How Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz Gave Brian Jones License to Throw Marimbas and Dulcimers at the Rolling Stones

Brian Jones didn’t just like free jazz – he lived it. While the rest of the Stones were still figuring out how to be a blues cover band, Jones was hanging out at Ronnie Scott’s in London, soaking up Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Coleman’s harmolodic theory – the idea that melody, harmony, and rhythm should be equal and free – basically gave Jones permission to treat instruments the same way. Instead of a conventional guitar solo, why not a marimba? Instead of