1. Vernacular Musics Since Rock and Roll
America’s Musical Landscape th edition
Part 4
Vernacular Musics Since Rock and Roll
Chapter 15: Jazz Since 1960
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

2. Jazz Since 1960
Emerging new styles joined without replacing established jazz trends
The jazz experience increased in complexity and sophistication
Although hardly in popularity
Starting from bebop, jazz has belonged to the classical as well as popular music world
Jazz is “America’s classical music”—Billy Taylor
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3. Jazz in the 1960s
Jazz musicians explored relationships between classical and popular music
Less emphasis placed on outstanding solo performances accompanied by other players
More emphasis on collective improvisation by several, or even by all, ensemble members at the same time
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4. Free Jazz
During the 1960s jazz musicians sought new approaches to improvisation
Improvisation remained at the core of the concept of jazz
Some believed that jazz was not primarily about individual solos, but best expressed by collective improvisation – the simultaneous improvisation of some or all members of a combo
1960: The album Free Jazz, by Ornette Coleman, introduced free collective improvisation
Free Jazz defied the perception of jazz as accessible to the ordinary listener
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5. Free Jazz: Characteristics
No familiar chord changes
No references to popular songs or blues
No steady beat
Each musician improvised independently, but aware of others
Initial phrases of a piece were played together by soloists yet not necessarily in unison
Released musicians from the strictures of tonality, recurring rhythmic patterns, fixed pulse, predetermined themes
There were short melodic motives—riffs—that could be inserted
Free jazz uttered musically the sorts of freedom African Americans demanded and finally were achieving in many areas of life
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6. Free Jazz and its Relationship to Non-Western Music
Having no chord changes relieved free jazz ensembles of the need to include piano
With its restrictive keyboard limited to the tones of the black and white keys
This freed musicians to explore non-Western scales
Musicians were able to include instruments from other cultures
And play Western instruments in nontraditional ways
Ornette Coleman’s free jazz performances used
Microtones (lying between the tones of a piano keyboard)
Certain rhythmic techniques from the music of India
Heightened emotions and intellectual challenges
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7. Free Jazz: John Coltrane (1926-1967)
Saxophonist, spiritual leader of free jazz during the last years of his short life
His free spirit caused him to change stylistic preferences throughout his career
Early in his career
Known for producing “sheets of sound” because of playing so many notes at rapid-fire tempos
Example: His 1959 Giant Steps
saxophone
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8. John Coltrane Later areas of interest
Modal music, working with Miles Davis
The influential album Kind of Blue
Indian music
The 1960 album My Favorite Things
As a saxophonist on tenor and soprano saxophone
Admired for his beautiful tone and effects
Countered Ornette Coleman’s concept of collective improvisation by playing extremely long individual solos
“Chasin’ the Trane” (1961) is the most famous of these
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9. Listening Example 57 A Love Supreme, Part I “Acknowledgment” (excerpt)
Produced in 1964, the very
spiritual and emotional album
A Love Supreme seems to
identify with rebellious youth of
the 1960s seeking new cultural
and spiritual identities based on
non-Western traditions.
Combining religious ecstasy with
tranquility and meditation, this
hypnotic mixture of music and
chanting became one of the
best-selling jazz albums of all
time.
Acknowledgement is the first of
four sections, which make up a
suite. The other three parts are
Resolution, Pursuance, and
Psalm.
A Love Supreme, Part I
“Acknowledgment” (excerpt)
By John Coltrane
Performed by the
John Coltrane Quartet
(Coltrane on tenor sax, plus piano, bass, drums)
Listening Guide page 259
Meter: An improvised introduction, then quadruple meter that is free and flexible, changing as the piece progresses, with skillful polyrhythms.
After the brief opening passage, bass introduces the four-note main theme, based on the words “a love supreme.”
