Improvising Complexity: The Philosophy of Jazz

Improvising Complexity The Philosophy of Jazz

The Nature of Improvisationin Jazz Music

Charnett Moffett

The Art of Improvisation track 11 disc 11

23057143

eng - Amazoncom Song ID 211216062

I The Nature amp Methods of ImprovisationII The Etymology of ldquoImprovisationrdquoIII Improvisation versus CompositionIIIa Is All Music Making ImprovisationalIIIb Differences Between Improvisation amp CompositionIIIc Do Aesthetic Evaluation Standards Differ for Improvisation and Composition

Outline of ldquoThe Nature of Improvisation in Jazz Musicrdquo

IV The Myths of Improvisation IVa The Myths of Improvisation IVb Refutation of the MythsV Is Improvisation Essential to JazzVI The Possibility of Mistakes in Improvisations VIa Mistakes are Impossible in a Jazz Improvisation VIb Etymology of the word ldquomistakerdquo VIc The Definition of Mistake VId Mistakes Are Possible in a Jazz Improvisation

VII Factors in Good Jazz ImprovisationsVIIa Positive Evaluations of Good ImprovisationsVIIb Best Practices for Improvising the Flow State

You have been listening to bassist Charnett Moffittrsquos ldquoThe Art of Improvisationrdquo

I The Nature and Methods of Improvisation Jazz improvisation typically is the process of

spontaneously creating fresh melodies over the continuously repeating cycle of chord changes in a song

An effective and standard improvisation typically bases itself off of the established musical systems of a pre-composed tune but introduces new elements thereby producing thematically appropriate musical variety

IA The Definition of Improvisation

I The Nature and Methods of Improvisation

While often related to the melody improvisations can also deviate from it and musicians may improvise on modes chord or rhythm changes or may even play totally freely

King Palmer in his book The Piano (London NTC Publishing Group 1975) defines improvisation ldquoas music which is created as it is performed without previous preparation or detailed notationrdquo (p 109)

One must be careful here not to place too much weight upon the notion of ldquowithout previous preparationrdquo An improvising jazz musician has obviously done a lot of studying and practicing of playing music and this certainly can count as preparations for improvising

Hence what Palmer means is that the improvised solo has been produced spontaneously but it need not have been produced without any preparation concerning the performance of the solo at all

The dictionary gives as a synonym for ldquospontaneousrdquo that of ldquounpremeditatedrdquo To produce music spontaneously means not to repeat precisely during onersquos improvised solo a previously decided section of music The decisions as to what to play must be made concurrently to the playing for it to count as a legitimate improvisation

Playing spontaneously does not require that what one plays has never been played by the performer before or that it has not been practiced

All that is required for the improvisation to count as legitimate is that the decisions as to what to play now are made and committed to at the moment of the musical performance and have not been previously decided upon

Mark C Gridley (and his co-authors Robert Maxham and Robert Hoff) agree with the assessment that improvisers are permitted to repeat previously used patterns during an improvisation because ldquoit would be unfair to expect that jazz musicians create not only fresh ldquoparagraphsrdquo and ldquosentencesrdquo but even the ldquophrasesrdquo and ldquowordsrdquo they userdquo They conclude that ldquothe frequent recurrence of standard patterns should not by itself DISQUALIFY a passage as [an] improvisationrdquo and ldquoan improvisation CAN be constructed from pre-existing elements only IF these elements are REORGANIZED and they are reorganized at the very moment they are performedrdquo (ldquoThree Approaches to Defining Jazzrdquo Oxford University Press 1989)

I The Nature and Methods of Improvisation Paul F Berliner notes that not only are improvisers

permitted to repeat previously used musical elements but that they are expected to use them

ldquoThere is no objection to musicians borrowing discrete patterns or phrase fragments from other improvisers however indeed it is expected Many students begin acquiring an expansive collection of improvisational building blocks by extracting those shapes they perceive as discrete components from the larger solos they have already mastered and practicing them as independent figures They acquire others selectively by studying numerous performances of their idols For some musicians this is the entire focus of their early learning programsrdquo (Thinking in Jazz Chicago University of Chicago Press 1994 p 101)

A melodic improvisation can be produced by using alternate notes and new syncopations (different emphases on the off beat) from the original melody so a new melody gets created

A harmonic improvisation works by substituting a new melody over the established chord changes and alternate tonal centers

Changing aspects of the original arrangement of a tune through embellishments of the original melody or through introducing and then developing a new theme produces a motivic improvisation as Sonny Rollins the saxophone player often performs

