Jazz Workshop Plays the Music of Ornette Coleman

Alto saxophonist and composer, Ornette Coleman passed away on June 11th at the age of 85. In his nearly 60-year-long career, he changed the course of music many times over with his groundbreaking musical-language and his philosophies that reached far beyond the world of jazz. While his later years saw him bestowed with a Pulitzer, a MacArthur, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award, and a NEA Jazz Master fellowship, his work continued to be as cutting-edge and controversial as when he appeared on the scene in the late 1950’s. From the NYTimes, “[He was] a native avant-gardist, personifying the American independent will as much as any artist of the last century.” Local collective The Jazz Workshop, made up of Tracy McMullen, Duncan Hardy, Alex Quinn, John Clark, Jonathan Downs, Hayes Porterfield, and Peter McLaughlin presents a career-spanning concert of Ornette’s unparalleled music.