Ornette Coleman, the jazz saxophonist, violinist, composer and icon known for his unorthodox style, died Thursday of cardiac arrest. He was 85. An integral part of the experimental free jazz movement of the 1960s, Coleman coined the term when he titled one of his albums Free Jazz.
Coleman was known for breaking the conventions of traditional harmony and melody, a process he called "sound grammar" or "harmelodics."
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