Free jazz

For the Ornette Coleman album see Free Jazz:

A Collective Improvisation.

Actuel.
Keith Johnson of AllMusic describes a Modern Creative genre, in which musicians may incorporate free
playing into structured modes -- or play just about
anything.[1] Johnson includes John Zorn, Henry Kaiser,
Eugene Chadbourne, Tim Berne, Bill Frisell, Steve Lacy,
Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and Ray Anderson in this
genre, which continues the tradition of the '50s to '60s
free-jazz mode.[1]

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was rst developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music of
free jazz composers varied widely, a common feature
was dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard
bop, and modal jazz that had developed in the 1940s
and 1950s. Free jazz musicians attempted to alter, extend, or break down jazz convention, often by discarding
xed chord changes or tempos. While usually considered
avant-garde, free jazz has also been described as an attempt to return jazz to its primitive, often religious, roots
and emphasis on collective improvisation.

1 Characteristics

As its name implies, free jazz cannot be dened more

than loosely, as many musicians draw on free jazz concepts and idioms, and it was never completely distinct
as a genre. Many free jazz musicians, notably Pharoah
Sanders and John Coltrane, used harsh overblowing or
other techniques to elicit unconventional sounds from
their instruments, or played unusual instruments. Free
jazz musicians created a progressive musical language
which drew on earlier styles of jazz such as Dixieland jazz
and African music. Typically this kind of music is played
by small groups of musicians. The music often swings but
without regular meter, and there are frequent accelerandi
and ritardandi.
Free jazz is strongly associated with the 1950s innovations of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor and the later
works of saxophonist John Coltrane. Other important
pioneers include Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Albert
Ayler, Archie Shepp, Joe Maneri and Sun Ra. Coleman
pioneered many techniques typical of free jazz, most notably his rejection of pre-written chord changes, believing instead that freely improvised melodic lines should
serve as the basis for harmonic progression in his compositions. Some of bassist Charles Mingus's work was
also important in establishing free jazz. Of particular
note are his early Atlantic albums, such as The Clown,
Tijuana Moods, and most notably Pithecanthropus Erectus, the title song of which contained one section that was
freely improvised in a style unrelated to the songs melody
or chordal structure. Although today free jazz is the
generally used term, many other terms were used to describe the loosely dened movement, including avantgarde, energy music and The New Thing. During
its early and mid-60s heyday, much free jazz was released
by established labels such as Prestige, Blue Note, and Impulse, as well as independents such as ESP Disk and BYG

Ornette Coleman

Dening the essence of free jazz is complicated; many

musicians draw on free jazz concepts and idioms, and
free jazz was never entirely distinct from other genres.
Many individual musicians reject eorts at classication,
regarding them as useless or unduly limiting. Free jazz
uses jazz idioms, and like jazz it places an aesthetic premium on expressing the voice or sound of the musician, as opposed to the classical tradition in which the
1

performer is seen more as expressing the thoughts of the

composer.

CHARACTERISTICS

the incorporation of instruments from a variety of

global cultures by many free jazz musicians from a
variety of global cultures. This includes Ed Blackwell's use of the West African talking drum, and
Leon Thomas's interpretation of pygmy yodeling.[3]
Typically this kind of music is played by small
groups of musicians, although some examples use
larger numbers. For example, John Coltranes 1965
album Ascension, uses eleven musicians.
Other forms of jazz use clear regular meters and
strongly pulsed rhythms, usually in 4/4 or (less often) 3/4. Free jazz normally retains a general pulsation and often swings but without regular meter, and we encounter frequent accelerando and
ritardando, giving an impression of the rhythm moving in waves.[4] Despite all of this, it is still very often
possible to tap ones foot to a free jazz performance;
meter is more freely variable but has not disappeared
entirely.

Pharoah Sanders

Previous jazz forms used harmonic structures (usually cycles of diatonic chords), and even when improvisation occurred it was founded on the notes in
the chords. Free jazz almost by denition is free
of such structures, but also by denition (it is, after
all, jazz as much as it is free) it retains much of
the language of earlier jazz playing. It is therefore
very common to hear diatonic, altered dominant and
blues phrases in this music.

Many free jazz musicians, notably Pharoah Sanders

and John Coltrane, use harsh overblowing or other
techniques to elicit unconventional sounds from
their instruments, played unusual instruments like
the shehnai, or used recording techniques like
Marzette Watts.

