Steve Coleman (born September 20, 1956) is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader and music theorist. In 2014, he was named a
MacArthur Fellow
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
.
Early life
Steve Coleman was born and grew up in
South Side, Chicago
The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and we ...
. He started playing alto saxophone at the age of 14. Coleman attended
Illinois Wesleyan University
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...
for two years,. followed by a transfer to Roosevelt University (
Chicago Musical College
Chicago Musical College is a division of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
History
Founding
Dr. Florenz Ziegfeld Sr (1841–1923), founded the college in 1867 as the Chicago Academy of Music. The institution h ...
).
Coleman moved to New York in 1978 and worked in big bands such as
the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was a jazz big band formed by trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis in New York in 1965.Lisik/Allen. 50 Years at the Village Vanguard:Thad Jone, Mel Lewis and the Village Vanguard Orchestra. Sky Deck M ...
,
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugelho ...
's big band, Sam Rivers' Studio Rivbea Orchestra, and briefly in
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet.
Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex ...
Doug Hammond
Doug Hammond (born December 26, 1942) is an American free funk/avant-garde jazz drummer, composer, poet, producer, and professor. His first major release was ''Reflections in the Sea of Nurnen'' on Tribe Records in 1975.
Career
He has worked ...
,
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
,
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...
and
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of deli ...
. For the first four years in New York Coleman spent a good deal of time playing in the streets and in tiny clubs with a band that he put together with trumpeter
Graham Haynes
Graham Haynes (born September 16, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American cornetist, trumpeter and composer. The son of jazz drummer Roy Haynes, Graham is known for his work in nu jazz, fusing jazz with elements of hip hop and electronic music ...
, the group that would evolve into the ensemble Steve Coleman and Five Elements that would serve as the main ensemble for Coleman's activities. In this group, he developed his concept of improvisation within nested looping structures. Coleman collaborated with other young African-American musicians such as
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson (born December 4, 1955) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed wi ...
and
Greg Osby
Greg Osby (born August 3, 1960) is an American saxophonist and composer.
Biography
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, then at the Berklee College of Music. He moved to New York City in 1982, where he played with Jaki ...
, and they founded the so-called
M-Base
The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sou ...
movement.
Research
Coleman regards the music tradition he is coming from as
African Diaspora
The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...
n culture with essential African retentions, especially a certain kind of sensibility. He searched for these roots and their connections of contemporary African-American music. For that purpose, he travelled to
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
at the end of 1993 and came in contact with (among others) the Dagomba (Dagbon) people whose traditional drum music uses very complex
polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhyth ...
and a drum language that allows sophisticated speaking through music (described and recorded by John Miller Chernoff). Thus, Coleman was animated to think about the role of music and the transmission of information in non-western cultures. He wanted to collaborate with musicians who were involved in traditions which come out of West Africa. One of his main interests was the Yoruba tradition (predominantly out of western Nigeria) which is one of the Ancient African Religions underlying
Santería
Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between the tradit ...
(Cuba and Puerto Rico), Vodou (Haiti) and Candomblé ( Bahia, Brazil). In Cuba, Coleman found the group Afrocuba de Matanzas who specialized in preserving various styles of
rumba
The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba. ...
as well as all in Cuba persisting African traditions which are mixed together under the general title of Santería (
Abakuá
Abakuá, also sometimes known as Ñañiguismo, is an Afro-Cuban men's initiatory fraternity or secret society, which originated from fraternal associations in the Cross River region of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon.
Abakuá ...
, Arara, Congo, Yoruba). In 1996 Coleman along with a group of 10 musicians as well as dancers and the group Afrocuba de Matanzas worked together for 12 days, performed at the Havana Jazz Festival, and recorded the album ''The Sign and the Seal''. In 1997 Coleman took a group of musicians from America and Cuba to
to collaborate and participate in musical and cultural exchanges with the musicians of the local Senegalese group Sing Sing Rhythm. He also led his group Five Elements to the south of India in 1998 to participate in a cultural exchange with different musicians in the
carnatic music
Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...
tradition.
In September 2014, Coleman was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for "refreshing traditional templates to create distinctive and innovative work in ... jazz."
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
(Rebel-X, 1991)
* ''
Drop Kick
A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player dropping the ball and then kicking it as it touches the ground.
Drop kicks are used as a method of restarting play and scoring points in rugby union and rugby league ...
'' (RCA Novus, 1992)
* ''
Rhythm in Mind
''Rhythm in Mind'' is an album by saxophonist Steve Coleman, recorded in 1991 and released by Novus Records.
Reception
The ''Toronto Star'' wrote that "the fluid emotional work of altoist Coleman headlines an octet gathering of post-bop conservat ...
