The free jazz innovator has died in Manhattan aged 85.

According to a representative of the family, the cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Coleman was one of the progenitors of the free jazz movement – his 1961 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation lent the style its name. As a result of Coleman’s innovations jazz became less reliant on melody, harmony and rhythm.

Born in 1930 in Texas, Coleman was a talented multi-instrumentalist known primarily for playing the alto saxophone. His breakthrough came when he released The Shape of Jazz to Come, a landmark album that broke from the bebop tradition and laid the foundations for the shift towards free jazz techniques, polarising audiences.

Coleman released over 50 records throughout his career. His last official release was the 2006 live album Sound Grammar, which won the Pulitzer Prize. In 2009 he was chosen to curate the Meltdown Festival at London’s Southbank Centre. (via The New York Times)