Ornette Coleman with The London Symphony Orchestra

b. 9 March 1930, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, d. 11 June 2015, Manhattan, New York, USA. The evolution of any art form is a complex process and it is always an oversimplification to attribute a development to a single person. If there is anyone apart from Louis Armstrong for whom that claim could be made, however, Ornette Coleman would be a tenable candidate. Charlie Parker and John Coltrane were great forces for progress, but they focused and made viable certain concepts that were already in the air and which only awaited some exceptionally talented artist to give them concrete sh...