The ABCs of Jazz Education: Rethinking Jazz Pedagogy

Abstract

This essay explores future directions in jazz pedagogy research. It examines the social and community aspects that fostered the work of Jamey Aebersold, David Baker, and Jerry Coker (the ABCs) in the 1960s and their impact on the international growth of jazz as an academic field. The essay also discusses critical voices and responses from leaders in the field. It suggests a new narrative of jazz education that views history as an organic composite of social, cultural, and economic trends, rather than a linear progression of singular events and personas.

Introduction

In early jazz history, learning occurred aurally through listening, transcribing, and jam sessions. Murphy (1994) notes that initial efforts to codify instruction began in the 1930s, citing Norbert Bleihoof’s Modern Arranging and Orchestration (1935), Lee Bowden’s training program for Afro-American Service Musicians (1942–45), and how-to columns in Down Beat Magazine. Formal academic study of jazz and improvisation is often associated with the ABCs of jazz—Jamey Aebersold, David Baker, and Jerry Coker—starting in 1969 with Baker’s Jazz Improvisation: a Comprehensive Method for all Players, Aebersold’s play-along recordings, and further teaching materials. This led to exponential growth in university programs, with 224 US programs and 31 international schools offering degrees in Jazz Studies in 2018 (Student Music Guide 2018). Ken Prouty (2005) refers to the 1960s and 70s expansion as the ›wholesale growth‹ of jazz education.

Critical voices question the effectiveness of academic study and its impact on the art form. Curricular concepts vary, with some programs distancing themselves from the chord-scale approach developed by the ABCs. This essay aims to develop future directions in jazz pedagogy research by examining the social aspects surrounding the ABCs' work in the 1960s, their impact on international growth, and critical voices in the field.

The Roots of Codified Jazz Education – the Indiana Legacy

Critics have questioned the need for teaching jazz, suggesting that great jazz artists possess natural expression, channeling music from a universal source. Canonical education is seen as interfering with this connection. Examples include Keith Jarrett’s free improvisations and Sonny Rollins's search for pure inspiration. This model traces back to early jazz, where knowledge was transmitted aurally and through mentorship. Young musicians developed skills in competitive jam sessions. By the early 1920s, non-credit ensembles on college campuses began learning jazz. Ensembles like the »Bama State Collegians« and »Fess« Whatley's group were active into the 1940s. Increased interest and the GI Bill (1944) led to jazz studies becoming a popular academic feature.

Recordings became a major catalyst, with early recordings originating at Richmond, Indiana’s Gennett Studios. Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, and Hoagy Carmichael recorded there. The growing popularity of radio and playback devices allowed musicians access to repertoire and improvisations. Simultaneously, the jazz language was formalized in method books and magazine columns, such as Norbert Bleihoof’s Modern Arranging and Orchestration (1935) and the teachings of Joseph Schillinger (Murphy 1994). The Great Lakes Naval Base Program (1942-45) is cited as the birthplace of modern jazz pedagogy, training over 5,000 Afro-American service musicians.

Indiana played a pivotal role in early jazz education. Indiana Avenue was a major touring destination with over 40 clubs. Master teachers at Crispus Attucks High School, a supportive community, and performance opportunities fostered talent. Gunther Schuller, impressed by Indianapolis talent, wrote »Indiana Renaissance« (Schuller 1959) and facilitated scholarships for David Baker and others to the Lenox School of Jazz summer workshop.

Summer jazz workshops were modeled at the Lenox School of Jazz and the Stan Kenton Stage Band workshops at Indiana University starting in 1957. Marshall Stearns' lecture series brought together leading jazz musicians. A select group of students participated in classes in composition, history, small-ensemble playing, and private lessons at the Music Inn in Lennox, Massachusetts. David Baker and his combo attended on Schuller's recommendation. George Russell published Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization (Russell 2001), formulating the theoretical principles of jazz. Baker was intrigued by matching scales with harmonies and joined Russell’s touring and recording unit. Baker stated that Russell's book marked a turning point in his musical life. He tried to put it into his own book, Practical Applications of the Lydian Concept, which remained unpublished (DeMichael 1964).

Baker initiated and led the jazz studies program at Indiana University for 50 years and authored many jazz pedagogy materials. Jamey Aebersold, a music education student, benefited from Baker’s codification. Aebersold grasped intellectually what he had been hearing and searching for. Aebersold's first lesson with Baker was a turning point:

He was on the piano and he asked me what to play. I’m pretty sure it was »I’ll Remember April«. We played the whole tune and then he stops and I improvise. I don’t know if he let me play or he stopped me but he pointed out that the second scale was G dorian minor. And I can remember I was thinking – I didn’t know anything about dorian but I remember thinking standing there in his living room up there on Burdsal Parkway »I thought this was going to be fun«. So then he played the scale and I played the scale. As soon as I played the scale I could tell that one note difference between pure minor and dorian minor. It was just perfect. And then my next thought was, »Why hadn’t someone told me this before now?« ‘cause that’s what they were playing on the records. I could tell that sound. And that was the beginning, and we kind of just went on from there. And he’d give me assignments and stuff. And I can remember the day also – I don’t know if I was married or if I was dating my wife – but I can remember driving back to Bloomington and telling her »When I get back, I’ll go over to the music building and I’m going to take »Stella by Starlight« and I’m going to learn every scale and every arpeggio because I’m tired of playing through that tune and being lost here and being lost there and not knowing the scale that goes over that G7#9, you know, whatever«. I said, »I’m going to start doing this.« (Interview with Jamey Aebersold, August 2009)

