Growing up in Chicago's south side, surrounded by funk, rock, soul and blues music, Steve Coleman learned violin in school, but abandoned it for the alto saxophone at the age of 15. He moved to New York in 1978 to join the Mel Lewis-Thad Jones Big Band, later playing in the Cecil Taylor Orchestra and Sam Rivers’ Winds Of Manhattan group. Active and articulate, Coleman and kindred spirits - including singer Cassandra Wilson - formed M-Base, a self-help organization for black musicians, seeking to integrate all forms of black music into a new ecumenical style. He recorded prolifically during the '90s and '00s with his various ensembles, which include Renegade Way (with Greg Osby, and Joe Lovano), the Mystic Rhythm Society, the Metrics, and the big band Council Of Balance.