A multi-instrumentalist from Oklahoma who came up during the bebop 1950s, Sam Rivers had a thorough grounding in harmony and composition but often chose the road less travelled (at the time): free jazz. After a brief stint with Miles Davis, he signed with Blue Note Records as both a sideman and leader. An adventurous soloist, he became well-known for his "inside-outside" excursions on originals and standards. His Bond Street loft in the 1970s was known as a hot-bed of free jazz, leading to a position at Wesleyan University and an Impulse! Records contract. He lived and worked in Orlando, Florida for the two decades before his death in 2011.