MUS434-571.3 Music of the Modern Era

Free Jazz / Experimental Music – Apr. 11, 2013

Free Jazz

•  Also “new wave” jazz or the “new thing” •  1960’s avant-garde

–  Absence of steady pulse or meter –  Absence of a predetermined harmonic structure –  Altered role for rhythm-section instruments –  Freer formal structures –  Use of extended techniques / unusual instrumental sounds

•  John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, etc.

Ornette Coleman •  Saxophonist •  Best known for work with his quartet

–  Don Cherry, trumpet –  Charlie Haden, bass –  Billy Higgins, drums

•  1958 Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman + Tomorrow is the Question

•  1959 The Shape of Jazz to Come + Change of the Century •  1960 Free Jazz (Atlantic Records)

–  One quartet for each stereo channel •  Ornette Coleman, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer

Billy Higgins on the left. •  Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, bassist Charlie

Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell on the right.

•  No piano or other harmonic instruments!

Ornette Coleman – Free Jazz (1960)

Ornette Coleman – Song X (1985)

Ornette Coleman – Song X (1985) •  Performers

–  Ornette Coleman – Alto Saxophone, Violin –  Pat Metheny – Guitar, Roland Guitar Synthesizer, Synclavier Guitar –  Charlie Haden – Bass –  Jack DeJohnette – Drums –  Denardo Coleman – Electronic Drums, Percussion

•  Frenetic energy! –  Textural composition, interaction between layers, communication between

players •  “Vocal” saxophone sound

–  bent pitches, intonation, growls, multiphonics •  Extended sound palette with state-of-the-art synthesizer

technology (Metheny) •  Form still includes a “head” and “solo” sections •  Extension of Charlie Parker’s work •  Harmolodic theory – melody, harmony, and rhythm all equal

Anthony Braxton •  Saxophonist •  Member of the Association for the Advancement of

Creative Musicians •  Studied with Coleman and Coltrane •  1967 Creative Construction Company with Leroy Jenkins

(violin/viola) and Leo Smith (trumpet) •  1971 Circle with Chick Corea (piano), Dave Holland

(bass), and Barry Altschul (drums) •  Also writes for band, large orchestra; uses theatrical

elements •  Faculty at Wesleyan University

Anthony Braxton – Five Pieces (1975)

Anthony Braxton – Five Pieces (1975)

•  Performers –  Anthony Braxton, saxophone, flute, clarinet –  Kenny Wheeler, trumpet –  Dave Holland, bass –  Barry Altschul, drums

•  “echoes of bebop, combined notated and improvised music, and brought together free collective improvisation, individual solos, and written ensemble passages”

•  Titles as geometric designs, arrangements of numbers and letters, and human and animal figures

Anthony Braxton – Five Pieces (1975)

Third Stream •  Term coined by Gunther Schuller in 1957 •  Synthesis of classical music and jazz

–  Improvisation is key •  Schuller’s 1981 list of "What Third Stream is not":

–  It is not jazz with strings. –  It is not jazz played on 'classical' instruments. –  It is not classical music played by jazz players. –  It is not inserting a bit of Ravel or Schoenberg between be-bop changes—nor

the reverse. –  It is not jazz in fugal form. –  It is not a fugue played by jazz players. –  It is not designed to do away with jazz or classical music; it is just another

option amongst many for today’s creative musicians •  Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Artie Shaw, Charles Mingus – from New Grove: J.J. Johnson,

André Hodeir, Milton Babbitt, Bill Russo, Gunther Schuller, Don Ellis, Bill Smith, Jimmy Giuffre, Larry Austin, Mike Mantler, Ran Blake, Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith, Steve Lacy and Dave Douglas

John Zorn

•  Classically trained saxophonist / composer •  Film scores, cartoon music, electronic music

(recording studio as a compositional tool), game pieces, VARIETY!

•  File card composition process •  Saxophone ensemble Naked City •  Downtown avant-garde jazz since 1974 •  The Stone (Ave C and 2nd, NYC)

John Zorn – Cobra (1984)

John Zorn – Cobra (1984)

•  It’s a game! (that’s also a piece) –  Collective improvisation –  Prompter holds cards to signal performers’ actions –  Performers ask to be called upon to determine the next

event by holding up a certain number of fingers and pointing at a body part

–  When the “play” is determined, the prompter cues a downbeat with the card and that episode of improvisation happens

–  Guerilla Systems – Players go rogue and enlist others in their subversive cause

Sun Ra

•  Born Herman Blount, later Le Sony’r Ra •  Pianist and arranger for Fletcher Henderson •  (The Intergalactic Myth-Science Solar) Arkestra •  One of first jazz pianists to use synthesizers and

electric keyboards •  Interest in “color” of sound – lots of percussion, non-

traditional jazz instruments •  Collective improvisation •  Microtonality, electronics, costumes, “happenings,”

psychedelics

Sun Ra – Space is the Place (1972-74)

Sun Ra – Space is the Place (1972-74)

•  Track 1 from 1973 album of same name •  John Coney film and soundtrack with same name •  Performers

–  Sun Ra – Piano, Farfisa Professional = space organ –  Akh Tal Ebah – trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals –  Kwame Hadi (Lamont McClamb – trumpet) –  Marshall Allen - alto saxophone, flute –  Danny Davis - alto saxophone, flute –  John Gilmore - tenor saxophone, vocals –  Danny Thompson - baritone saxophone, flute, vocal –  Eloe Omoe - bass clarinet, flute –  Pat Patrick - electric bass, baritone saxophone, vocal –  Lex Humphries – drums –  Atakatun (Stanley Morgan) and Odun (Russel Branch) – percussion

•  Everyone plays percussion! •  Afrofuturism

–  combines elements of science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western cosmologies in order to critique not only the present-day dilemmas of people of color, but also to revise, interrogate, and re-examine the historical events of the past.

Summary •  New approach to jazz emphasizing

–  collective improvisation –  shifting tonal centers –  interaction between players within a more gestural and textural

framework –  rhythmic and timbral freedom

•  Retains use of head and solo structure; riffs; some works rooted in the blues; interpretations of other songs

•  Experimental music reaches beyond genre boundaries –  Third Stream –  Popular music / 60s subculture –  Serious composition, political undertones as African-Americans

continue to strive for equal recognition / validation and bring attention to the historical plight of a people