Editing Ornette Coleman (section)

=== Early life ===
Coleman was born Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman on March 9, 1930, in [[Fort Worth, Texas]],<ref name="Fordham">{{cite web |last1=Fordham |first1=John |title=Ornette Coleman obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/11/ornette-coleman |website=The Guardian |access-date=December 16, 2018 |date=June 11, 2015}}</ref> where he was raised.<ref name="Atlantic1972">{{cite journal |last1=Palmer |first1=Robert |title=Ornette Coleman and the Circle with a Hole in the Middle |journal=The Atlantic Monthly |date=December 1972 |quote=Ornette Coleman since March 19, 1930, when he was born in Fort Worth, Texas}}</ref><ref name="EGP">{{cite web|url=http://jetson.unl.edu/cocoon/encyclopedia/doc/egp.afam.015 |title=Coleman, Ornette (b. 1930) |publisher=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains|editor1-link=David J. Wishart |editor=Wishart, David J. |access-date=March 26, 2012 |quote=Ornette Coleman, born in Fort Worth, Texas, on March 19, 1930 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707184611/http://jetson.unl.edu/cocoon/encyclopedia/doc/egp.afam.015 |archive-date=July 7, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="Litweiler">{{cite book |last1=Litweiler |first1=John |title=Ornette Coleman: the harmolodic life |date=1992 |publisher=Quartet |location=London |isbn=0-7043-2516-0 |pages=21–31}}</ref> He attended [[I.M. Terrell High School]] in Fort Worth, where he participated in band until he was dismissed for improvising during [[John Philip Sousa]]'s march "[[The Washington Post (march)|The Washington Post]]". He began performing [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] and [[bebop]] on tenor saxophone, and formed The Jam Jivers with [[Prince Lasha]] and [[Charles Moffett]].<ref name="Litweiler" />

Eager to leave town, he accepted a job in 1949 with a [[Silas Green from New Orleans]] traveling show and then with touring rhythm and blues shows. After a show in [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]], he was assaulted and his saxophone was destroyed.<ref name="Spellman">{{cite book |last1=Spellman |first1=A.B. |title=Four Lives in the Bebop Business |date=1985 |publisher=Limelight |isbn=0-87910-042-7 |pages=98–101 |edition=1st Limelight}}</ref>

Coleman subsequently switched to alto saxophone, first playing it in New Orleans after the Baton Rouge incident; the alto would remain his primary instrument for the rest of his life. He then joined the band of [[Pee Wee Crayton]] and traveled with them to Los Angeles. He worked at various jobs in Los Angeles, including as an elevator operator, while pursuing his music career.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hentoff | first = Nat | author-link = Nat Hentoff |title =The Jazz Life | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 1975 | pages=235–236 }}</ref>

Coleman found like-minded musicians in Los Angeles, such as [[Ed Blackwell]], [[Bobby Bradford]], [[Don Cherry (trumpeter)|Don Cherry]], [[Charlie Haden]], [[Billy Higgins]], and [[Charles Moffett]].<ref name="allmusicbio">{{cite web |last1=Jurek |first1=Thom |title=Ornette Coleman |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ornette-coleman-mn0000484396/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=August 14, 2018}}</ref><ref name="EJN">{{cite web|title=Ornette Coleman biography on Europe Jazz Network |url=http://www.europejazz.net/mus/coleman.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050502160154/http://www.europejazz.net/mus/coleman.htm |archive-date=May 2, 2005 }}</ref> Thanks to the intercession of friends and a successful audition, Ornette signed his first recording contract with LA-based [[Contemporary Records]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Golia |first=Maria |title=Ornette Coleman: The Territory and the Adventure |date=2020 |publisher=[[Reaktion Books Ltd]] |isbn=9781789142235 |location=Unit 32, Waterside 44-48 Wharf Road, London NI 7UX UK |publication-date=2020 |pages=100 |language=en}}</ref> which allowed him to sell the tracks from his debut album, ''[[Something Else!!!!]]'' (1958), with Cherry, Higgins, [[Walter Norris]], and [[Don Payne (musician)|Don Payne]].<ref name="Jurek">{{cite web |last1=Jurek |first1=Thom |title=Something Else: The Music of Ornette Coleman |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/something-else-the-music-of-ornette-coleman-mw0000198903 |website=AllMusic |access-date=August 14, 2018 }}</ref> During the same year he briefly belonged to a quintet led by [[Paul Bley]] that performed at a club in New York City (that band is recorded on ''[[Live at the Hilcrest Club 1958]]'').<ref name="allmusicbio" /> By the time ''[[Tomorrow Is the Question!]]'' was recorded soon after with Cherry, bassists [[Percy Heath]] and [[Red Mitchell]], and drummer [[Shelly Manne]], the jazz world had been shaken up by Coleman's alien music. Some jazz musicians called him a fraud, while conductor [[Leonard Bernstein]] praised him.<ref name="EJN" />