IB Three methods of jazz improvisation are melodic harmonic and motivic

I The Nature amp Methods of Improvisation Melodic Marc Sabatella in his A Jazz Improvisation Primer stresses

the importance during melodic improvisations and musical development of maintaining a sense of continuity of the musical lines used during the improvisation

The contour or shape of the solo often will be modeled on that of a story

The structure of a story can start simply (introduction) then ldquobuild through a series of smaller peaks to a climaxrdquo and often finishes with a coda which is an independent passage at the end of a composition used to provide a satisfactory close

The coda can serve as an extension andor a re-elaboration of preceding themes or motifs heard during the main melody

I The Nature amp Methods of Improvisation Common Forms

bull There are two common forms found in much jazz music the blues form and the AABA song form

bull The blues form typically has twelve bars of music based on three four bar phrases In its original form the second phrase repeats the first phrase while the third phrases supplies an answer or response to the first two It is AAB in form

bull Because of the simplicity of the basic blues form it is rarely strictly followed in modern jazz playing

bull The basic blues form uses only three chords The I chord the IV chord and the V chord

bull Simple blues consisted of three vocal phrases (AAB) and eight musical measures (each four pulses or beats long) Musical measures varied between eight twelve and sixteen but twelve measures became the standard

bull A standardized blues form consists of twelve measures with the harmonic progression of I I I I7 IV IV I I V7 V7 I I Each roman numeral indicates a chord built on a specific tone in the scale to be played for one measure

bull One characteristic found in the blues are blue tonalities notes not found on any one key of the piano To produce a blue tonality on a piano requires hitting two notes simultaneously For example E-flat (black key to the left of E) and E-natural or B-flat and B-natural

bull Marc Sabatella provides a general description with specific examples relating to the playing of an F-blues in A Jazz Improvisation Primer

II Etymology of ldquoimprovisationrdquo

bull The etymology of the word ldquoimprovisationrdquo is revealing as to the nature and purpose of a jazz improvisationbull The word ldquoimprovisationrdquo is

compounded of two Latin roots ldquoinrdquo meaning ldquonotrdquo and ldquoprovisusrdquo meaning ldquoforeseenrdquo so an improvisation is something that is unforeseen

II Etymology of ldquoimprovisationrdquobull The word ldquoimprovisationrdquo also relates to cognates

in both French (ldquoimproviserrdquo meaning ldquocompose or say extemporaneouslyrdquo from 1786) and from Italian (ldquoimprovvisarerdquo meaning ldquounpreparedrdquo)

bull The Latin word ldquoprovisusrdquo besides meaning ldquoforeseenrdquo can also mean ldquoprovidedrdquo so an improvisation is something that is not provided beforehand

bull This reading is consistent with the contemporary meaning of a jazz improvisation being a spontaneous (not previously thought out) musical composition

bull If a musical passage has been previously prepared then it is not truly an improvisation By its very nature a jazz improvisation is a spontaneous creative act of music making

bull These points help to answer and address the question of whether all music making is improvisational This claim has been made by Bruce Ellis Benson in his book The Improvisation of Musical Dialogue A Phenomenology of Music (Cambridge University Press 2003)

IIIa Is All Music Making Improvisational III Improvisation versus Composition

o In his book Benson challenges the binary schema of ldquocomposingrdquo versus ldquoperformingrdquo music and argues that ldquothis distinction does not describe very well what musicians actually dordquo (p 4)

o Benson requires that ldquoall music making is fundamentally improvisationalrdquo (his italics) This thesis is partially correct but more wrong than right

While it is true that no musical score CAN precisely dictate in every possible respect what a performer of that music must do to produce the music from that score it does not follow that all music making is improvisational in the sense used by jazz musicians

IIIa Is All Music Making Improvisational

In his article ldquoOn Musical Improvisation Philip Alperson explains that ldquojazz musicians use the term lsquoimprovisationrsquo to refer specifically to the improvised choruses rather than to the whole musical work from first note(s) to lastrdquo contrary to Bensonrsquos view that all music is improvised rdquo (in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism Vol 43 No 1 Autumn 1984 fn 28 p 29)

What Benson seems not fully to appreciate is the need to make a distinction between an interpretation of a pre-composed score that contains improvisational aspects such as how much vibrato to use when playing a note versus the spontaneous composing of new music not previously composed an improvisation

Many musical performers are incapable of improvising in the jazz sense as has been frequently discovered amongst classical musicians

