Developments in Free Jazz: From the Musically General to the Musically

Musically Special. The modern(istic)e questioning of previous

of what has been taken for granted in jazz so far

- Rhythm

- Until now: uniformly swing-emphasised fundamental rhythm

- => Concepts of energy, pulses, e.g. with Cecil Taylor, Sunny Murray

- Harmony

- Previously regulated by harmonic frame of reference

- => Replacement via modal jazz to tonal centres with e.g. Ornette Coleman

- melody

- => Microtonality (human pitch: Coleman, proximity to speech: Mingus), energy-sound

improvisation of sound arcs (Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders)

- form

- so far: on meta ("sandwich principle"), meso (e.g. AABA) and micro level (aaba')

regulated

- => increasingly free improvisation, whose framework now became the subject of the

of the composition process (e.g. Dolphy, Coltrane).

Developments in free jazz: from the musically general to the musically

musically particular. The modern(istic) questioning of previous

previous self-evident facts in jazz

- Instrumentation

- up to now: established instruments

- => extended instrumentation (e.g. Art Ensemble of Chicago) and other use of instruments (e.g.
Coleman).

of instruments (e.g. Coleman)

- Presentation/Performance

- so far: concert and entertainment

- => increasing incorporation of theatrical elements (e.g. AEC => living theatre), but also

l'art pour l'art concepts (e.g. Anthony Braxton)

- Politics

- so far: hardly any public references to political events

- => direct action; collective compositions (Charles Mingus, Sun Ra

Charles Mingus as a pioneer of Free Jazz

Vita Charles Jr. Mingus - 22.04.1922 (Nogales, Arizona) - 05.01.1979 (Cuernavaca, Mexico)

List of musical partners

- Kid Ory

- Barney Bigard

- Louis Armstrong

- Lionel Hampton

- Red Norvo

- Tal Farlow

- Charlie Parker

- Duke Ellington

- Max Roach

- Teo Macero

- Miles Davis

- Stan Getz

- Bud Powell

- Dave Brubeck

- Eric Dolphy etc.

Music

A. Important imprints

- Live experiences with almost the complete squad of jazz history

- Gospel and Blues

- African-American jazz composers such as Ellington

- European impressionism (Debussy, Ravel)

B. Innovations on the bass

- Virtuoso bass playing => solely in the service of musical conception

- abandonment of the timekeeper function of the bassist => rhythmically and melodically
independent, bass
as an equal instrument in the ensemble

- Instrumental innovations: Pizzicato tremoli; double stops; speech-like phrasing

and articulation

Music

C. Innovations in the compositional process:

1. empowerment of the players

- Like Ellington, Mingus involves his fellow players in the composition process;

"thought note paper"

"As long as they start when I start and stop when I stop, the musicians can change the compositions
as much as they like.

musicians can change the compositions as much as they want. While we play, they add

themselves and their own feelings" (liner notes on Oh Yeah).

- Consequence resp. implicit prerequisite: Long-standing musical partnerships develop

e.g. with Dannie Richmond (dr).

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C. Innovations in the composition process:

2. "collective composition" => collective improvisation

- multi-motivational work

- rejection of traditional processes such as theme - improvisation - theme, instead processual

emerging forms

- no longer a continuous binding tempo, metre or even a steady rhythm => abruptly

sudden double-time passages, accelerandi etc.

- Collective improvisation with accompanying role abandonment of soloist and accompanist => the
instruments are independent but not independent.

the instruments are independent, but not independent of each other

- Pre-arranged parts sometimes flow into (partially) collectively improvised parts.

- Expansion of the jazz sound to include spoken and shouted passages, noises ("A

Foggy Day" (1956))

Example: "Shuffle Bass Boogie" (1949); "Folk Forms No. 1" (1960)

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C. Innovations in the compositional process:

Ex: Charles Mingus (1960). "What Love" on Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus.
(Charles Mingus b; Eric Dolphy bcl; Ted Curson tp; Dannie Richmond dr)

- modal theme and collectively controlled free improvisation

- in the "conversation" between Eric Dolphy and Charles Mingus gestural-sound work of solo
improvisation in the foreground of musical expression

- Setting of the album: live club replayed in the studio, interludes to the songs by

Mingus => playing with and criticising the role of the jazz musician

- a consistent theme on Minugs, cf. Beneath the Underdog, Mingus's semi-fictional autobiography.

Autobiography

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D. Bringing in his political consciousness

- Mingus was always a politically thinking and outspoken person (e.g. part of the so-called Newport

Rebels; founding of Debut, etc.).

- Ex: "Fables of Faubus" on Mingus Ah Um and "Original Faubus Fables" on Charles

Mingus presents Charles Mingus (1960)

- Orval E. Faubus was the governor of Arkansas who attempted to use the National Guard to

to prevent African-American children from attending a 'white' high school in Little Rock in 1957.

Rock in 1957; President Eisenhower sent army units to enforce the law.

enforce the law

- Mingus Ah Um released on major label Columbia 1959, therefore instrumental version only

- lyricised version released in 1960 by Nat Hantoff (white jazz critic and civil rights activist).

(white jazz critic and civil rights activist); here also Freedom Now! We Insist

by Max Roach

- I just write tunes and put political titles on them. Fables of Faubus was different, though-I

wrote that because I wanted to" (Charles Mingus, http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/05/charlesmingus-

fables-of-faubus.html, as of 2009).

"Original Faubus Fables" (1960)

Oh Lord, don't let them shoot us

Oh Lord, don't let them stab us

Oh Lord, don't let them tar and feather us

Oh Lord, no more swastikas!

Oh Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!

Name me someone who's ridiculous, Dannie

[Governor Faubus

Why is he sick and ridiculous?

[DR] He won't permit integrated schools

[Mingus] Then he's a fool

Boo! Nazi fascist supremacists/Boo Ku Klux Klan!

Name me a handful that's ridiculous. Dannie Richmond?

[Bilbo. Faubus. [Unintelligible]. Rockefeller. [Unintelligible]. Eisenhower.

Why are they so sick and ridiculous?

[DR] Two, four, six, eight

[All] They brainwash and teach you hate!