Born in Texas, self-taught as a musician, Coleman around 1960 caused a stir in the world of Jazz music comparable to that of
Igor Stravinsky
in classical music decades before. Coleman's innovation was instrumental independence, which is to say that the soloist performs independently of any preassigned harmonic scheme, and that everyone in his group performs with scant acknowledgment of the percussionist's beat. Called Free Jazz,
Coleman's improvisations, mostly on the alto saxophone,...