Music legend Ornette Coleman received an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  The Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance congratulates Mr. Coleman on this great honor, his 80th birthday, and for being one of the most important musicians and innovators of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  The event also included a commencement address by President Barack Obama.

THE OFFICIAL CEREMONY TEXT

There’s something inherently ‘good’ about Del McCoury. I say this, never having met the man; although I’ve been close enough to photograph him on a number of occasions, and to have briefly exchanged pleasantries. But that doesn’t count, and I know it.. Yet, here I am – insisting that I have perceived enough about the man to proclaim him thus.