A classical musicianrsquos skill sets do not normally include improvisational skills since they are not expected to be able to make spontaneous compositions

The classical musician must be technically proficient at satisfactorily reproducing a musical composition to the conductorrsquos liking If anything a conductor would disallow any classical musician from improvising since then he or she would not be playing the music as intended by the composer

Steve Lacy points out one of the flaws in equating composition with improvisation when he remarks

ldquoIn fifteen seconds the difference between composition and improvisation is that in composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in fifteen seconds while in improvisation you have fifteen secondsrdquo

A non-improvised composition can be created piecemeal over extended periods of time revised with parts rejected and never performed This is impossible for an impromptu jazz improvisation because unlike compositions they cannot be altered after their initial establishment Editing is impossiblemdashan improvised musical phrase cannot be altered deleted or taken back It is what it is and eternally remains as such

Even this last point is not entirely true An improvising musician who notices a mistake or a flaw while performing can use various techniques to either cover the flaw or mistake or make it seem like it is not one

For example when Charlie ldquoBirdrdquo Parker and Miles Davis were having a discussion as to whether one can play ANY note during an improvisation Miles claimed that one could not play a D sharp if one was playing a blues Later during a solo by Lester Young that Parker and Davis were observing Young played this inappropriate note After Bird suggested to Miles that Milesrsquos position had been refuted because Young had played the impossible note Miles replied that he still had had to bend or smear it to remain in the context of a blues performance

Another time when saxophonist David Sanford said to Miles that he was embarrassed by what he perceived as a gaffe during one of his own improvisations and wished that he had played something differently Miles somewhat surprisingly responded with the advice that ldquoYou should have played it twicerdquo

Presumably this advice suggests that what one considers a flaw may not be perceived as a ldquomistakerdquo if one repeats an inadvertent passage a second time thereby making it look like it was done intentionally the first time as well

In these ways it is paradoxically even possible to approximate editing oneself during a spontaneous improvisational musical performance

Distinctive Features of Compositions and Composers1 A composition can be developed over extended

periods of time and at different times2 A composition can have parts changed or even

deleted3 A composition can be edited prior to performance4 The intentions of the composer are typically not

identical to those of a performer A composer may write a piece of music with the intention that it never be performed A composer need not concern himself or herself with whether an audience approves or disapproves or has any reaction whatsoever to a composition

IIIb Differences Between Improvisation and Composition

Distinctive Features of Compositions and Composers5 A composer can write music as an exercise or for

purely theoretical reasons A possible example would be Ravelrsquos ldquoBolerordquo if it were not intended to be performed

6 A composer by definition is someone who ldquowrites and arranges musicrdquo A composer need not in any sense be a performer of music Hence compositions are musical products that do not require any actual sound production to exist

Distinctive Features of Improvisations and ImprovisersVirtually nothing that has been said of compositions and composers is true for improvisations and improvisers1 An improvisation is typically performed for the listening

enjoyment of an audience and not for any theoretical reasons rather for practical reasons

2 An improviser by definition is someone who ldquoproduces and makes music through sound productionrdquo A composition is inert an improvisation is active and dynamic

3 An improviser must be a performer of music and hence requires the existence of actual sound events to exist during the performance

Distinctive Features of Improvisations and Improvisers4 Improvisations can only exist in real time and must

be developed during a musical performance5 At no time after the sound production event has

occurred can any change or deletion or editing take place relative to the production of this part of the musical event

6 An improviserrsquos intentions will usually include an interest in producing a quality musical experience that can be enjoyed by a listening audience This of course will often also be a composerrsquos intention as well although as pointed out it need not be

Distinctive Features of Improvisations and Improvisers7 No currently improvising musician could

reasonably have the intention that the performance not occur

8 Even more telling perhaps is the differences in risk taking between a composer and an improviser Because a composer can take his or her time and consider many possibilities for the production of a successful musical work a composer has a relatively lesser risk in the production of a musical score than an improviser

Distinctive Features of Improvisations and Improvisers9 Composers can test out sound combinations and

reject or incorporate a myriad number of possible musical events during the production of the composition

10 An improviser must necessarily take enormous risks with a much greater chance of musical failure precisely because of the spontaneity involved during improvisations Snap judgments are required One cannot consider fifty different possibilities and then choose the best one

Distinctive Features of Improvisations and Improvisers11 Improvisers cannot test out different

combinations and then reject them while actually performing at the moment Anything played has not been lsquorejectedrsquo and cannot be rejected because it already exists in the musical performance

