No, dammit. NO!!!! Argh... another great one has left us.

Coleman, who died Thursday at age 85, brought to jazz the kind of open-ended, non-narrative approach that Jackson Pollock used in painting and James Joyce in books. In the late 1950s, he originated "free jazz," challenging the bebop establishment by abandoning the conventional song form and liberating musicians to freely improvise off of the melody rather than the underlying chord changes. Coleman also broke down the barrier between leader and sidemen, giving his band members freedom to solo, interact and develop their ideas.

The Shape of Jazz To Come is essential listening, and from there it's all his amazing, ground-breaking free jazz work and his ongoing development of harmolodics (Coleman's former collaborators and stylistic heirs, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and James Blood Ulmer, keep the fire alive).

His work on the soundtrack for David Cronenberg's film adaptation of William Burroughs' Naked Lunch is a total treat for the ears.

His 2006 album Sound Grammar was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music the following year.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Coleman.

ah man, when i was driving home from san diego, the npr station was cutting in and out. they were discussing him. i had no idea that was why.

rip