Jazz Fusion, Free Jazz, and Neoclassicism: Key Concepts and Artists

Fusion — definition

Jazz improvisation fused with rock/funk rhythms, usually with electric instruments like guitar, bass, and keyboards.

Fusion — why it emerged

Rock pushed jazz to the margins in the 1960s, so jazz musicians tried to reach the huge rock/funk/pop market.

Fusion — two core elements

1) Jazz improv + rock/funk rhythms. 2) Electric instruments: guitar, bass, keyboards.

Fusion — proponents

Miles Davis; Weather Report; Chick Corea; Herbie Hancock.

Fusion — MC trigger words

Electric instruments; rock; funk; guitar; keyboards; Bitches Brew; Weather Report; Return to Forever.

Fusion vs free jazz

Fusion = electric rock/funk crossover. Free jazz = rejects fixed rhythm/harmony/form.

Free jazz — definition

Avant-garde jazz that rebelled against established jazz traditions through free improvisation and rejection of fixed forms.

Free jazz — other names

Anti-jazz; Black music; The New Thing; avant-garde jazz.

Free jazz — social context

Civil rights era, assertive Black consciousness, protest, and exploration of alternative religions/philosophies.

Free jazz — rhythm

Discarded steady dance beat for ambiguous pulse or several pulses at once.

Free jazz — harmony

Discarded predictable chord/scale patterns for unpredictable harmony based on the moment.

Free jazz — melody

Melody became disengaged from traditional harmonic resolutions; could be melodic or noise-heavy.

Free jazz — structure

Traditional blues/song forms were discarded; form was created through free improvisation.

Free jazz — instrumentation

Used typical jazz instruments plus symphonic and world music instruments.

Free jazz — three paradoxes

Controversial but influential; insisted on newness but became inclusive; never popular but durable.

Free jazz — MC trigger words

No steady beat; ambiguous pulse; unpredictable harmony; free improvisation; civil rights; protest; Ornette; Cecil Taylor.

Neoclassicism — definition

1980s-1990s return to mainstream acoustic jazz styles and tradition.

Neoclassicism — what it paid tribute to

Jazz greats of the past such as Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong.

Neoclassicism — core belief

Jazz had to swing and conform to traditional practices with clear boundaries.

Neoclassicism — proponents

Wynton Marsalis; Marcus Roberts; Terrance Blanchard; Scott Hamilton; Harry Connick Jr. Also know Joshua Redman and Christian McBride from review context.

Neoclassicism — MC trigger words

Acoustic; tradition; swing; Lincoln Center; Wynton Marsalis; tribute to Ellington/Armstrong/Miles.

Neoclassicism vs postmodernism

Neoclassicism preserves tradition; postmodernism deconstructs/mixes styles with irony, parody, and high/low art.

Postmodern jazz — definition

Conscious study and mixing of styles from different eras/cultures to create new art.

Postmodernism — high art/low art

Breaks barriers between high art and low art using parody, irony, and humor.

Postmodernism — treatment of pop music

Embraces popular sounds/styles, then deconstructs or reconstructs them.

Postmodernism — proponents

Art Ensemble of Chicago; Sex Mob; Medeski, Martin and Wood.

Postmodernism — MC trigger words

Parody; irony; humor; deconstruction; high vs low art; Sex Mob; Macarena; Bubblehouse.

Miles Davis — big identity

Trumpeter and constant innovator; spawned cool jazz, hard bop, orchestral jazz, modal jazz, elements of avant-garde, and fusion.

Miles Davis — modal jazz piece

So What from Kind of Blue.

Miles Davis — fusion piece

Spanish Key from Bitches Brew.

Miles Davis — First Great Quintet

John Coltrane, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones, and Paul Chambers.

Miles Davis — Harmon mute

If I Were A Bell is an example of Davis playing with a Harmon mute.

Miles Davis — Kind of Blue

Best-selling jazz record; featured modal jazz.

Miles Davis — So What concept

Modal jazz: improvising over modes/scales rather than complex chord changes.

Miles Davis — Bitches Brew

Made fusion mainstream; shifted focus toward rhythm and timbre.

John Coltrane — big identity

Tenor/soprano saxophonist; redefined tenor sax; intense scales/practice; major modal and avant-garde figure.

John Coltrane — Giant Steps

Became a test piece for musicians because of its difficult chord progression.

John Coltrane — sheets of sound

Name for Coltrane's prolific, dense soloing style.

John Coltrane — My Favorite Things

Radio hit that brought renewed attention to soprano saxophone.

John Coltrane — A Love Supreme

1964 four-part suite dedicated to God; based on modal/free modal jazz.

John Coltrane — Acknowledgement

First movement of A Love Supreme; contains a four-note motif.

John Coltrane — Ascension

Coltrane's exploration into free jazz; legitimized free jazz because he was already a major star.

Ornette Coleman — big identity

Alto saxophonist; considered founder of free jazz.

Ornette Coleman — Lonely Woman

Free jazz example; piano-less quartet; melody floats over rhythmic background.

Ornette Coleman — Free Jazz album

Used a double quartet: two sets of drums, bass, sax, and trumpet; no piano.

Ornette Coleman — why no piano

Piano promoted fixed chords/tempered scale and limited his freedom.

Ornette Coleman — sax sound

Jarring/human-voice-like sound; used microtones.

Cecil Taylor — big identity

Classically trained free jazz pianist.

Cecil Taylor — piano concept

Viewed piano as 88 tuned drums.