'' (Novus, 1992) – recorded in 1991
* '' The Tao of Mad Phat'' (RCA Novus, 1993)
* ''We Beez Like That!'' (InfoMatin, 1995)
* ''Myths, Modes and Means'' (BMG, 1995)
* ''The Way of the Cipher'' (BMG, 1995)
* ''Def Trance Beat'' (BMG, 1995)
* ''Curves of Life'' (BMG, 1995)
* ''Steve Coleman's Music: Live in Paris'' (BMG, 1995)
* ''The Sign and the Seal'' (BMG, 1996)
* ''Genesis & the Opening of the Way'' (BMG, 1997)
* ''The Sonic Language of Myth'' (RCA Victor, 1999)
* ''The Ascension to Light'' (BMG, 2001)
* ''Resistance Is Futile'' (Label Bleu, 2001)
* ''On the Rising of the 64 Paths'' (Label Bleu, 2002)
* ''Lucidarium'' (Label Bleu, 2004)
* ''Weaving Symbolics'' (Label Bleu, 2006)
* ''Invisible Paths: First Scattering'' (Tzadik, 2007)
* ''Harvesting Semblances and Affinities'' (Pi, 2010) – recorded in 2006–07
* ''The Mancy of Sound'' (Pi, 2011) – recorded in 2007
* '' Functional Arrhythmias'' (Pi, 2013) – recorded in 2012
* ''Synovial Joints'' (Pi, 2015) – recorded in 2014
* ''
Morphogenesis
Morphogenesis (from the Greek ''morphê'' shape and ''genesis'' creation, literally "the generation of form") is the biological process that causes a cell, tissue or organism to develop its shape. It is one of three fundamental aspects of devel ...
'' (Pi, 2017) – recorded in 2016
* ''Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. I (The Embedded Sets)'' (Pi, 2018) – live
* ''Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. II (MDW NTR)'' (Pi, 2021) – live
As group
M-Base
The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sou ...
* ''Anatomy of a Groove'' (DIW, 1992) – recorded in 1991–92
As sideman
With
Doug Hammond
Doug Hammond (born December 26, 1942) is an American free funk/avant-garde jazz drummer, composer, poet, producer, and professor. His first major release was ''Reflections in the Sea of Nurnen'' on Tribe Records in 1975.
Career
He has worked ...
* ''Spaces'' (Idibib, 1982) – digitally remixed and produced by Coleman (Rebel-X, 1991)
* ''Perspicuity'' (L+R, 1991)
With
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
Seeds of Time
''Seeds of Time'' is a studio album by English bassist Dave Holland's Quintet recorded in 1984 and released on the ECM label.The Razor's Edge
''The Razor's Edge'' is a 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life. The story beg ...
'' (ECM, 1987)
* 1988: ''
Triplicate
Triplicate typically refers to a document created three times simultaneously, as with carbonless copy paper.
Triplicate may also refer to:
*Del Norte Triplicate, a newspaper in Crescent City, California
*Triplicate (horse), a race horse owned by ...
'' (ECM, 1988)
* 1989: ''
Extensions
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* E ...
'' (ECM, 1990)
With
Thad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists".
Biography
Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, U ...
/
Mel Lewis
Melvin Sokoloff (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990), known professionally as Mel Lewis, was an American jazz drummer, session musician, professor, and author. He received fourteen Grammy Award nominations.
Biography
Early years
Lewis was ...
* ''One More Time!'' (PolJazz, 1978)
* '' Body and Soul'' (West Wind, 1990)
* ''The Orchestra'' (West Wind, 1990)
* '' A Touch of Class'' (West Wind, 1992)
With
Mel Lewis
Melvin Sokoloff (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990), known professionally as Mel Lewis, was an American jazz drummer, session musician, professor, and author. He received fourteen Grammy Award nominations.
Biography
Early years
Lewis was ...
* ''Naturally'' (Telarc, 1979)
* ''Live in Montreux'' (MPS, 1981)
With
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of deli ...
* 1983: ''Talking to the Sun'' (
Enja
Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971.
The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Ja ...
, 1984)
* 1997: ''Who Used to Dance'' (
Verve
Verve may refer to:
Music
* The Verve, an English rock band
* ''The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve
* ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album)
* Verve Records, an American jazz record label
Businesses
* Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee ho ...
, 1997)
With
Errol Parker
Errol Parker (né Raphaël Schecroun; 30 October 1925 – 2 July 1998) was a French-Algerian jazz pianist who played with Django Reinhardt, James Moody, Don Byas and Kenny Clarke, among others.
Born in Oran, French Algeria, Raphaël Schecroun ...
* ''The Errol Parker Tentet'' (Sahara, 1982)
* ''Live at the Wollman Auditorium'' (Sahara, 1985)
With The Roots
* '' From the Ground Up'' (Talkin' Loud, 1994)
* ''
Do You Want More?!!!??!
''Do You Want More?!!!??!'' is the second studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released January 17, 1995 on DGC Records. The band's major label-debut, it was released two years after their independent debut album, '' Organix'' (1993 ...
Illadelph Halflife
''Illadelph Halflife'' is the third studio album by American hip hop band the Roots, released September 24, 1996 on DGC and Geffen Records. It features a tougher and broader sound than their previous album, '' Do You Want More?!!!??!'' (1995). Th ...
'' (DGC, 1996)
With
Marvin "Smitty" Smith
Marvin "Smitty" Smith (born June 24, 1961) is an American jazz drummer and composer.