The practitioners of free jazz were serious about

pursuing this approach, and their music employed
concurrent developments in 20th Century art-music
theory and practice also used by John Cage, Musica
Elettronica Viva, and the Fluxus movement.[5]

creased fascination with earlier styles of jazz such

as Dixieland jazz with its collective improvisation,
as well as African music. This interest in older and
more culturally authentic forms of music resulted in

This breakdown of form and rhythmic structure has been

seen by some critics to coincide with jazz musicians exposure to and use of elements from non-Western music,
especially African, Arabic, and Indian. The atonality of

Finally, some forms use composed melodies as

the basis for group performance and improvisation.
Earlier jazz styles typically were built on a frameFree jazz practitioners sometimes use such matework of song forms (e.g.: the twelve-bar blues or the
rial, and sometimes do not. In some music which is
32-bar AABA popular song form) with a set framecalled free jazz (or avant-garde jazz) other compowork of chord changes. In free jazz, the dependence
sitional structures are employed, some of them very
on a xed and pre-established form is eliminated,
detailed and complex; recordings of Cliord Thornand the role of improvisation is correspondingly inton and Anthony Braxton furnish many examples.[6]
creased. As guitarist Marc Ribot has remarked,
free jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman and Albert
Ayler, although they were freeing up certain stric- Many critics, particularly at the musics inception, sustures of bebop, were in fact each developing new pected that the abandonment of familiar elements of
structures of composition.[2]
jazz pointed to a lack of technique on the part of the
Free jazz, especially during its inception, contains musicians. Today such views are more marginal, and the
and a body of accompatheme of both progressive musical language and music has built up a tradition
[7][8]
critical
writing.
It
remains
less commercially
nying
gathering inspiration from the past. The rejecpopular
than
most
other
forms
of
jazz.
tion of the bop aesthetic was combined with an in-

3
free jazz is often credited by historians and jazz performers to a return to non-tonal music of the nineteenth century, including eld hollers, street cries, and jubilees (part
of the return to the roots element of free jazz). This
suggests that perhaps the movement away from tonality
was not a conscious eort to devise a formal atonal system, but rather a reection of the concepts surrounding
free jazz. Eventually, jazz became totally free by removing all dependence on chord progressions and instead
using polytempic and polyrhythmic structures.[9]

