's Crazy? La Clef Des Champs. In 1982, both LPs were reissued by Affinity Records, a subsidiary of Charly Records, as part of a box set compilation.
Jazzbühne Berlin '88 is a live album by Ornette Coleman and his band Prime Time. It was recorded on June 5, 1988, at the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, and was released in 1990 by Repertoire Records as Volume 5 of their Jazz Bühne Berlin / Rundfunk der DDR series.
The Music of Ornette Coleman is an album featuring music composed by Ornette Coleman. It was recorded during March 1967 in New York City, and was released later that year by RCA Victor. The album opens with a live recording of a wind quintet titled "Forms and Sounds," performed by the Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet, with Coleman providing trumpet interludes. This is followed by two string quartets, titled "Saints and Soldiers" and "Space Flight," performed by the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia String Quartet.