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10. Third Stream
Third stream combines jazz and classical music in a manner that—unlike the blending of classical and jazz effects in symphonic, cool, and progressive jazz—allows each style to retain its characteristic qualities
John Lewis first attracted attention to this new idea
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11. Third Stream: John Lewis (1920-2001)
Classically trained, this African American pianist was interested in Renaissance and Baroque European art music
Founded the Modern Jazz Quartet
Wrote jazz pieces for the MJQ using classical forms of earlier periods
Some pieces were performed with the MJQ and symphony orchestra or other classical ensemble
MJQ improvised, while the classical ensemble read and played the notes;
Both ensembles remained true to their traditions
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12. Third Stream: Gunther Schuller (b. 1925)
Introduced the term “third stream”
Believed that jazz and classical music should be treated as separate but congenial entities
In 1957 he referred to
Classical music as the “first stream” of music
Jazz as the “second stream”
Their combination in a manner allowing each to retain its characteristic qualities as “third stream” music
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13. Third Stream remained in vogue for only a short time
Yet its influence persists
Example: Ornette Coleman’s 1960s piece “Skies of America” for symphony orchestra and solo jazz improvisers
In this piece by Coleman, the conductor chooses between an array of notated inserts to be cued to the orchestra by hand signals
Challenges in Coleman’s piece abound for symphonic players
New York Philharmonic musicians balked in 1997 when Coleman suggested to play notes other than notes he had written
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14. The 1970s and Prior Decades
No one style reigned exclusively at any time
All existed concurrently with other important kinds of jazz
Yet each decade is associated with its own particular approach to jazz
It is possible to discern an alternation between classically cool and romantically emotional music decade by decade
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15. The 1970s and Prior Decades
It is possible to define a dominant style for each decade
1920s: The jazz age; emotionally intense
1930s: The swing era; soothing big band music
1940s: Reacting to bebop
1950s: Staying cool
1960s: Exploring relationships between jazz and classical music
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16. The 1970s
Several important movements coexisted and influenced later jazz
A comeback of swing, remaining strong today
European chamber music-style combos appealed to many musicians and listeners
Bebop made a powerful and lasting return
Two other movements vied for attention
World music
Fusion
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17. The 1970s: Fusion (Jazz-Rock)
Jazz and rock
Came from the same roots (blues, gospel, work songs)
Faced crises as the 1970s began
Jazz losing its identity
Foundering somewhere between classical and foreign ethnic musics
Rock, mourning the deaths of some of the greatest stars
And struggling to find the means to address the tragic social and political events of the day
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18. Fusion (Jazz-Rock)
Jazz musicians started incorporating rock elements into their music in the 1960s
Example: Miles Davis’s 1969 recording Bitches Brew
Davis then produced On the Corner in 1972, including sitar and a shocking rock drumbeat
This was criticized as “antijazz”
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19. Fusion Defined Jazz-rock = fusion = jazz-rock-fusion
Melds rock rhythms and the use of electronic instruments with
Collective improvisation
Extreme ranges of volume
Rapid shifts in meter, tempo, mood, uncharacteristic of rock
Instrumental music—no vocals
Bass guitar or electric bass instead of stand-up bass
Allowing for faster playing, and…
Altering of sounds with electronic effects
Snare drums and bass drums used as the rhythm section
Raising the rhythm section to unprecedented dominance
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20. Fusion: Mid-1970s
Some jazz ensembles used electronic organs, other keyboards, synthesizers…
Electroacoustic instruments =
Sound is mechanically generated, then electronically amplified and altered
The sound engineer as artist and technician…
manipulated sounds to musicians’ best advantage
Synthesizer and Keyboard
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21. Weather Report: A Fusion Band of the 1970s and 1980s
One of the earliest and most influential jazz-rock groups, active for over fifteen years
Formed by musicians Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, who had worked with Miles Davis
This band stunningly presents the virtuosity and rhythmic complexity associated with jazz-rock fusion
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22. Fusion: Two Influential Jazz Pianists
Herbie Hancock (b. 1940)
Huge success with electronic instruments
His album Headhunters (1973)
The first jazz album to be certified gold
Remained for a time best-selling of all jazz albums
Electric bass, keyboards, synthesizers gave jazz a radical new sound called funk (see chapter 13)
Chick Corea (b. 1941)—An accomplished pianist
Return to Forever was his influential fusion group
Corea played a wide variety of electronic keyboard instruments
