Trumpeter Bill Dixon who was born on 5 October 1925 in Nantucket has died aged 84. A highly respected figure in free jazz as a performer and academic Dixon began his musical life playing trumpet in high school and on completing military service studied at the Hartnette Conservatory in New York city before gigging in New York and much further afield.

From 1961-3 he played with saxophonist Archie Shepp leading small groups and later arranged for the New York Contemporary Five (formed by John Tchicai and Archie Shepp) in 1963 and the following year presented a series of concerts called the October Revolution In Jazz featuring musicians that included Sun Ra and Paul Bley. Dixon also organised the Jazz Composers Guild, a short-lived collective that supported jazz independently of nightclubs and agents. As an educator Dixon taught at Bennington College from 1968, founding the Black Music Division there in 1973 and published in the 1980s a book titled L’Opéra: A Collection of Letters, Writings, Musical Scores, Drawings and Photographs.

As a sideman he appears on Cecil Taylor’s Conquistador and his own albums include Archie Shepp-Bill Dixon Quartet (1962), Intents and Purposes (1966-7) and Song of Sisyphus (1988) and more recently the album Bill Dixon With The Exploding Star Orchestra on the Thrill Jockey label two years ago.