Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone, trumpet, violin), Denardo Coleman (drums), Tony Falanga (bass), All MacDowell (bass)

In the twilight of his career the 80-year-old jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman continues to create wonderful moments.  Lately this great innovator has given compelling concerts. The man with the white saxophone still blows unforgettable music.
 
He grew up in Forth Worth, Texas, and acquired his skills as a teenager with rough rhythm and blues and some bebop. Early inspiration came from folk blues, hillbilly music and Texan saxophone players. Back then Ornette Coleman got his share of misunderstanding of the music and not only for racist reasons. For his unusual style of playing he was even attacked and his saxophone smashed to pieces. He settled in Los Angeles and learned more about modern jazz and harmony. In the late fifties he regularly worked with trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins,  his first major quartet. Their releases caused much controversy, but he persevered and developed a new jazz language, away from the prevailing bebop. Records like The Shape Of Jazz To Come and Change of the Century indicated more of an improvised melodic line rather than the underlying harmony. Pianist Paul Bley, who also has played with Coleman, called it the 'missing link' between bebop and the free jazz of the sixties. Striking
were the flashy melodies, the penetrating tone and seemingly primitive interaction, without predetermined chords. If one listens today to those recordings on the Atlantic label from 1959 to 1961, it is hard to believe that the swinging rhythm section combined with Coleman and Cherry's lyrical lines could be so polarizing. On those recordings there are also classics like ‘Lonely Woman’, ‘Una Muy Bonita’, ‘Turnaround’ and ‘Ramblin’, which became milestones of a new type of jazz.
 
In the sixties, after a period of rest, Ornette Coleman  formed a trio with bass and drums and began playing trumpet and violin. Later he formed a quartet with saxophonist Dewey Redman, in which his son Denardo Coleman played the drums. Until today Denardo is his manager and musical partner. Coleman also began to write ambitious works for strings and chamber ensembles ( "Skies of America"), played with the Moroccan master musicians of Jajouka and formed an electric fusion band called Prime Time. He also composed music for the film 'The Naked Lunch'. This is also the period he began talking about his music theory Harmolodics. ‘Harmolodics' is a synthesis of harmony, melody and movement. Nobody really understands it except Ornette Coleman. His influence extends far beyond jazz. The Stooges, MC5, Patti Smith and Lou Reed and Velvet Underground declared themselves fans. Some call him ‘the Samuel Beckett of jazz music.“
 
In 2007 he gave an unprecedented concert at Jazz Middelheim.  It was there that he said: "If you follow the sound, we'll all be in the same room." And that was exactly what happened.