Today, as we mark March 9th, 2024, Grateful Web tunes into the cosmic vibrations to honor the birthday of Ornette Coleman, the revolutionary saxophonist who reshaped the horizon of jazz with the audacity of a true pioneer. On this day, we celebrate a musician whose journey through sound was a relentless quest for freedom, breaking the chains of convention to gift the world the boundless landscape of free jazz.

Swing University offers engaging virtual classes for jazz fans, enthusiasts, and students of all backgrounds and levels.

The daunting task of interpreting the music of Frank Zappa has made the iconized jazz-fusion composer/musician less often a cover project than one might expect.

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