12 It is true that an improviser can make choices that have been previously tested out in a past improvisation or prior performance

Distinctive Features of Improvisations amp Improvisers13 These distinctive differences between

improvisations and compositions entail a difference in aesthetic judgments regarding the evaluation of these two musical components

14 Because of the increased difficulty of needing to spontaneously compose during an improvisation an improviser must be given extra credit for what results over that of the unhurried composer

15 The improviser can also be more easily forgiven any musical mistakes over that of the composer for similar reasons

Ted Gioia in The Imperfect Art Reflections on Jazz and Modern Culture (Stanford Alumni Association 1988) argues that improvisation requires a different set of aesthetic principles to evaluate the musical performance precisely because jazz music has the disadvantage of having to produce spontaneous improvisation rather than contemplative compositions developed over extended periods of time

In Gioiarsquos Chapter 3 ldquoThe Imperfect Artrdquo he holds that ldquoIf improvisation is the essential element in jazz it may also be the most problematicrdquo (p 54)

IIIc Do Aesthetic Evaluations Standards Differ for Improvisation and Composition

From a different perspective US music critic Henry Pleasants (b 1910) complains in his A Performers Art Serious Music And All That Jazz (Simon amp Schuster 1969) that ldquoThe jazz musician is denied the dignity accorded the composer because not everything he composes is first written down or necessarily written down afterward or once written down considered immutable And he is denied the dignity accorded the Serious-music performer because the latter is an interpreter of presumably great music The musician in other words who makes up his music as he goes along or makes up a good deal of it or who rarely plays the same music twice in the same way is we are given to understand inferior to the musician who makes no music of his own For all his undisputed virtuosity and inventive fancy the jazz musician cannot we are led to believe be granted equality with the Serious musician who can read and play the notes written down for him by Bach Mozart Beethoven Brahms and Wagner a century or so agordquo

Gioia continues on the next page by asking several probing questions

ldquoYet does not jazz by its reliance on spur-of-the-moment improvisation relegate itself to being a second-rate imperfect art formrdquo

ldquoDoes not its almost total lack of structure make even the best jazz inferior to mediocre composed musicrdquo

ldquoWhy we ask should the spontaneous prattle of an improvising musician interest us as much as the meticulously crafted masterpieces of the great composersrdquo (The Imperfect Art p 55)

Gioia concludes this paragraph with what he takes to be an extremely telling point

ldquoThe dilemma jazz faces was stated with clarity by composer Elliott Carter when he suggested that the musical score serves the essential role of preventing lsquothe performer from playing what he already knows and leads him to explore other new ideas and techniquesrsquordquo (The Imperfect Art p 55)

My argument with Gioia and Carter is that I take quality improvisers to be achieving precisely the goals which composer Carter claims is served by the pre-composed musical score when he states that a musical score prevents ldquothe performer from playing what he already knows and leads him to explore other new ideas and techniquesrdquo

ldquoExploring new ideas and techniques and not playing what one already knowsrdquo is precisely what quality improvisers achieve regularly They explore musical avenues that they have not anticipated and test things out often with surprising outcomes

Paul Rinzler comments on Gioiarsquos presumption of the alleged inferiority of an improvised composition

ldquoImprovised music has been evaluated sometimes as being the aesthetic inferior of composed music The processes of improvisation and composition differ and these differences create what have traditionally been considered disadvantages for improvisationrdquo (The Contradictions of Jazz p 141)

A primary motivation for regarding composition a superior musical form than spontaneous composition concerns formalistrsquos claims of the superior structural complexity of a pre-composed as compared to a spontaneously composed piece of music

Rinzler claims that ldquostructural complexity is a primary value in Western aesthetics It is perhaps the single most important aspect of a Western composed music on which claims of a composerrsquos genius or a compositionrsquos worth are founded and it is the basis for much musical analysis

Rinzler explains the nature of structural complexity quoting Leonard Meyer and Judith Becker (p 142)

Music must be evaluated syntactically Western art music is structurally more complex than other music its architectonic hierarchies involved tonal relationships and elaborated harmonic syntax not only defy complete analysis but have no parallel in the world

Among Western musicologists musical complexity correlates with levels of hierarchical structures to the number of musical lsquolinesrsquo occurring simultaneously to the relationships between similar musical elements found in different sections of the composition and in some sense to the length of the composition (Contradictions of Jazz pp 142-43)

