Chapter 8

Free Jazz

Historical Context: “Freedom” as a Cultural & Musical Rallying Cry (late-1950s

→ mid-1960s)

  • “Freedom” became the most emotionally loaded word in U.S. public discourse- Civil-rights touchpoints: \text{Brown v. Board of Education (1954, 1955)}, Freedom Riders (1961), Freedom Vote (1963), Freedom Summer (1964), Freedom Singers, Freedom Schools, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

  • Same rhetoric seeps into jazz:- Players reject merely “harmonic freedom” → embrace political, social, economic liberation

    • Marxist-tinged critiques: Art as part of the capitalist “super-structure”; no such thing as “pure” music

    • Critics LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka (Blues People 1963) & Frank Kofsky (“vote of ‘no-confidence’ in Western Civilization”) weaponize jazz aesthetics

Musical Roots of Free Jazz Before 1959

  • Prior atonal/“free” flashes (all white, institutionally sanctioned)- Lennie Tristano (“Intuition,” “Descent into the Maelstrom” – 1949)

    • Bob Graettinger (City of Glass 1948 for Stan Kenton)

    • Jimmy Giuffre (“Fugue” 1953)

    • Third Stream term by Gunther Schuller (1957): merge jazz + contemporary classical (Schuller’s Atonal Studies 1948; Stravinsky Ebony Concerto 1946; Babbitt All Set 1957)

  • Yet major 1959 pioneers differ- African-American outsiders; denied grants, halls, commissions

    • Lived hand-to-mouth day jobs: Ornette Coleman (elevator operator), Cecil Taylor (dishwasher)

Ornette Coleman: Catalyst of the Revolution

  • Early life- Born 1930, Fort Worth Texas, during Great Depression; family worked odd jobs

    • Soaked in church music, territory big bands, “Texas tenor” blues tradition

    • Self-taught; mixed up scale starting on A; expelled from HS band for “mixing Sousa & swing”

    • Beaten in Baton Rouge; tenor destroyed → switches mainly to alto

  • L.A. gestation (Hillcrest Club)- Quartet w/ Don Cherry (pocket cornet), Billy Higgins (drums), Charlie Haden (bass), Paul Bley (piano, soon leaves)

  • Recording trajectory1. 1958 audition → Something Else! (Contemporary)

    • Still 32-bar/12-bar forms; “I Got Rhythm/Out of Nowhere” changes lurking → critics hailed “very, very Avant Garde”

    1. Tomorrow Is the Question (1959)

    2. The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959, Atlantic) – classic quartet intact; “Lonely Woman,” “Peace”

    3. Five Spot debut NYC 17 Nov 1959

    • Two-week booking → 2-month phenomenon; Leonard Bernstein, Lionel Hampton sit in; Newsweek & Harper’s Bazaar cover

    1. Change of the Century (1960) – “Ramblin’,” “Bird Food”

    2. Free Jazz – Dec 21 1960 double-quartet (Coleman/Cherry/Higgins/LaFaro vs. Dolphy/Hubbard/Haden/Blackwell)

    • Single 37-min track; birth of term “free jazz”; stereo ping-pong texture

  • 1962–64 withdrawal: Town Hall concert (21 Dec 1962) w/ string quartet & R&B horns

  • Mid-1960s comeback: Guggenheim award, Symphonic Poems; multi-instrumentalist (violin, trumpet); “harmolodics” coined (Skies of America 1972)

  • 1970s Prime Time → funk/electric fusion (Dancing in Your Head 1977); later Song X (w/ Metheny 1985), Pulitzer for Sound Grammar 2006

Cecil Taylor: The Classical-Jazz Firebrand

  • Background- Born 1929 Long Island City; childhood piano + lessons from tympanist who played under Toscanini

    • New England Conservatory 1952 → disillusioned at Eurocentric curriculum

  • Early style (by 1954- Dense dissonances; jack-hammer touch; polytonality; pre-free quartet (Transition 1956)

  • Landmark albums- Jazz Advance (1956); Newport 1957 upset; Five Spot residency

    • Candid sessions 1960–61 (“Air,” “Cell Walk for Celeste” 88-bar theme with Ives-like collage)

    • Unit Structures (Blue Note 1966) & Conquistador! – paradigms: drummer Andrew Cyrille, Sunny Murray; abolition of bar-lines, oceanic sound

