Saxophonist, composer, producer, researcher and band leader Steve Coleman was born in Chicago on September 20, 1956. He has become an important performer and theorist in the arena of improvised music.

Coleman began his musical journey as a violinist at South Shore High School in Chicago when he was 14 but switched to alto saxophone before the end of his freshman year. After high school he spent two years studying music at Illinois Wesleyan University before transferring to the Chicago Music College at Roosevelt University. Along with his academic studies, Coleman spent a good deal of time learning from the veteran saxophonists active on the Chicago music scene in the 1970s. By the time he moved to New York in 1978 Steve Coleman was working as a band leader and becoming “increasingly dissatisfied with what he felt was a creative dead end in the Chicago scene.”

In New York, Coleman landed a gig playing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra at the Village Vanguard and was playing as a sideman for various artists around the city including Dave Holland, Michael Brecker and Abbey Lincoln. He also formed a street band with trumpeter Graham Haynes which would eventually become known as Steve Coleman and the Five Elements.
​
Coleman is associated with the M-Base movement in music, which he points out is a philosophical movement centered on creating music from one’s own experiences. It does not denote a style of playing, but rather a way of thinking about creating music. Others involved with the movement have included Cassandra Wilson and Robin Eubanks. Steve Coleman explained the substantial elements of the concept as:

• Improvisation and structure
• Contemporary relevance
• Music as expression of life experience
• Growth through creativity and philosophical broadening
• Use of non-western concepts

Here is a link to Steve Coleman and the Five Elements playing live in Los Angeles:

"LIVE AT THE WHALE - 2018"