The free jazz movement received its biggest impetus

when Coleman moved from the West Coast to New York
and was signed to Atlantic Records: albums such as The
Shape of Jazz to Come and Change of the Century marked
a radical step beyond his more conventional early work.
On these albums, Coleman strayed from the tonal basis that formed the lines of his earlier albums and began truly examining the possibilities of atonal improvisation. The most important recording to the free jazz
movement from Coleman during this era, however, came
with Free Jazz, recorded in A&R Studios in New York
in 1960. It marked an abrupt departure from the highly
structured compositions of his past. Recorded with a
double quartet separated into left and right channels, Free
2 History
Jazz brought a more aggressive, cacophonous texture to
Colemans work, and the records title would provide the
Many critics have drawn connections between the term name for the nascent free jazz movement.[14]
free jazz and the American social setting during the
late 1950s and 60s, especially the emerging social ten- In conjunction with Colemans innovations during the
sions of racial integration and the civil rights movement. early 1960s, contemporary pianist Cecil Taylor was also
Many argue those recent phenomena such as the land- exploring the possibilities of avant-garde free jazz. A
mark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, the classically trained pianist, Taylors main inuences inemergence of the "Freedom Riders" in 1961, the 1963 cluded Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver, who prove
[15]
Freedom Summer of activist-supported black voter reg- key Taylors later unconventional uses of the piano.
istration, and the free alternative black Freedom Schools Jazz Advance, his rst album released in 1956 under the
demonstrate the political implications of the word free Transition label, still showed ties to the more traditional
in context of free jazz. Thus many consider free jazz to be jazz music albeit with a greatly expanded harmonic vonot only a rejection of certain musical credos and ideas, cabulary. The harmonic freedom of these early releases,
but a musical reaction to the oppression and experience however, would lead to his transition into free jazz during the early 1960s. Key to this transformation was the
of black Americans.[10]
introduction of saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and drummer
While free jazz is widely considered to begin in the late Sunny Murray in 1962, who encouraged the use of more
1950s, there are compositions that precede this era that progressive musical language such as tone clusters and abhave notable connections to the free jazz aesthetic. Some stracted rhythmic gures.[16]
of the works of Lennie Tristano in the late 1940s, particularly "Intuition", Digression, and Descent into the Taylors landmark release in the formation of free jazz
of Unit Structures, reMaelstrom exhibit the use of techniques associated with in the 1960s came in the form
[17]
leased
via
Blue
Note
in
1966.
It
was on this recording
free jazz, such as atonal collective improvisation and lack
that
Taylor
truly
marked
his
transition
into free jazz, as
of discrete chord changes. Other notable examples protohis
compositions
now
were
almost
completely
composed
free jazz include City of Glass written in 1948 by Bob
without
notated
scores,
devoid
of
conventional
jazz meGraettinger for the Stan Kenton band and Jimmy Giufter
and
harmonic
progression.
This
new
direction
was
fre's 1953 Fugue. It can be argued, however, that these
especially
inuenced
by
drummer
Andrew
Cyrille,
who
works are more representative of third stream jazz with
outside the conits references to contemporary classical music techniques manages to provide rhythmic dynamism
[18]
[11]
ventions
of
bebop
and
swing.
During
this time pesuch as serialism.
riod, Taylor also began exploring some of the techniques
The true beginning of free jazz as it is understood today, of the classical avant-garde, especially evident in his use
however, came with the recordings of Ornette Coleman. of prepared pianos as was developed by composer John
Coleman pioneered many techniques typical of free jazz, Cage.[19]
most notably his rejection of pre-written chord changes,
believing instead that freely improvised melodic lines Along with Taylor and Coleman, Albert Ayler was one
should serve as the basis for harmonic progression in his of the essential composers and performers during the becompositions. His rst notable recordings for Contempo- ginning period of free jazz. He began his career as a berary included Tomorrow Is the Question! and Something bop tenor saxophonist in Scandinavia, and had already
Else in 1958, garnering Coleman national recognition.[12] begun pushing the boundaries of tonal jazz and blues
In terms of free jazz history, these albums revolutionized to their harmonic limits. He soon began collaborating
concepts of musical structure, as many of the composi- with notable free jazz musicians, including Cecil Taylor
tions on these two early albums do not follow typical 32- in 1962. He pushed the jazz idiom to its absolute limbar form and often employ abrupt changes in tempo and its, and many of his compositions bear little resemblance
to jazz of the past. Aylers musical language focused
mood.[13]

2 HISTORY

on the possibilities of microtonal improvisation and ex- well as collaborating with notable free jazz artists such as
tended saxophone technique, creating squawks and honks John Tchicai.[25][26]
with honks with his instrument to achieve multiphonic
eects. Yet amidst Aylers progressive techniques, he
shows an attachment for simple, rounded melodies reminiscent of folk music, which he explores via his more
avant-garde style.[20] One of the most key of Aylers free
jazz recordings is Spiritual Unity, including his often
recorded and most famous composition, Ghosts, in which
a simple spiritual-like melody is gradually shifted and distorted through Aylers unique improvisatory interpretation. Ultimately, Ayler serves as an important example
of many ways which free jazz could be interpreted, as
he often strays into more tonal areas and melodies while
exploring the timbral and textural possibilities within his
melodies. In this way, his free jazz is built upon both a
progressive attitude towards melody and timbre as well as
a desire to examine and recontextualize the music of the
past.[21]
The work of Coleman, Taylor and Ayler rmly established the legitimacy of the free jazz movement. While
much of the American audience was reticent to approach this new style of jazz, it was quickly embraced by
forward-thinking jazz artists, most notably John Coltrane.
Coltrane was a self-admitted admirer of Ornette Coleman and his innovative approach to improvisation and
harmony. In an 1963 interview with Jazz Magazine,
Coltrane said of Coleman:
Yeah, well, I feel indebted to him [Coleman], myself. Because actually, when he came
along, I was so far in this thing [the harmonic
structures"], I didn't know where I was going
to go next. And, I didn't know if I would have
thought about just abandoning the chord system or not. I probably wouldn't have thought
of that at all. And he came along doing it, and
I heard it, I said, Well, that - that must be the
answer.[22]
While Coltranes desire to explore the limits of solo improvisation and the possibilities of innovative form and
structure was evident in records like A Love Supreme,
his work owed more to the tradition of modal jazz and
post-bop. But with the recording of Ascension in 1965,
Coltrane demonstrated his appreciation for the new wave
of free jazz innovators.[23] Ascension saw Coltrane augmenting his classic quartet with six additional horn players, including notable free jazz artists Archie Shepp and
Pharoah Sanders.[24] Formally, the composition includes
free-form solo improvisation interspersed with sections
of collective improvisation reminiscent of Colemans
Free Jazz. The piece sees Coltrane exploring the timbral possibilities of his instrument, using over-blowing to
achieve multiphonic tones. Coltrane continued to explore
the avant-garde in his following compositions, including
such albums as Om, Kulu Se Mama, and Meditations, as

