This study examines the music of a pioneer of free improvisation in jazz: Ornette Coleman. Besides emphasizing the melodic language of this musician, this study presents analyses and transcriptions of his compositions and improvisations, focusing on the period from 1957 to 1963. In addition, Coleman is a rather controversial figure in jazz history, therefore, this study addresses to most commonly asked questions: Does Coleman's music have inner logic and structure in spite of the fact that its ostensibly naive and chaotic surface? Was Coleman a genuine modernist and innovator who was ahead his time? This study hopes to benefit students, professional musicians, theorists, musicologists and jazz aficionados because it will help them study, observe as well as deepen their understanding of the music of Ornette Coleman during that specific period.