Incorporated Latin American rhythms within his music
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23. The 1970s: Integration of Foreign Sounds
Fusion implies a bringing together, yet brought serious schisms within the jazz world, as musicians chose
Between acoustic and electronic instruments
Between flexible free jazz rhythms and a soul- or gospel-influenced steady beat
Among a variety of music from foreign cultures, a concept sparked by John Coltrane
India, Brazil, Arabia, Bali, Japan, China, African cultures
European concert music was also used by some musicians
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24. Integration of Foreign Sounds in the 1970s: Don Cherry (1936-1995)
Worked with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane; performed and recorded in Europe and New York during the 1960s
Following extensive travel in Asia and Africa, settled in Sweden
Became active there in music education and performance
Calling himself a “world musician,” Cherry played trumpet, as well as ethnic instruments from…
Tibet, China, India, Bali, other countries
1978: He formed a trio, Codona, with a Brazilian percussionist and an American sitarist
Performed and recorded ethnic musics for children and adults
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25. The 1980s
A fragmented period of enormous diversity, exploration, discovery
The range of jazz identity was extended, through…
New information about other music traditions
Sophisticated new technology
World music remained important
Electronic techniques expanded their applications
Often musicians participated in a number of kinds of jazz, establishing no definitive identity in any one
Two fields of interest were characteristic:
Crossover jazz, and, a revival of interest in traditional styles
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26. The 1980s: Crossover Music
Crossover music = The blending of jazz and various other musics
John Lewis’s Modern Jazz Quartet
Seen as a black response to the intellectualism of the Dave Brubeck Quartet
And as New York’s answer to West Coast cool jazz
Fusion was another form of crossover
Remained strong in the 1980s; not as popular as in the 1970s
Herbie Hancock’s album Future Shock (1983) was an example
Included the piece “Rockit”
A fusion of jazz, funk, electronics
A massive hit, inspired an MTV video
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27. 1980s Crossover Music: Pat Metheny (b. 1954)
A jazz guitarist who remains popular today
Initiated a rock band format
Produced albums of melodious jazz-rock
1985: Composed the score for the movie The Falcon and the Snowman
Led to his recording “This is Not America”—a Top 40 hit—with David Bowie
Having explored the musical possibilities of the twelve-string guitar and a digital sampling synthesizer, called the synclavier, Metheny continues to move between pure jazz and pop jazz
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28. The 1980s: Traditionalism
Some musicians blended jazz, rock, folk, pop, foreign sounds…
Other musicians resisted such combinations and the white European concert sounds of much crossover music
They returned to earlier styles, updated to modern tastes
New Orleans, Chicago, and Dixieland jazz became popular
Bop and so-called post-bop offered traditionalists a structured yet progressive sound—daring but not too new
The return to the traditional was tempered with freely flowing, flexible rhythms and meters indigenous to much music in Africa
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29. The 1990s and Beyond
The 1990s became the first decade in jazz history to have no defining movement
Relationships to rock loomed ever more important, as well as soul, funk, world music, and crossover
A new fusion called jazz-rap evolved
Fusion became more complex as musicians explored and expanded styles, techniques, technology
Example: British jazz group Us3 released their album Cantaloop 2004, with “jazz influenced urban sounds leaning heavily on a Latino R&B vibe”
The recording sampled Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”
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30. The 1990s and Beyond: No Wave or Noise
No wave seeks the emancipation of noise (as per scholar musician John Zorn)
Pieces in this style are extremely brief, very fast, loud
A collage of very short, isolated sound events
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31. The 1990s and Beyond: Musicians
John Zorn is among an impressive number of contemporary jazz musicians who are…
Following Duke Ellington’s lead in finding ways to integrate composition and improvisation
Masterful improvisers, interested in putting to their own various uses many or all of the ethnic, technological, traditional, and experimental resources available
Several of these people are scholars
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32. The 1990s and Beyond Henry Threadgill (b. 1944)
Saxophonist and flutist; toured with gospel musicians, blues bands
1960s: Became associated with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM)
To help Chicago musicians present their new, commercially unacceptable music
1970s: Formed the trio Air
Explored African music, ragtime, assorted traditional musics
Since 1980: Formed groups with unusual instrumentation
Such as the Very Very Circus, which uses…
Trombone, two tubas, two guitars, drums
Fuses avant-garde jazz, funk, salsa, European marches
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33. The 1990s and Beyond: Anthony Braxton (b. 1945)