Sun Ra in 1992

Much of Sun Ra's music could be classied as free jazz,

especially his work from the 1960s, although Sun Ra said
repeatedly that his music was written and boasted that
what he wrote sounded more free than what the freedom
boys played.[27] Music by Sun Ra, especially The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra (1965), was, in fact, steeped in
what could be referred to as a new black mysticism.[9] But
Sun Ras penchant for nonconformity aside, he was along
with Coleman and Taylor an integral voice to the formation of new jazz styles during the 1960s. As evidenced by
his compositions on the 1956 record Sounds of Joy, Sun
Ras early work employed a typical bop style. But he soon
foreshadowed the free jazz movements with compositions like A Call for Demons o of the 1955-57 record
Angels and Demons at Play, which combines atonal improvisation with Latin-inspired mambo percussion. His
period of fully realized free jazz experimentation began
in 1965, with the release of The Heliocentric Worlds of
Sun Ra and The Magic City. These records placed a
musical emphasis on timbre and texture over meter and
harmony, employing a wide variety of electronic instruments and innovative percussion instruments, including
the electric celeste, Hammond B-3, bass marimba, harp,
and timpani. As result, Sun Ra proved to be one of the
rst free jazz artists to explore the possibilities of electronic instrumentation, as well as displaying an interest
in timbral possibilities through his use of progressive and
unconventional instrumentation in his compositions.[28]
Some of bassist Charles Mingus' work was also important
in establishing free jazz. Of particular note are his early
Atlantic albums, such as The Clown, Tijuana Moods, and
most notably Pithecanthropus Erectus, the title song of
which contained one section that was freely improvised
in a style unrelated to the songs melody or chordal structure. His contributions were primarily in his eorts to

5
explorations were parallel to Colemans in many respects
but Harriotts work was barely known outside England.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, players such as guitarist
Derek Bailey, saxophonists Peter Brtzmann and Evan
Parker and drummer John Stevens developed an idiom
that came to be called "free improvisation". It drew sustenance from free jazz while moving much further from
jazz tradition (often drawing equally on contemporary
composers such as Anton Webern and John Cage for inspiration). Also based in Europe, Steve Lacy worked
with free improvisation, but had greater connections to
the New York musical scene.
Free jazz also strove to incorporate the sounds and intents
of music from other cultures. Coltrane experimented
with the music of India, while Archie Shepp, Cliord
Thornton, and Pharoah Sanders were heavily inuenced
by musics of North and West Africa. During the 60s and
70s the musicians were heavily inuenced by the political ideas of Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, and
other black community leaders
Free jazz has primarily been an instrumental genre. However, Jeanne Lee was a notable free jazz vocalist; others such as Jayne Cortez, Sheila Jordan, Linda Sharrock,
and Patty Waters also made notable contributions to the
genre.
Charles Mingus in 1976

bring back the importance of collective improvisation in

a music scene that had become dominated by solo improvisation (as a result of the development of the big band).
His music did reect the ideas of freedom, but also looked
back, drawing upon bop and even swing styles.[9]
Since the mid-1950s, saxophonist Jackie McLean had
been exploring a concept he called The Big Room,
where the often strict rules of bebop could be loosened
or abandoned at will. Similarly, Cecil Taylor, the most
prominent free jazz pianist, began stretching the bop
boundaries as early as 1956.
The Jimmy Giure Trio (with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow) received little attention during their original incarnation from 1960 to 1962, but afterwards were regarded as
one of the most innovative free jazz ensembles.
Eric Dolphys work with Charles Mingus, John Coltrane,
and Chico Hamilton, along with his solo work, helped to
set the stage for free jazz in the music community.

