Ornette Coleman

In the late 1950s, saxophonist Ornette Coleman threw out the rule book (and the piano) and blew apart all received notions of jazz, most notably with his quartet featuring Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins. Coleman's seemingly alien brand of "free" music was revolting to some and a revelation to others; either way, it established him as a founding father of the avant garde that ignited much of the 1960s jazz scene. Since the '70s, Coleman has concentrated largely on his band Prime Time, a fertile laboratory for his ongoing project of musical evolution.

• Alan Silva
• Albert Ayler
• Archie Shepp
• Cecil Taylor
• Charles Mingus
• Charlie Haden
• Dewey Redman
• Don Cherry (Jazz)
• Ed Blackwell Project
• Eric Dolphy
• Freddie Hubbard
• John Coltrane/Don Cherry (Jazz)
• Paul Bley
• Richard Davis (Bass)
• Sun Ra

• Charlie Parker
• Louis Armstrong
• Pee Wee Crayton
• Red Mitchell
• Stan Kenton
• Thelonious Monk

• Al MacDowell
• David Murray (Jazz)
• Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton Trio
• George Garzone
• Jamaaladeen Tacuma
• James Blood Ulmer
• James Carter (Jazz)
• John Zorn
• Pat Metheny
• Peter Brotzmann/Shoji Hano/Tetsu Yamauchi/Haruhiko Gotsu
• Ronald Shannon Jackson
• Sonny Sharrock
• Sonny Simmons
• Steve Coleman
• William Parker (Jazz)

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