Free Jazz
This American city, discussed by Coleman in 'Free Jazz and the “New Thing”: Aesthetics, Identity, and Texture, 1960–1966', was both a center/melting pot for avant-garde jazz and a symbol of Black cultural experimentation
What is New York City?
One unique characteristic/hallmark of drone music
What is/are...
continuous tones? (timelessness)
electronic or acoustic sources? (synthesizers etc)
minimalist nature?
a singular key/tonal center?
lack of rhythm?
texture?
experiencing a trance like state/meditative experience whilst listening?
Within the realm of music, this term refers to 'making something up on the spot.' That would be without a predetermined structure (Hint* huge topic/theme discussed in class)
What is improvisation?
Laurie Anderson invented a slew of new and personalized/reimagined iterations of this instrument
This instrument is Ingrid Laubrock’s main voice
What is a saxophone?
A two-word term that encapsulates the experimental jazz movement of the 1960s, known for diverging from traditional harmony and form.
What is free jazz?
Jannet Cardiff's Central Park audiowalk, titled 'Her Long Black Hair,' blends together spoken word with the sounds of this urban city to bring forth what she has to say artistically
What is New York City?
George E. Lewis’s essay, 'Improvised Music After 1950: Afrological and [______] Perspectives,' frames improvisation after 1950 through two cultural lenses: Afrological and this contrasting perspective
What is eurological?
This instrument didn't exist prior to Zeena Parkins inventing it
What is an electric harp?
Ingrid Laubrock’s work often cannot be categorized or placed in fixed genres. In this way, her music mirrors the pluralism and fusion style of this NYC downtown tradition in the music scene, a 'catergory' of music. (Hint* in title of our class on Albert)
What is experimental music?
These musicians are the heavily associated with the free jazz style of music
Who is Ornette Coleman?
Who is Cecil Taylor?
The year the sound installation 'Times Square' by Max Neuhaus was first installed
(hint* year Fleetwood Mac Rumours album came out)
What is 1977?
The antithesis of the 'uptown scene,' in which artists like Arthur Russel took part in this 'scene' that often encompassed improvisation
Who is the NYC downtown scene?
Musicians that lean into the experimental realm of music often prepare their instruments using objects like bolts, erasers, or clips, a practice famously used by this 20th-century American composer
Who is John Cage?
This imperative element of improvisation, detailed to be vital by our class guest Juan Pablo Carletti, as he depicted it's the key to creating harmonious imrovisational music with other musicians and what may be going awry if the music descends into a disordered mess, is also a prized aspect/key element of romantic relationships that can determine if they are healthy or not
What is communication?
A word that is also frequently used in textiles and design, is important to understanding how free jazz musicians layer sound without depending upon melody or harmony.
What is texture?
Jannet Cardiff's Central Park audiowalk, titled 'Her Long Black Hair,' hinges upon this sense that is typically overlooked in visual/physical art such as paintings. Throughout the audio walk she presents listeners with a mélange of the past and present that blend into and become her piece which is experienced via this sense
What is hearing?
While the Eurological avant-garde often looks to Cage, some Afrological improvisers may trace their lineage through this musician (saxophonist), uniquely known for cosmic philosophy
Who is Sun Ra?
Via this class we have come to be illuminated by the fact that there are many factors that encompass what we think of 'music,' and many elements that are imperative that construct this practice in our society. Utilizing breath, gesture, and movement, experimental musicians wrap this sack of bones and flesh we cannot live without to be an instrument of sorts and most deifinelty part of the music
What is a body?
Reimagining her instruments identity and with passion for creating new sounds, this guest speaker created her own instrument, the electric harp
Who is Zeena Parkins?
Kwami Coleman argues in his 'Free Jazz and the “New Thing”: Aesthetics, Identity, and Texture, 1960–1966', that the musical feature of texture used within the free jazz movement was not solely a stylistic touch, but a metaphor for this complex, often fragmented cultural experience in 1960s Black America
What is identity?
The 'Dream House' in Tribeca challenges the idea of of traditional music evolving and developing with time via their use to drone music, for this reason, it may be more akin to this visual art concept rather than songs played on Spotify
What is an art installation/sculpture?
John Zorn, known for his mastery of improvisation amongst an assortment of other things, uses improvisation in works like Cobra, not as total liberation for musicians, but instead as this kind of system, in which there are a set of agreed upon rules where the improvisers (players in this case) must adhere to and create/improvise based around them (these dynamic rules that is). The name for this system is...
What is ...
a game system?
structured improv?
rule based improv?
A type of instrument that doesn't exist until it's invented by a musician .. perhaps a microwave?? :D
What is...
a DIY instrument?
a household item reimagined?
Zeena Parkins often decorates the harp with objects like clips, bows, or electronics, doing so mirrors her with this 20th-century piano pioneer who did the same
Who is John Cage?