Ornette Coleman Birthday Broadcast on WKCR

On March 9, 2024, the date of birth of Ornette Coleman, WKCR will broadcast all day for 24 hours (12.00 A.M. – 11.59 P.M.) the incredible music of the alto saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, composer and music theorist. Born in Forth Worth, Texas, in 1930, Ornette Coleman revolutionized jazz starting from a cubist vision of bebop up to harmolodics, his innovative music theory in which sounds are no more linked to a tonal centre but free to develop themselves and progress according to the taste, culture and sensitivity of the musicians.

Since the very beginning of his career, despite the singability of the compositions included into his first album Something Else!!!! (Contemporary, 1958), Coleman performances were perceived as shocking by the jazz community, provoking event violent reactions of rejection in other musicians. Drummer Max Roach as an example stated that Ornette Coleman was ruining jazz, even if he played, later on, with musicians associated with the free jazz revolution such as Cecil Taylor.  

But Coleman, who played for his entire career a plastic alto saxophone because of its microtones even if it was more difficult to play than one made of brass, and his collaborators Don Cherry, Scott La Faro, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins, were convinced about the righteousness of their music vision, and decided to go on. It was with Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (Atlantic, 1961) that the shock widened thanks to the use of a double quartet, one led by Coleman and the other by Eric Dolphy.

Coleman career and discography are full of such moments of redefinition of a musical genre such as jazz. From the percussions of the Master Musicians of Jajouka in Dancing in Your Head (Horizon, 1977), to the orchestrations of Skies of America (Columbia, 1972) featuring a long composition played by the London Symphony Orchestra, from Song X (Geffen, 1096) realized with the help of Pat Metheny to the experimentations on behalf of Yoko Ono, Lou Reed and The Grateful Dead, the music of Ornette Coleman is under the sign of experimentation and adventure.

Those willing to celebrate, next Saturday, the anniversary of Coleman birthday, would certainly connect to WKCR in order to enjoy a full day of incredible music.