Ornette Coleman would have been 93 today. He widened the options in jazz and helped change its course. Partly through his example in the late 1950s and early ’60s, jazz became less beholden to the rules of harmony and rhythm and gained more distance from the American songbook repertoire. Coleman then began to expand his compositional outlook. His writing included works for wind ensembles, strings, and symphony orchestra (notably his symphony Skies of America, recorded with the London Philharmoni

Ornette Coleman’s music had such force that even John Coltrane said, in 1961, that the 12 minutes he had spent on stage with Coleman amounted to “the most intense moment of my life.” Coleman widened the options in jazz and helped change its course. Partly through his example in the late 1950s and early ’60s, jazz became less beholden to the rules of harmony and rhythm and gained more distance from the American songbook repertoire. Coleman then began to expand his compositional outlook. His writi