Much of the multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxtons

music could be classied as free jazz. His Ghost Trance
Music, which introduces a steady pulse to his music, also
allows the simultaneous performance of any piece by the
performers. Braxton has recorded with many of the free
jazz musicians, including Ornette Coleman and European
free improvisers such as Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, and
the Globe Unity Orchestra.
The 1960s lay the foundation for free jazz, but by the
1970s, the setting for the jazz avant-garde was shifting.
There was a large migration of avant-garde and free jazz
musicians to New York City, seeking new venues and
audiences for their music. These new arrivals, including musicians such as Arthur Blythe, James Newton, and
Mark Dresser, marked the beginning of the Loft Era. As
the name may imply, musicians during this time would
often perform in private homes and other unconventional
spaces. During this time, the status of free jazz became
more complex, as many musicians sought to bring in various dierent genres into their works. Free jazz no longer
necessarily indicated the rejection of tonal melody, overarching harmonic structure, or metrical divide, as laid out
by Coleman, Coltrane, and Taylor. Instead, the free jazz
techniques and aesthetic developed in the 1960s became
just one of many inuences, including popular and world
music, in this new strain of loft jazz.[29]

In Chicago, many of the musicians in AACM and its ensemble the Art Ensemble of Chicago worked seriously in
the 'free jazz' forms, including Muhal Richard Abrams,
Malachi Favors, and Famoudou Don Moye
By the 1980s the downtown scene replaced the previous
In Europe, free jazz rst owered through the experi- decadess loft jazz scene as the center of activity for New
ments of expatriate Jamaican alto saxophonist Joe Har- York City avante gard and free jazz artists (especially as
riott. Beginning in the late 1950s, he worked on his own rents increased in what had been largely low rent or undistinctive concept of what he termed free form. These desirable neighborhoods), being associated with places

such as the Knitting Factory, which opened in 1987. A

younger generation of players including David S. Ware,
Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Joe Morris continued to play free jazz inspired by the ground-breaking
work of the 1960s New Thing. Like other styles of jazz,
free jazz also adopted elements of contemporary rock,
funk and pop music: Ornette Coleman was a leader in
this vein, embracing electric music with his 1970s band
Prime Time, and a number of other players including
James Blood Ulmer, Sonny Sharrock, and Ronald Shannon Jackson forged styles combining elements of free
jazz and fusion.

OTHER MEDIA

an answer to expression, that the player needs

boundaries, bases, from which to explore.[30]
Tanner, Gerow and Megill name Miles Davis, Cecil Taylor, John Klemmer, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Pharoah
Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Alice Coltrane, Wayne Shorter,
Anthony Braxton, Don Cherry, and Sun Ra as musicians
who have employed this approach.[30]

George Russell, hailed as the great pathbreaker for encouraging the use of modes by free jazz composers and
performers, was a faculty member at the New England
Conservatory. David Baker received two degrees from
and later taught at Indiana University in Bloomington, and
also performed actively.[9] In many cases, musicians with
these appointments were able to bring other artists onto
campus as instructors and performers; Thornton secured
positions at Wesleyan for Jimmy Garrison, Sam Rivers,
and Ed Blackwell, and brought Marion Brown to perform
and - eventually - to study.
Miles Davis

The 1981 documentary lm Imagine the Sound explores

free jazz through interviews with and performances by
Keith Johnson of AllMusic describes a Modern CreArchie Shepp, Paul Bley, Cecil Taylor and Bill Dixon.
ative genre, in which musicians may incorporate free
Many musicians are keeping the free jazz style alive in playing into structured modes -- or play just about
the present day. Two major scenes are based in New anything.[1] Johnson includes John Zorn, Henry Kaiser,
York and Chicago. In New York, players include Charles Eugene Chadbourne, Tim Berne, Bill Frisell, Steve Lacy,
Gayle, William Parker, Matana Roberts, Chad Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and Ray Anderson in this
John Zorn, Assif Tsahar, Tom Abbs, Kenny Werner, and genre, which continues the tradition of the '50s to '60s
Chris Speed. In Chicago, notable performers are Fred free-jazz mode.[1]
Anderson, Nicole Mitchell, Ernest Dawkins, Ken Vandermark, and Hamid Drake.

