Denardo Coleman

Denardo Ornette Coleman (born April 19, 1956) is an American jazz drummer. He is the son of Ornette Coleman and Jayne Cortez.

Born to Jayne Cortez and Ornette Coleman in Los Angeles, California, in 1956, Denardo Coleman began playing drums when he was six years old. At the age of 10, he joined his father's band, making his first appearance on record on the 1966 Ornette Coleman album The Empty Foxhole, with Charlie Haden on bass. Haden said of Denardo's playing on that recording: "He's going to startle every drummer who hears him."

Denardo went on to feature on his father's later releases, including Ornette at 12 (1968) and Crisis (1969), and played as a member of Ornette's Prime Time ensemble in the 1970s. He also worked with his mother in the band The Firespitters, and has played with Geri Allen, Pat Metheny, James Blood Ulmer, and Jamaaladeen Tacuma. In the 1980s, Coleman started to manage his father's career, which he continued doing for the next 30 years.

Coleman has also done extensive work as a producer, including on albums by both of his parents, and on In All Languages and Virgin Beauty in the 1980s and Hidden Man and Three Women in the '90s. In 2017, on a new label called Song X Records (referencing the title of one of his father's favorite compositions), he produced Celebrate Ornette, a tribute to his father, in a box set with 24 performances captured on two DVDs, three CDs, and four vinyl LPs.

With Ornette Coleman

With Jayne Cortez & the Firespitters

With James Blood Ulmer

With Charnett Moffett