Ornette Coleman

The compelling story of one of America's most adventurous jazz musicians.

Ornette Coleman's career encompassed the glory years of jazz and the American avant-garde. Born in segregated Fort Worth, Texas, during the Great Depression, the African American composer and musician was the zeitgeist incarnate. Steeped in the Texas blues tradition, Ornette and jazz grew up together, as the brassy blare of big band swing gave way to bebop, a faster music for a faster, post-war world. 

At the dawn of the Space Age and New York's 1960s counterculture, his music gave voice to the moment. Lauded by some, maligned by many, he forged a breakaway art sometimes called `the new thing' or `free jazz'. Featuring previously unpublished photographs of Ornette and his contemporaries, this is the compelling story of one of America's most adventurous musicians and the sound of a changing world.

‘An atlas in prose . . . Golia covers a lot of territory in tight, direct language that illuminates Ornette Coleman’s life and work.’ – David Hajdu, New York Times Book Review

‘Opens ears yet further to the transformative power of Coleman’s music.’ – Larry Blumenfeld, Wall Street Journal

‘One of the finest books on the power of place and influence in a musician's life.’ – Andrew Male, Mojo

‘Terrific . . . an excellent addition to the ongoing study of one of the greatest improvising musicians of all time.’ – Pat Metheny, musician, composer, educator