The Harmolodyssey

To prove that I don't spend all of my time listening to long-haired white geezers from 1973 (Jeez, sometimes I'll even listen to a green-quiffed ... er ... white geezer from ... um ... 1973), consider the singular talents of Ornette Coleman - over half a century since he blasted out of Texas to turn the jazz world upside down, he's still making music at the cutting-edge. Indeed, so single-minded has been his pursuit of Harmolodics that even the straight world has had to take notice; his latest album, Sound Grammar, has just pulled down the Pulitzer Prize.

And he did it all with a plastic saxophone - although, I notice, these days it's a plastic saxophone made by Selmer. But nothing is too good for a genius.

A restless, relentless innovator, a snappy dresser, a philosopher, a metaphysician - and , important this, a saintly individual; we'll probably not see his like again.