Ornette Coleman Biography

Fast Facts

• Won a Pulitzer Prize for music for his album "Sound Grammar" in 2007
• Was inducted into Down Beat's Jazz Hall of Fame in 1969
• Released his debut album, "Something Else!!!!," in 1958, followed one year later by "The Shape of Jazz to Come," which many considered a breakthrough in the world of avant-garde jazz
• Quote: "All I wanted to do was write music that people would like ․․․ I was the only person doing what I was doing․ Nobody did it but me․ There's not two Coca-Colas; there's only one Coca-Cola․ I thought of myself on that level․"
• Quote: "I didn't know you had to learn to play․ I didn't know music was a style and that it had rules and stuff, I thought it was just sound․ I thought you had to play to play, and I still think that․"
• Best known as a jazz saxophonist, trumpeter and violinist who was one of the leaders of the free jazz movement in the 1960s
• Collaborated with Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia on three tracks of his LP "Virgin Beauty" in 1988