[Richardson, Sally Jayne]
(b Fort Huachuca, AZ, May 10, 1934; d Manhattan, Dec 28, 2012). American poet, mother of Denardo Coleman. Her birth year had been published as 1936, but the birth certificate and obituaries give 1934 and confirm her birth name, Sally Jayne Richardson; she later adopted her maternal grandmother’s maiden name, Cortez, for professional work. She moved in 1944 to Los Angeles, where she played double bass in high school and later studied music theory and drama. From 1954 to 1964 she was married to Ornette Coleman. She was a founder of the Watts Repertory Theater Company in 1964 and remained its artistic director until 1970. In 1972 she settled in New York and from 1977 to 1983 taught literature at Livingston College, Rutgers. In 1975 she married the sculptor Melvin Edwards, and thereafter they maintained a second home in Dakar, Senegal.
Cortez founded her own publishing and recording company, Bola Press (...