Cecil Taylor — Bulbs

Free jazz piece showing virtuosic, intellectual approach; less melodic/bluesy than Ornette.

Archie Shepp — big identity

Free jazz/protest-associated saxophonist.

Archie Shepp — Malcolm, Malcolm, Semper Malcolm

Piece dedicated to Malcolm X.

Max Roach — big identity

Drummer tied to hard bop and civil-rights protest music.

Max Roach + Abbey Lincoln — Triptych

Prayer/Protest/Peace from Freedom Now Suite; related to civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Louis Armstrong — exam 3 role

Older jazz reference point and mainstream/pop contrast; Hello Dolly is antithesis of modern jazz.

Louis Armstrong — Hello Dolly

Mainstream popular hit; knocked the Beatles off the charts; contrasts with modern jazz innovations.

Jimmy Smith — big identity

Hammond B3 organ player; soul jazz/R&B-jazz fusion.

Jimmy Smith — Organ Grinder's Swing

Soul jazz example; Hammond B3 organ sound.

Jimmy Smith — Hammond B3 foot pedals

Mastered foot pedals to create bass lines on organ.

Stan Getz + Charlie Byrd — big identity

Associated with bossa nova/Latin jazz crossover.

Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd — Desafinado

Bossa nova / Latin jazz hit; composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Bossa nova — definition

Brazilian urbanized samba mixed with jazz; means new wave/new trend.

Eddie Palmieri — big identity

Grammy-winning Latin jazz pianist/composer from New York of Puerto Rican ancestry; influenced by Monk and McCoy Tyner.

Dizzy Gillespie — Manteca

Afro-Cuban jazz connection; includes conga drums.

Clave

Two-bar pattern that defines rhythmic patterns in Afro-Cuban music.

Afro-Cuban percussion instruments

Congas, timbales, and bongos.

Bill Evans — big identity

Pianist; critical link between bebop and modern jazz; advanced chord voicings and interactive trio approach.

Bill Evans — Blue in Green

Example of rich tonal colors/advanced chord voicings; connected to Kind of Blue/modal color.

Bill Evans — trio innovation

More interactive piano trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian.

McCoy Tyner — big identity

Pianist in Coltrane's quartet; used fuller chord voicings built in fourths.

McCoy Tyner — Passion Dance

Associated with Tyner's post-1960s piano style and powerful fourth-based voicings.

Herbie Hancock — big identity

Pianist/keyboardist; moved from acoustic post-bop to funk/fusion and electronic sounds.

Herbie Hancock — Maiden Voyage

Acoustic post-bop concept album/piece related to the sea.

Herbie Hancock — Watermelon Man

Fusion/funk remake of his earlier composition; intro derived from Central African pygmy music.

Herbie Hancock — Rockit

1980s piece with DJ collaboration; Grammy/MTV-era electronic/hip-hop influence.

Chick Corea — big identity

Pianist/keyboardist; fusion musician; Return to Forever.

Chick Corea — Spain

Latin-inspired fusion; intro from Concierto de Aranjuez.

Chick Corea — Matrix

Piano piece tied to post-1960s modern/fusion-era musicianship.

Joe Zawinul + Wayne Shorter

Founded Weather Report, a major fusion group.

Weather Report — Teen Town

Fusion piece composed/performed by Jaco Pastorius; electric bass feature.

Jaco Pastorius — big identity

Electric bassist in Weather Report; removed frets from electric bass and redefined its sound/possibilities.

John McLaughlin — big identity

Fusion guitarist; Mahavishnu Orchestra; influenced by rock/blues, Eastern religions, and Indian classical music.

Wynton Marsalis — big identity

Major proponent of neoclassicism in the 1980s-1990s.

Wynton Marsalis — Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra served as a house band for tributes to major jazz stars of the past.

Wynton Marsalis — Take the A Train

Neoclassical tribute performance; Take the A Train was Duke Ellington's theme song.

Wynton Marsalis — Blood on the Fields

Jazz oratorio that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize.

Marcus Roberts — big identity

Neoclassical pianist associated with historicist reinterpretations.

Marcus Roberts — Rhapsody in Blue

Arrangement includes improvised jazz sections unlike the original.

Jason Moran — You've Got to Be Modernistic

Neoclassical/historicist interpretation of James P. Johnson's stride masterpiece.

Brad Mehldau — big identity

Contemporary Jazz/Jazz Today pianist.

Medeski, Martin, and Wood — big identity

Postmodern/groove-oriented trio inspired by jam bands and vintage instruments.

Medeski, Martin, and Wood — Bubblehouse

Postmodern example; simple one-chord vamp, accelerates, spins, then slows down; little/no traditional form.

Sex Mob — big identity

Postmodern group known for deconstructing pop songs through irony/parody.

Sex Mob — Macarena

Postmodern example of a pop song deconstructed with irony/parody.

Art Ensemble of Chicago

Postmodern/free-jazz-linked group; motto from AACM: Great Black Music—Ancient to Future.

AACM

Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians; connected to Art Ensemble of Chicago.

So What — artist/style

Miles Davis; modal jazz; from Kind of Blue.

Giant Steps — artist/key fact

John Coltrane; extremely difficult chord progression/test piece.

Acknowledgement — artist/key fact

John Coltrane; first movement of A Love Supreme; four-note motif.

Lonely Woman — artist/style

Ornette Coleman; free jazz; piano-less quartet; floating melody.