--- title: Ornette Coleman Dead: What Was New About His Jazz description: What TIME wrote in 1960 about the innovative artist canonical: https://time.com/3917570/ornette-coleman-dead-1960/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-11T15:26:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:07:16.584Z article:section: History og:title: Ornette Coleman Dead: What Was New About His Jazz og:description: What TIME wrote in 1960 about the innovative artist og:url: https://time.com/3917570/ornette-coleman-dead-1960/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt837769fdf9fb2354/6988541e0b72e302846e46ce/coleman.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ornette Coleman Performing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ornette Coleman Dead: What Was New About His Jazz twitter:description: What TIME wrote in 1960 about the innovative artist twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt837769fdf9fb2354/6988541e0b72e302846e46ce/coleman.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Was New About Ornette Coleman's Sound  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 11, 2015 3:26 PM UTC  Ornette Coleman performs onstage with his saxophone circa 1960. Ornette Coleman performs onstage with his saxophone circa 1960.Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 11, 2015 3:26 PM UTC When TIME first wrote about the work of jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman—who [died](http://time.com/3917667/ornette-coleman-remembrance/) on Thursday at 85—it was 1960 and Dizzy Gillespie was confused. “I don’t know what he’s playing,” the famed trumpeter admitted. He was, the story continued, doing something new, and in the process creating much ado in the jazz world. But what exactly was so new and different about his sound? TIME explained: --- > “” --- Coleman’s willingness to break sound barriers was why, in his youth, one of his early bosses—bandleader Pee Wee Crayton—hired him and then paid him _not_ to play. But, once the world caught up with him, it was what ended up making him a legend. **_Read the full 1960 story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Beyond the Cool](http://time.com/vault/issue/1960-06-27/page/58/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3917570/ornette-coleman-dead-1960/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3917570/ornette-coleman-dead-1960/"},"headline":"What Was New About Ornette Coleman's Sound","datePublished":"2015-06-11T15:26:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:07:16.584Z","description":"What TIME wrote in 1960 about the innovative artist","url":"https://time.com/3917570/ornette-coleman-dead-1960/","keywords":["remembrance","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt837769fdf9fb2354/6988541e0b72e302846e46ce/coleman.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt837769fdf9fb2354/6988541e0b72e302846e46ce/coleman.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ornette Coleman Performing","caption":"Ornette Coleman Performing","creditText":"Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3917570/ornette-coleman-dead-1960/","name":"What Was New About Ornette Coleman's Sound"}}]}] ```