Aebersold subsequently produced the tools that became the standard for studying jazz, based on chord/scale relationships codified during the Bebop era and refined in Baker’s teaching:

I found that the basis for jazz is scales and chords. Those two elements are the foundation to music and to the music we sing in our mind. We add articulation, rhythms, dynamics, phrasing and more but it becomes individualized as we express ourselves musically. My play-along books and CDs offer the opportunity to practice the fundamentals and to learn to improvise at home with a professional rhythm section. They greatly help hone one’s skills, which in turn allow musicians to quickly tap their source of inspiration and feel good making their own music.

I published my first jazz play-a-long in 1967 and the [accompanying] booklet included concert [key] chords for each track. Subsequent printings added transposed chord symbols [for Bb and Eb instruments] and, eventually, I added the needed transposed scales and chords for each track. This was part of the evolution of jazz education – coupling the eye with the ear. Some felt this wasn’t the way to do it. They felt I was giving the student too much and was too eye-oriented instead of letting the student use their ear. I think I got tired of hearing so many poor solos where the students were searching with their ear to find right notes and phrases. By my giving them the needed scales, they could see the sound that was being played in the rhythm section on the CD or in their combo. Using eyes and ears proved to be a big steppingstone for jazz education. I also began printing out pages and pages of basic information and giving it to the students at the camps. This eventually ended up being my red Jazz Handbook, which is used all over the world. (J.B. Dyas interview with Jamey Aebersold, July 2018)

The Jamey Aebersold Summer Workshops, taught yearly at the University of Louisville since 1972, became the model for similar workshops globally. David Baker and Jerry Coker were on the faculty until 2012. The workshops were also held in Canada, Scotland, England, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, and Australia. Their close relationship and physical proximity facilitated the exchange of ideas and testing of concepts, resulting in a library of jazz education materials.

International Growth of Jazz in Academia and Criticism

Parallel to Indiana University, the University of the Arts in Graz, Austria, initiated a jazz studies program by 1965. Bernhard Sekles launched the first curricular jazz program in 1933 at the University of Frankfurt, Germany, but the Nazis stopped it. It restarted in 1976 by Albert Mangelsdorff. Michael Kahr (2017) reports that Dieter Glawischnig at the Jazzinstitut Graz studied US jazz programs in 1969 and 1970, including David Baker’s work at Indiana University. He implemented a similar curriculum model focusing on jazz theory, arranging, composing, improvisation, ear training, and ensemble playing. Lynn Baker (2018) confirmed a similar combination of classes in Southern European jazz programs. Harald Neuwirth expanded the Graz curriculum into a two-part system, with initial classical techniques. Jerry Coker's Improvising Jazz (1964) guided his teaching. This ›two-pillar‹ model was widely adopted in European jazz programs in the 1980s.

Both programs still feature instrumental technique, ensembles, theory and ear training, history, arranging, and composition. A dedicated jazz research center focuses on jazz history and analysis. The increasing number of jazz studies programs produces highly skilled musicians. However, Stuart Nicholson (2005) notes that the business of jazz education has flourished more than the business of jazz. American colleges profit from tuition, while European programs require minimal fees due to government support. The increasing number of musicians leads many to rely on teaching positions, perpetuating the problem. Tony Whyton (2006) identifies five areas of criticism:

  1. The jazz institution is divorced from both »art« and »reality«: Classroom confinement may disconnect the music from its social expression.

  2. Anti-academic approaches to jazz: The jazz musician is portrayed as instinctive, contrasting with intellectualism in academia. Whyton (2006) cites Sonny Rollins’ dismissal of Gunther Schuller’s analysis of »Blue Seven«.

  3. Celebrating the values of the pre-institutional world: Critiques idealize the pureness of expression in opposition to academic training.

  4. Pedagogy stifles individualism and creativity: Standards diminish opportunities for individual exploration.

  5. The jazz canon as a neutralizing force: Teaching chronological history simplifies academic integration but diminishes the art form’s power.

The following discussion addresses these points, drawing from interviews with the ABCs of jazz education.

Discussion

One fundamental element of jazz is improvisation, creation in the moment (Gridley/Maxham/Hoff 1989). This process is ideally shared with an audience. Institutional pressures in a classroom setting can impede this. However, the ideology of the autonomous artist is romanticized, and reality is a compromise. This section offers perspectives from interviews with the ABCs.