4 Other media
3

Legacy

Canadian artist Stan Douglas uses free jazz as a direct response to complex attitudes towards African-American
Writers Paul Tanner, Maurice Gerow, and David Megill music. Exhibited at documenta 9 in 1992, his video inhave suggested that
stallation Hors-champs (meaning o-screen) addresses
the political context of free jazz in the 1960s, as an extension of black consciousness[31] and is one of his few
the freer aspects of jazz, at least, have
works to directly address race.[32] Four American musireduced the freedom acquired in the sixties.
cians, George Lewis (trombone), Douglas Ewart (saxoMost successful recording artists today conphone), Kent Carter (bass) and Oliver Johnson (drums)
struct their works in this way: beginning with a
who lived in France during the free jazz period in the
strain with which listeners can relate, following
1960s, improvise Albert Ayler's 1965 composition Spirwith an entirely free portion, and then returnits Rejoice.[33]
ing to the recognizable strain. The pattern may
New York Eye and Ear Control is Canadian artist Michael
occur several times in a long selection, giving
Snow's 1964 lm with a soundtrack of group improvisalisteners pivotal points to cling to. At this time,
tions recorded by an augmented version of Albert Ayler's
listeners accept this they can recognize the
group and released as the album New York Eye and Ear
selection while also appreciating the freedom
Control.[34] Critics have compared the album with the key
of the player in other portions. Players, meanfree jazz recordings: Ornette Colemans Free Jazz: A Colwhile, are tending toward retaining a key cenlective Improvisation and John Coltranes Ascension. John
ter for the seemingly free parts. It is as if the
Litweiler regards it favourably in comparison because of
musician has learned that entire freedom is not

7
its free motion of tempo (often slow, usually fast); of ensemble density (players enter and depart at will); of linear
movement.[35] Ekkehard Jost places it in the same company and comments on extraordinarily intensive giveand-take by the musicians and a breadth of variation
and dierentiation on all musical levels.[36]

In the world

Outside of North America, free jazz scenes have become established in Europe and Japan. Alongside the
Dollar Brand
aforementioned Joe Harriott, saxophonists Peter Brtzmann, Evan Parker, trombonist Conny Bauer, guitarist
Derek Bailey, pianist Fred Van Hove, drummer Han Ben- 6 Notes
nink, saxophonist and bass clarinetist Willem Breuker,
and pianist Misha Mengelberg were among the most well- [1] Johnson, Keith. Modern Creative. AllMusic. Rovi Corknown early European free jazz performers. European
poration. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
free jazz can generally be seen as approaching free improvisation, with an ever more distant relationship to jazz [2] A Fireside Chat with Marc Ribot. All About Jazz. Accessed 2013-01-28.
tradition. Specically Brtzmann has had a signicant
impact on the free jazz players of the United States.
[3] Robinson, J. Bradford (2002). 978-1561592845, ed.
Free Jazz in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd ed.).
New York: Groves Dictionaries Inc. pp. 848849. ISBN
978-1561592845.
[4] Litweiler (1984) page 158
[5] The Cambridge Companion to Jazz (2002) ed. David
Horne and Mervyn Cooke, page 207
[6] Litweiler (1984), pages 276-7
[7] Jost, Ekkehard (1974). Studies in Jazz Research 4: Free
Jazz. Universal Edition.
Tomasz Stanko

[8] Litweiler, John (1984). The Freedom Principle: Jazz After

1958. Da Capo. ISBN 0-306-80377-1.

A relatively active free jazz scene behind the iron curtain [9] Southern, Eileen (1997). The Music of Black Americans:
produced musicians like Tomasz Stako, Zbigniew
A History, Third Edition. New York, New York: W.W.
Seifert, Vladimir Chekasin, Vyacheslav Ganelin
Norton & Company, Inc. pp. 494497. ISBN 0-393and Vladimir Tarasov. Japanese guitarist Masayuki
97141-4.
Takayanagi and saxophonist Kaoru Abe, among others,
took free jazz in another direction, approaching the [10] Gioia, Ted (2011). The History of Jazz. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. pp. 309310.
energy levels of noise. Some international jazz musicians
have come to North America and become immersed [11] Gioia (2011) pp. 310-311
in free jazz, most notably Ivo Perelman from Brazil
and Gato Barbieri of Argentina (this inuence is more [12] Anderson, Iain (2007). This is Our Music: Free Jazz, the
Sixties, and American Culture. Philadelphia: University of
evident in Barbieris early work).
Pennsylvania Press. p. 62.

South African artists, including early Dollar Brand, Zim

Ngqawana, Carlo Mombelli, Chris McGregor, Louis Moholo, and Dudu Pukwana experimented with a form
of free jazz (and often big-band free jazz) that fused
experimental improvisation with African rhythms and
melodies. American musicians like Don Cherry, John
Coltrane, Milford Graves, and Pharoah Sanders integrated elements of the music of Africa, India, and the
Middle East for a sort of World music-inuenced free
jazz.