  • Later career- Solo piano volcanoes: Silent Tongues (1974), Air Above Mountains, 3 Phasis; incorporates dance/ballet, chanting, poetry

    • Institutional acceptance: Guggenheim, MacArthur “Genius,” NEA, DownBeat Hall of Fame 1975

Albert Ayler: Beyond Notes – Sound as Freedom

  • Born 1936 Cleveland; church + R&B; army bands in Europe (early exposure)

  • Mature style 1964 → “dirty tone,” huge vibrato, microtones, horn shrieks; simple folk-like themes vs. incendiary solos

  • Key records- Witches and Devils (Feb 1964)

    • Spiritual Unity (July 1964) trio w/ Gary Peacock & Sunny Murray – defining free-jazz energy

    • Brother Donald Ayler joins 1965; departures 1968

    • New Grass (1968) controversial soul/rock hybrid (“freedom music” + Motown singers + Bernard Purdie beat)

  • Death: Nov 1970 body in East River, age 34 → post-Ayler era; impossible to go “freer” than sound-only extrapolation

Sociological & Aesthetic Repercussions

  • Second-wave players & institutions:- Archie Shepp (politicized rhetoric), Bill Dixon, New York Contemporary Five, October Revolution concerts (1964), Jazz Composers Guild

    • John Coltrane embraces free style: Ascension (1965, 40-min large-group exorcism), Om, Kulu Se Mama, Meditation

  • Audience & critic schism: cheers vs. boos at DownBeat Jazz Fest; Herbert Marcuse & Jacques Attali laud “noise” as anti-bureaucratic revolt

  • Recurrent utopian claims (Litweiler: music “philosophically crucial to humanity”; Such: helps life “achieve purposefulness”)

Fusion and Electronica

Transition to Jazz-Rock Fusion (1969 → 1970s)

  • Jazz = permanent fusion, but late-1960s brought radical new electric hybrid

Miles Davis Bitches Brew (1969)

  • Sales: 400,000 units first year (vs. <100,000 prev. albums)

  • 10-min+ tracks, thick rhythm soup, studio splicing by Teo Macero; Davis trumpet ≈ extra texture, not heroic solos

Follow-ups

  • Jack Johnson (1970) – “Yesternow” tape-spliced

  • Live-Evil (1971) studio Hermeto Pascoal + Fillmore live segues

  • On the Corner (1972) funk/urban orientation → critical backlash; sought Black audience (overtaken by Hancock’s Headhunters 1973)

  • Davis’s health decline & 1975–81 hiatus; last project Doo-Bop (1991) with rapper Easy Mo Bee; post-humous Panthalassa remix by Bill Laswell raises ethics of studio “re-construction”

Flagship Fusion Bands (ex-Miles alumni)

  • Return to Forever (Chick Corea 1972-77): Latin/Brazilian + rock + virtuosity; core: Stanley Clarke (bass), Al Di Meola (guitar); later Elektric vs Akoustic Bands

  • Mahavishnu Orchestra (John McLaughlin 1971-76): Hendrix-like energy, odd-meter riffs; later Shakti (Indo-fusion), flamenco duos w/ Paco de Lucia

  • Weather Report (Joe Zawinul + Wayne Shorter 1971-86)- Orchestral keyboards, collective texture; “Birdland” (1976 Heavy Weather) – signature tune

    • Jaco Pastorius electrifies bass; virtuosic showmanship ("Donna Lee"); dies 1987 via nightclub assault

  • Other alumni success stories- Herbie Hancock Headhunters (1973) “Chameleon” >2 \,\text{M} copies; later Grammy for River (2008)

    • Tony Williams Lifetime (organ trio + McLaughlin) early sophisticated fusion

    • George Benson Breezin’ (1976) 2 \text{M} copies – vocal crossover

Non-Miles Fusion & Crossover Highlights

  • Brecker Brothers (1975 debut): post-Trane sax + funk; Michael Brecker virtuosic patterns, later mainstream hero

  • Rock-side innovators borrowing jazz:- Chicago & Blood, Sweat & Tears horn-rock

    • Frank Zappa Hot Rats, Waka/Jawaka jazz-orchestral satire (“Jazz isn’t dead…it just smells funny”)

    • Steely Dan (Aja, Gaucho) studio jazz chords + pop hooks

Electronica & Hip-Hop Interfaces (1980s →)