1. The jazz institution is divorced from »art« and »reality«

Educators at leading jazz programs in the late 1960s were master musicians, including David Baker, Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean, Nathan Davis, and Billy Taylor. Nathan Davis, recommended by David Baker, started the jazz studies program at the University of Pittsburgh, bringing their perspectives from the field to the classroom. They drew on their peers' expertise and enabled connections for future employment. Nathan Davis confirms the value of master teachers who excelled as performers and could formulate the essence of jazz (Herzig 2011). Prouty (2012) adds that their entry led to jazz's acceptance of academia. A growing trend is the entry of jazz students into academia as teaching assistants, transitioning into faculty positions. Most faculty positions require a terminal degree, increasing costs and time commitment. Minority groups and women lack resources for this, and the dwindling number of original master teachers leads to a lack of diversity in full-time jazz faculties and decreasing activity as touring performers.

2. Anti-academic approaches to jazz

Resistance to including jazz in academia came from inside and outside the academy. Jamey Aebersold remembers skepticism from peers:

I didn’t ask a lot of people who really played well at IU any questions, because I knew that they would not give me answers or they would brush me off or fluff me off. Or, say something like, »Well, if you can’t hear, you don’t need to get it«. I knew that’s what was going to be the answer. (Interview with Jamey Aebersold, 2009)

Nathan Davis confirms the skepticism of his peers when he left Paris. He recalls: »The promise I had made to Kenny Clarke was ›to tell the truth‹« (Herzig 2011). Ed Sarath’s approach to teaching musicianship, rooted in genre-crossing improvisation and spirituality (Sarath 2013), is one example of a different pedagogy. Jazz pianist Vijay Iver’s leadership at Harvard University, where he founded a Doctoral program in Cross-Disciplinary Music Studies in 2014, is another.

3. Celebrating the values of the pre-academic world

Initially, jazz musicians learned aurally, copying mentors and participating in jam sessions. The immediacy of aural learning is often romanticized. Gioia (1989) explains the roots of such romanticism but also its danger:

Certainly the question must be raised as to whether the Primitivist myth has served jazz well. Perhaps at some earlier stage in the music’s development, it played an important part in romanticizing and popularizing an art form that was hindered more by neglect than by critical excesses. But today, such a mythology of jazz has long outlived its questionable usefulness. Now, uncritically assumed in so much thinking and writing of jazz, it threatens to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating a music which fits its unrelenting stereotype of an intellectually void and unreflecting art form.

Pat Harbison suggests that the myth is dangerous to the survival of the art form:

»An oral tradition only needs to have one lost generation and it’s gone.«

Furthermore, many early musicians were well-educated and musically literate. W.C. Handy was a seasoned arranger, Lil Hardin Armstrong was classically trained, and Jelly Roll Morton notated his compositions. The current jazz history canon marginalizes some of these early figures. Prouty (2005) calls for a balance between »the street and the school.«

4. Pedagogy stifles individualism and creativity

David Baker opposed this criticism:

So it seems to me that the keeper of the flame now is academia just like for a composer. Do you know any composer who is making a full-time living and is not associated with a college or some kind of university situation? (cit. in Herzig 1998)

He pointed out that the economic stability of academia benefits students who can experiment with their music. The core issue is the teacher-student relationship, which alters the democratic system of a jazz combo.

5. The jazz canon as a neutralizing force

Scott DeVeaux (1991) advocates that jazz needs to be understood in an organic relationship. Jazz history is taught chronologically, separated from the social and commercial environment. Nicholson (2014) confirms the crucial role of national, cultural, social, and local identity. DeVeaux (1991) advocates for a historical and pedagogical canon that integrates social, cultural, geographic, and economic aspects. Examples include teaching jazz history backwards. Such integration builds on the mission of the Tanglewood Declaration (1967), requesting the inclusion of all musical genres and traditions in music education.

Rethinking Jazz Pedagogy

On May 18, 2010, 1,200 jazz professionals gathered at the University of Missouri for the first annual conference of the Jazz Education Network. David Baker provided the following action items:

  1. Encourage students to get an all-around musical education and be prepared to work in various environments.

  2. Promote awareness of how jazz has altered the musical and cultural environment.

  3. Promote jazz as a means of breaking down barriers.

  4. Widen the scope of the musical environment to include all areas of jazz.

  5. Elevate the standard and quality of teaching by encouraging all teachers to perform.

  6. Avoid the treadmill of students becoming teachers without experiential opportunities.

  7. Get away from the notion that there is only one way to teach.

  8. View the music as a shifting, living organism.

  9. Be aware of the ever-changing landscape and tailor information.

  10. Give more attention to the business side of jazz.

Overall, analyzing jazz pedagogy beyond chronological successions provides new perspectives. Alternative perspectives can be found by studying the link of master teachers, entrepreneurs, evolving technologies, the cultural aspect, and the economic conditions that shape the relationship between academia and the professional world. Future research opportunities include:

  • Master teachers and the relationship of street and classroom.

  • Entrepreneurs such as Jamey Aebersold.

  • The role of communities like Indiana Avenue.

  • The influence of changes in society and policy.

  • Cultural Trends.

  • Economic trends.

  • New technological tools.

A comprehensive look at jazz history and pedagogy will help shape curricula, adapted to the needs of programs and communities, and provide students with the tools to succeed in a new economy. This reimagining will inspire not only a deeper understanding of jazz as an art form but also the essential skills needed for adaptability and creativity in a rapidly evolving cultural landscape.