A composer and theorist. A former jazz drummer, he conceived the Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization while bedridden with an illness in the 1940's; it both explained the melodic/harmonic innovations of his bebop era and presaged the innovations of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. He wrote, early on, "Cubano Be / Cubano Bop" and "A Bird in Igor's Yard"; then, in later decades, formed his own groups, giving The Concept wider exposure.