Marvin Smith was born in Waukegan, Illinois, where his father, Marvin Sr., was a drummer. "Smitty" was exposed to music at a young age, receiving formal musica ...
* ''Keeper of the Drums'' (Concord Jazz, 1987)
* ''The Road Less Traveled'' (Concord Jazz, 1989)
With
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson (born December 4, 1955) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed wi ...
* ''
Point of View
Point of view or Points of View may refer to:
Concept and technique
* Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or thinks of something
* Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the prono ...
'' ( JMT, 1986) – recorded in 1985
* '' Days Aweigh'' (JMT, 1987)
* ''
Jumpworld
''Jumpworld'' is the fourth studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released in 1990 by JMT label.
Track listing
# "Woman on the Edge" (Cassandra Wilson) – 5:02
# "Domination Switch" ( Steve Coleman, Wilson) ...
'' (JMT, 1990)
* '' Traveling Miles'' (Blue Note, 1999) – recorded in 1997–98
With others
*
Geri Allen
Geri Antoinette Allen (June 12, 1957 – June 27, 2017) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. In addition to her career as a performer and bandleader, Allen was also an associate professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh ...
, ''
Open on All Sides in the Middle
''Open on All Sides in the Middle'' is an album by pianist Geri Allen recorded in late 1986 and released on the German Minor Music label.Franco Ambrosetti
Franco Ambrosetti (born 10 December 1941) is a jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer. He was born in Lugano, Switzerland; his father, Flavio, was a saxophonist who once played opposite Charlie Parker.Tentets
''Tentets'' is an album by the flugelhornist and composer Franco Ambrosetti which was recorded in 1985 and released on the Enja label.
Bob Brookmeyer
Robert Edward "Bob" Brookmeyer (December 19, 1929 – December 15, 2011) was an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Ge ...
, ''Composer & Arranger'' (Gryphon, 1980)
*
Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane (born August 6, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced pianist Luis Perdomo, guitarist David Gilmore, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi.
Biography
Ravi Coltrane is the son of sa ...
Stanley Cowell
Stanley Cowell (May 5, 1941 – December 17, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and co-founder of the Strata-East Records label.
Early life
Cowell was born in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing the piano around the age of four, and became interest ...
Dice Raw
Karl Jenkins, better known as Dice Raw, is an American hip hop artist, from Philadelphia. He is associated with The Roots, and the now defunct musical group Nouveau Riche.
He hooked up with the band while still in high school after Kelo, a member ...
The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York, United States, formed in 1976.
History 1976–1979
The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York, by Keith Streng (born September 18, 1955, New York City) an ...
, ''Brooklyn Sound Solution'' (Yep Roc, 2011)
*
Chico Freeman
Chico Freeman (born Earl Lavon Freeman Jr.; July 17, 1949) is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman. He began recording as lead musician in 1976 with ''Morning Prayer'', won the New York Jazz Award ...
, ''Tangents'' (Elektra Musician, 1984)
*
Craig Harris
Craig S. Harris (born September 10, 1953) is an American jazz trombonist, who started working with Sun Ra in 1976. He also has worked with Abdullah Ibrahim, David Murray, Lester Bowie, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Char ...
, ''Souls Within the Veil'' (Aquastra Music, 2005)
*
Billy Hart
Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest, among others.
Bi ...
Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer (born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, histori ...
, ''
Memorophilia
''Memorophilia'' is the debut studio album by American jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, which was recorded in 1995 and released on the Asian Improv label.
Background
The album features a solo piano piece and three different ensembles: the Vijay Iyer Trio ...
'' (Asian Improv, 1995)
*
MC Solaar
Claude M'Barali, professionally known as MC Solaar (; born 5 March 1969), is a French rapper of Senegalese and Chadian origin. He is one of France's most famous and influential hip hop artists. Some consider him the best French rapper of all ...
, ''
Prose Combat
''Prose Combat'' is the second studio album by French rapper MC Solaar, released in 1994 by Cohiba Records. Its success propelled him to international fame.
An outtake from the album sessions was "Comme dans un film" (falsely known as "John Woo" ...
Lonnie Plaxico
Lonnie Plaxico (born September 4, 1960) is an American jazz double bassist.
Biography
Plaxico was born in Chicago, Illinois, into a musical family, and started playing the bass at the age of twelve, turning professional at fourteen (playing bot ...
, ''Plaxico'' (Muse, 1990)
* Dafnis Prieto, ''Back to the Sunset'' (Dafnison Music 2018)
* Sam Rivers, ''
Colours
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
'' (Black Saint, 1983)
* Sam Rivers' Rivbea All-star Orchestra, '' Culmination'' (BMG France, 1999)
*
Michele Rosewoman
Michele Rosewoman (born March 19, 1953) is an American jazz pianist who leads the big band New Yor-Uba. She has worked with Baikida Carroll, Julius Hemphill, Julian Priester, Oliver Lake, Billy Bang, Freddie Waits, Rufus Reid, Billy Hart, Re ...
, ''Quintessence'' (Enja, 1987)
*
Mal Waldron
Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...