Steve Coleman Awarded 2014 MacArthur “Genius Grant”
Steve Coleman in his Allentown, Pennsylvania, backyard. Image courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Composer and saxophonist Steve Coleman has been named a 2014 MacArthur Fellow.
A total of 21 innovators in a wide variety of disciplines have been singled out this year to receive the award, often referred to as a “genius grant,” which recognizes “exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the future. Fellows will each receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000, paid out over five years. The fellowship comes with no stipulations or reporting requirements, and allows recipients maximum freedom to follow their own creative visions.”
The MacArthur Foundation noted that Coleman is a musician “whose technical virtuosity and engagement with musical traditions and styles from around the world are expanding the expressive and formal possibilities of spontaneous composition.”
Listen to Coleman, 57, speak about his approach to improvisation, the development of M-Base, and the role of mentorship and community building in his musical life:
Follow Coleman’s work online via his website, Facebook, and Twitter.
More about this year’s class of MacArthur Fellows is available here.