Facts:   - years active: 1968 -- 1971 , 1994-2015    - landscape: yes    - past members: dick cennamo heckstall-smith tony reeves jim roche james litherland louis    - caption: colosseum in 2010    - origin: england    - label: fontana , vertigo records    - genre: jazz blues rock fusion , progressive rock , jazz rock ,      - name: colosseum    - background: group_or_band    - image: colosseum2010.jpg    - current members: dave mark clarke chris farlowe barbara thompson greenslade jon hiseman dave `` clem '' clempson   Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of colosseum -lrb- band -rrb- .
colosseum were a pioneering english progressive jazz-rock band , mixing progressive rock and jazz-based improvisation .