  • Herbie Hancock “Rockit” (1983): Grand Mixer DXT scratching; turntable as instrument

  • Acid Jazz (late-1980s-90s London → global): DJs Gilles Peterson; Us3 “Cantaloop” samples \text{Herbie’s} “Cantaloupe Island” → Blue Note’s first 1 \text{M}-seller

  • Hip-hop/jazz collaborations: A Tribe Called Quest Low End Theory (1991); Guru’s Jazzmatazz series (1993-)

  • M-Base Collective (mid-1980s): Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen → complex grooves, polyrhythms

  • Jam-band aesthetic: Medeski Martin & Wood (formed 1991) gritty organ-trio funk / occasional electronics

Smooth Jazz: Commercial Apex & Controversy

  • Creed Taylor model (Verve/A&M/CTI 1960s-70s) – lush strings + pop covers; influence on Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard

  • 1970s radio-friendly stars: Chuck Mangione “Feels So Good,” Spyro Gyra Morning Dance, Grover Washington Jr., George Benson vocals

  • Term “smooth jazz” codified by WNUA Chicago research (mid-1980s)

  • Kenny G: Breathless (1992) 15 \text{M} sold; Guinness record 45′47″ note via circular breathing → lightning rod among jazz critics

  • “Jazz-less jazz festivals” & brand dilution (e.g., Sonoma Jazz 2009 no-jazz lineup)

Keith Jarrett and Classical Fusion

ECM & “Classical Fusion” (Acoustic, Lyrical, Global)

  • Manfred Eicher founds ECM 1969; pristine production, reverb sheen, spacious tempos; slogan: “the most beautiful sound next to silence”

  • Mixes jazz improv with:- European classical forms (Bach to Bartók to Pärt)

    • Non-Western folkidioms (Scandinavian, Brazilian, Indian, African)

    • Emphasis on acoustic timbres after noisy fusion peak

  • Key international signings: Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal (Norway); Tomasz Stańko (Poland); Egberto Gismonti, Naná Vasconcelos (Brazil); John Surman, Kenny Wheeler (UK/Canada); Eberhard Weber (Germany)

Keith Jarrett: Flagship ECM Artist

  • Early path: child prodigy TV at 5; own recital age 7; Blakey \rightarrow Charles Lloyd \rightarrow Miles (electric phase 1970)

  • Facing You (1971) – first ECM solo; orchestral two-hand approach

  • Solo Concerts Bremen/Lausanne (1973, 3 hrs), Köln Concert (1975) >1 \text{M} sold → template for New Age imitators

  • American Quartet (Haden, Motian, Redman) vs European Quartet (Garbarek, Danielsson, Christensen) – different textures

  • Sun Bear Concerts (1976) 10-LP box, 7 hrs live improv Japan

  • Spirits (1985): overdubmed exotic instruments; exploration beyond piano

  • Standards Trio (1983-present): Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette; definitive interpretations of Tin Pan Alley repertoire

  • Classical engagements: Bach WTC & Goldberg, Shostakovich 24 Preludes & Fugues, Lou Harrison; composition The Celestial Hawk (1980) for orchestra

  • Persona controversies: on-stage grunts, audience scolds, 2007 Umbria expletive tirade

Other Acoustic Fusion Exemplars

  • Oregon (formed 1970): Paul McCandless, Ralph Towner, Glen Moore, Collin Walcott → 60 instruments; world-chamber jazz

  • Gary Burton: four-mallet vibes, duet albums with Corea/Towner; early fusion (Duster 1967) → ECM chamber approach

  • Dave Holland: Circle quartet \rightarrow Emerald Tears solo bass; quintet Prime Directive (2000) – contrapuntal no-piano texture; flexible meters

  • Steve Kuhn, Eberhard Weber, Tomasz Stańko – lyrical European voices

Conceptual & Ethical Questions Raised by Fusion Movements

  • Can “pure” jazz exist once all traditions are fair game for fusion?

  • Who owns past recordings? (Laswell’s Panthalassa re-edits; hip-hop sampling legal debates)

  • Relationship between political radicalism & musical dissonance: is “noise” inherently revolutionary?

  • Commercialization vs. art: smooth-jazz market success but perceived dilution; “jazz” brand appropriation (cars, tech, festivals w/ no jazz)