M-Base founder, composer, and alto saxophonist Steve Coleman employs technical and compositional virtuosity that engages musical traditions and styles from around the world. Whether performing solo or as Steve Coleman & Five Elements, his original works weave disciplined rhythmic structures and defined tonal progressions into fluid, expressive, improvisational inquiries. On 1986's On the Edge of Tomorrow and 1990's Rhythm People, he infused jazz with melodic, rhythmic, and structural components inspired by African, Asian, and Latin cultures. 1997's The Sign and the Seal: Transmissions of the Metaphysics of a Culture was recorded in Havana with Afrocuba de Matanzas. 2013's Functional Arrhythmias musically mapped the patterns of the human heart. 2015's Synovial Joints was selected Jazz Album of the Year by the New York Times. 2018 and 2021 saw the release of Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 and 2, marking the end of a 15-year absence from live recording.