[13] Shipton, Alyn (2001). A New History of Jazz. London:

Continuum. p. 780.
[14] Gioia, (2011), pp. 314-315
[15] Shipton, (2001), p. 792
[16] Allen, Jim. Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians. Taylor,
Cecil. Jazz.com.
[17] Allen, Cecil Taylor.

[18] Gioia, (2011), pp. 319-320.

[19] Shipton, (2001), p. 794.
[20] Shipton, (2001), pp. 795-796
[21] Kernfeld, Barry. Ayler, Albert. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 20 April
2014.
[22] Quersin, Benoit (1998). La Passe Dangereuse (1963)".
In Carl Woideck. The John Coltrane Companion: Five
Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books. p.
123. ISBN 978-0028647906.
[23] Anderson, (2007), p. 114.
[24] Gioia, (2011), p. 322
[25] Gioia, (2011), 322.
[26] Shipton, (2001), 797.
[27] Berendt, Joachim-Ernst; Huesmann, Gnther (2009). The
Jazz Book: From Ragtime to the 21st Century. Lawrence
Hill Books. p. 28.
[28] Kerneld, Barry. Sun Ra. Grove Music Online. Oxford
University Press. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
[29] DeVeaux, Scott (2009). Jazz. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company. pp. 431432. ISBN 978-0-393-97880-3.
[30] Tanner, Paul O. W.; Maurice Gerow; David W. Megill
(1988) [1964]. Free Form Avant Garde. Jazz (6th
ed.). Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown, College Division.
p. 129. ISBN 0-697-03663-4.
[31] Krajewsk, Stan Douglas, 15 September 2007 6 January 2008, Staatsgalerie & Wurttembergischer
[32] Milroy, These artists know how to rock, p. R7

EXTERNAL LINKS

Jost, Ekkehard (1974). Free Jazz. Studies in Jazz

Research 4. Graz: Universal Edition. ISBN 3-70240013-3.
Litweiler, John (1984). The Freedom Principle: Jazz
After 1958. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306-80377-1.
Rivelli, Pauline, and Robert Levin (eds.) (1979).
Giants of Black Music. New York: Da Capo Press.
Articles from Jazz & Pop Magazine. Reprint of the
1970 edition, New York: World Publishing Co.
Shipton, Alyn (2001). A New History of Jazz.
London: Continuum. pp. 773802. ISBN 9780826429728.
Sinclair, John, and Robert Levin (1971). Music &
Politics. New York: World Publishing Co.
Sklower, Jedediah (2006). Free Jazz, la catastrophe
fconde. Une histoire du monde clat du jazz en
France (1960-1982). Collection logiques sociales.
Paris: Harmattan. ISBN 2-296-01440-2.
Such, David Glen (1993). Avant-Garde Jazz Musicians: Performing Out There. Iowa City: University Of Iowa Press. ISBN 0-87745-432-9 (cloth)
ISBN 0-87745-435-3 (pbk.).
Szwed, John F. (2000). Jazz 101: A Complete Guide
to Learning and Loving Jazz. New York: Hyperion.
ISBN 0-7868-8496-7.
Woideck, Carl, ed. (1998). The John Coltrane Companion: Five Decades of Commentary. New York:
Schirmer Books. ISBN 978-0028647906.

[33] Gale, Stan Douglas: Evening and others, p. 363

[34] Review by Scott Yanow, Allmusic.

8 External links

[35] Litweiler, John (1984). The Freedom Principle: Jazz After

1958. Da Capo.

Where Did Our Revolution Go? Free Jazz Turns

Fifty by Ted Gioia, (Jazz.com).

[36] Jost, Ekkehard (1975). Free Jazz (Studies in Jazz Research

4). Universal Edition.

The Real Godfathers of Punk by Billy Bob Hargus

(July 1996).

References
Anderson, Iain (2007). This Is Our Music: Free
Jazz, the Sixties, ad American Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812220032.
Gioia, Ted (2011). The History of Jazz. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. pp. 309325. ISBN 9780195399707.
DeVeaux, Scott and Gary Giddins. (2009) Jazz.
New York: W. W. Norton and Company. ISBN
978-0393068610

Free Jazz: The Jazz Revolution of the '60s by Robert

Levin (June 2006).
A new approach to Jazz

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