Ornette Coleman

USA, 1958–2015

American saxophonist and composer. The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) set aside fixed chord progressions in favour of melodic improvisation, and he later developed the theory he called harmolodics.

MusicRoots documents 1 artist who influenced Ornette Coleman and 5 artists Ornette Coleman influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Ornette Coleman?

• Charlie Parker — Parker was Coleman's first model in Texas — his early alto style imitated Bird before harmolodics broke free.

Which artists did Ornette Coleman influence?

• Sergey Kuryokhin — Coleman's break with fixed harmony is part of the free-jazz vocabulary behind Kuryokhin's improvising.
• The Velvet Underground — The free-jazz side of the Velvets — the long unconstrained pieces like 'Sister Ray' — comes out of Reed's Coleman listening; he took guitar devices such as the drum-roll figure from jazz saxophone.
• Bill Laswell — The permission to abandon the form entirely, which is what separates Material from a funk band.
• Captain Beefheart — Ornette Coleman's free jazz was the other half of Beefheart's formula — Ry Cooder described it as raw blues plus 'the free jazz Ornette Coleman thing'.
• Lou Reed — Reed said he wanted to play guitar the way Ornette played saxophone — free jazz was the documented licence behind the Velvet-era noise.