A former AACM member, Braxton reached a milestone in jazz history by recording a double album of solo alto saxophone music For Alto, released in 1971
Other alto sax players soon made their own recordings
A master improviser
An intellectual composer: Devised systems for composing music, some based on mathematical relationships, diagrams, or formulas as a means of generating improvisation within the framework of an orchestral composition
In some pieces, parts can be played by different instruments
Some of his compositions can be played together
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34. The 1990s and Beyond: Anthony Davis (b. 1951)
Sometimes referred to as a crossover musician
Blends jazz and classical styles in his pieces
Using Eastern musics
Pianist and improviser
Writes out most of his own music
He considers improvisation just one compositional tool
Episteme, his avant-garde jazz ensemble, has been involved in some third stream-style performances with classical performers
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35. Anthony Davis: Classical Compositions
The Life and Times of Malcolm X
Davis’s first opera, and the first of several American operas based on a contemporary political subject
Amistad, 1997, his fourth opera, is a story of a slave uprising on a ship, and the subsequent trial
As a Broadway composer
1993: Composed music for Tony Kushner’s prizewinning Angels in America
Davis’s symphonic, choral, and chamber works incorporate jazz and classical concepts
Such as improvisatory passages, jazz undertones
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36. Wynton Marsalis (b. 1961)
A classicist who believes that bebop is the foundation of modern jazz
Defends, updates, modernizes early jazz styles in his own compositions
Juilliard-trained trumpet virtuoso with extremely beautiful sound
Educator, composer, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York
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37. Wynton Marsalis
Voiced concern with restoring “respect and seriousness” to jazz
Believes the future of jazz holds more emphasis on composition than on soloing
Writes music intended to last
Author of Sweet Swing Blues on the Road, 1994
1998 Pulitzer prize winner for music, for his extended composition “Blood on the Fields”
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38. Jazz Today and Tomorrow
The important American music we call jazz continues to evolve
Tradition and innovation inspire today’s jazz musicians and fans
The blues was the subject of a celebration in 2003, declared by Congressional Proclamation, the Year of the Blues
In remembrance of W. C. Handy’s first hearing, in 1903, a man playing slide guitar with a knife and singing a plaintive blues
He later published commercial blues; established a relationship between blues and the music business
Today we recognize the blues as a basic structure, a feeling, an attitude, an exacting discipline—an indefinable and indestructible American music
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39. Jazz Today and tomorrow: Collectives
Important to the jazz business today are the numerous collectives organized to support jazz musicians
From the start, collective organizations have helped musicians
Make a living
Create jobs (called gigs)
Create new compositions (starting in the 1960s)
Collectives now play a stronger role than ever
Finding grant money for commissioning compositions and recordings
Sponsoring concerts
Building audiences for new jazz music
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40. Jazz Today and Tomorrow: Instrumentation
Jazz instrumentation continues to evolve
Musicians explore new technology and world sounds
The organ and its evolution in jazz:
1920s: Thomas (Fats) Waller played on a giant pipe organ
1940s and 1950s: Jazz organ trios with electric organ, guitar, drums, at times tenor sax imitated an orchestra
Today: Synthesizers and portable digital organs
Commercial success of the recent sampling of organ-heavy soul jazz recordings from the 1960s has created a new audience for the Hammond (electric) organ
(Wild) Bill Davis—the creator of the modern jazz organ
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41. Jazz Today and Tomorrow: Performances
The arranging impulse largely dropped out of jazz performance from the 1960s through the 1980s
But thanks to Wynton Marsalis and jazz musicians, it is back
The trend is towards less emphasis on virtuosic solos
The bandleader controls the ensemble, in a collective endeavor shifting focus from one musician to another
Today’s performances often seem to be more about rhythm and interplay than about solos or even melodies
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42. Jazz Today and Tomorrow: Conclusion
The Turtle Island String Quartet fuses the classical string quartet with popular contemporary American styles
Bluegrass, swing, bebop, funk, rhythm and blues, hip-hop, salsa, others—plus classical Indian music
Innumerable jazz festivals around the nation and worldwide celebrate local and international talent
It has become increasingly unrealistic to confine jazz to narrow definitions
Jazz continues to be a vital feature of the American musical landscape
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43. Image Credits Slide 7: Saxophone © Getty Images
Slide 20: Music Synthesizer and Keyboard Royalty-Free/Corbis
Slide 36: Wynton Marsalis © AP/ Wide World Photo
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