Description

Book Synopsis

A new and accessible introduction to this exciting, controversial, and often misunderstood music, drawing on extensive research, close listening, and the author''s experience as a performer.

In the late 1950s, free jazz broke all the rules, liberating musicians both to create completely spontaneous and unplanned performances and to develop unique personal musical systems. This genre emerged alongside the radical changes of the 1960s, particularly the Civil Rights, Black Arts, and Black Power movements. Free Jazz is a new and accessible introduction to this exciting, controversial, and often misunderstood music, drawing on extensive research, close listening, and the author''s experience as a performer. More than a catalog of artists and albums, the book explores the conceptual areas they opened: freedom, spirituality, energy, experimentalism, and self-determination. These are discussed in relation to both the political and artistic currents of the times and to specific musical techniques, explained in language clear to ordinary readers but also useful for musicians.

Free Jazz

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    A Paperback by Jeff Schwartz

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      Book details

      Publisher State University of New York Press
      Published 2 April 2023
      ISBN-13 9781438490304
      978-1438490304
      ISBN-10 1438490305
      Also in:
      Ethnic studies / Ethnicity

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      A new and accessible introduction to this exciting, controversial, and often misunderstood music, drawing on extensive research, close listening, and the author''s experience as a performer.

      In the late 1950s, free jazz broke all the rules, liberating musicians both to create completely spontaneous and unplanned performances and to develop unique personal musical systems. This genre emerged alongside the radical changes of the 1960s, particularly the Civil Rights, Black Arts, and Black Power movements. Free Jazz is a new and accessible introduction to this exciting, controversial, and often misunderstood music, drawing on extensive research, close listening, and the author''s experience as a performer. More than a catalog of artists and albums, the book explores the conceptual areas they opened: freedom, spirituality, energy, experimentalism, and self-determination. These are discussed in relation to both the political and artistic currents of the times and to specific musical techniques, explained in language clear to ordinary readers but also useful for musicians.

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