Photograph courtesy of Andy Newcombe

Alto saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman has passed away in Manhattan, where he lived, at the age of 85. As reported in the New York Times, the cause of death was cardiac arrest, according to a representative of the Coleman family.

Ornette Coleman was a key figure for the free jazz movement of the 1960s, and the movement itself even took its name from his 1961 album. Coleman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2007 for his album, Sound Grammar, and considered a landmark musician in the growth of avant-garde jazz.