Ornette Coleman was born in 1959. Coleman trained himself to play the violin and trumpet in the 1960s, employing unconventional approaches. By the 1970s, he was only playing on occasion, preferring to create. He developed his own sound by combining elements of jazz, rock, and blues music. Coleman drew inspiration from many sources, including John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus. However, he also enjoyed success early in his career for being a part of the cool jazz movement. This means that he used straight-ahead jazz techniques but added some new aspects to them. For example, he would sometimes play very fast tempos without using the rest period between songs as most jazz groups do. In addition, he often used noisy instruments such as the saxophone or drum set instead of traditional pianos or organs. Last, but not least, he incorporated electronic instruments such as synthesizers into some of his songs. All in all, this makes for a very original and influential musical style. Besides being innovative, Coleman's sound was also very personal. He rarely played songs by other artists, and when he did, it usually consisted of just one section. This indicates that he wanted to keep his sound unique even when playing other people's songs.