Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman's bluesy, playful music revolutionized jazz in the '60s by ignoring regular harmonies and rhythms. In the '70s he formalized his "harmolodic" theory and applied it to rock instrumentation with his group, Prime Time, pioneering a powerful and increasingly influential jazz-rock-funk-ethnic-music fusion. In the late '90s, he enjoyed a considerable revival of interest.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images Images