Composer, jazz pianist; born in Paterson, N.J. A leader of avant-garde musicians at Yale, in 1973, with trombonist George Lewis, he formed Advent, a free-jazz group. He played in several ensembles that bridged jazz and classical forms. His compositions are structured around complex, atonal lines, though meditative simplicity is also achieved through repetition. His opera, X, based on the life of Malcolm X, was premiered in Philadelphia in 1985.