Paul Rinzlerrsquos response to the alleged advantages of composition over improvisation is sophisticated He first argues that ldquoit appears unlikely that improvisation can compare favorably with composition in terms of structural complexity given the different situations in which the improviser and the composer are found The primary difference is that the composer does not work in real time that is the compositional process does not occur when the performance of the composition doesrdquo (Contradictions of Jazz p 143)

Rinzler next analyzes four specific advantages that composition enjoys following the work of Philip Alperson These four advantages are

1 Creating an Overall Plan ldquoThe broad sweep of a composition can be carefully constructed Each unit and subunit can be fit into place and coordinated within the entire hierarchy allowing the composer to create a high degree of structural complexityrdquo (Contradictions of Jazz p 143)

Whereas a composer can review the entire blueprint of a composition Rinzler notes the improviser can only use the retrospective method of looking backward at what has just been improvised and shape the next phase of music relating to what has gone before

2 Revision and Editing ldquoBecause composition occurs before a performance changes in any aspect of the composition may be made prior to its performance Revision and editing confer a great advantage to compositionrdquo (Contradictions of Jazz p 144)

Whereas a composer can consider and then reject vast numbers of possible solutions until she finds one she settles upon the improvising musician can only use the one actually performed

3 Notation ldquoNotation is a powerful tool for conceiving organizing and documenting elements of a composition For an improviser notation might function as a mnemonic device that refers to some predetermined musical elements but it does not function as a compositional tool as it does for the composerrdquo (Contradictions of Jazz p 144)

4 Responsibility of Composition Rinzler argues that because of the advantages of composition the composer is ldquoexpected to produce a complete final and perfect product (in principle) Complexity and (near-)perfection are reasonable standards because the conditions of composition enable the achievement of those standardsrdquo (Contradictions of Jazz p 144)

Whereas any perceived mistake can be expunged by a composer an actual mistake made by an improviser during a performance is irreconcilable

Ilic Do Aesthetic Evaluations Standards Differ for Improvisation and Composition

Rinzler defends an aesthetics for jazz that focuses not exclusively on the musical work produced the product which is the actual sounds made during the musical performance or the music represented by the musical score but rather he wishes to switch the emphasis on to the artist and the performance product in a dialectic

ldquoThe key to an aesthetics of jazz does concern the artist as a person as well as the musical object itself in a dialecticrdquo (The Contradictions of Jazz p 149)

By switching from only considering the formalist considerations of structural complexity as the primary thing of aesthetic value found in a musical performance Rinzler opens up a new area for aesthetic appreciation and investigation of the value of a spontaneously created musical work by a performing improviser

In an interview with Miles Kington jazz critic of the London Times Fall 1967 Andreacute Previn (b 1929) Germanndashborn US classical musician explained a basic difference between classical music and jazz

ldquoThe basic difference between classical music and jazz is that in the former the music is always greater than its performancemdashBeethovens Violin Concerto for instance is always greater than its performancemdashwhereas the way jazz is performed is always more important than what is being performedrdquo (Quoted in A Performers Art Serious Music And All That Jazz Simon amp Schuster 1969)

Surely if Previnrsquos insight is correct this has profound implications for the critique of improvised jazz music over that which is a performance of a composed piece

Russell Lynes (1910-1991) US critic stresses the significance of performance in jazz because it was improvised

ldquoImprovisation was the blood and bone of jazz and in the classic New Orleans jazz it was collective improvisation in which each performer seemingly going his own melodic way played in harmony dissonance or counterpoint with the improvisations of his colleagues Quite unlike ragtime which was written down in many cases by its composers and could be repeated note for note by others jazz was a performers not a composers artrdquo (From Ragtime to Riches The Lively Audience A Social History of the Visual and Performing Arts in America Harper amp Row 1985)

Surely if Previnrsquos and Lynesrsquos insights are correct this has profound implications for the critique of improvised jazz music over that which is a performance of a composed piece

So what are the implications for assessing an improvised jazz performance versus assessing the straightforward performance of a composed piece of music

One of the basic differences is that one can complain if a performer fails to play what is in the musical score but this complaint is non-existent for an improvised piece

This makes for a fundamental difference in approaching basic assessments of the success of composed versus improvised musical performances

When assessing a successful jazz performance one will use the considerations discussed later in section VII The Epistemology of Jazz Factors of Good Improvisations

bull There are myths concerning both improvisations as a process and as a musical product There are related myths regarding musicians who improvise

bull All of these myths regarding the nature of improvisations and improvising musicians have been recognized as such amongst contemporary knowledgeable commentators of the jazz scene

bull However to explain why each of these improvisation myths are false or mistaken requires that one first delineate them prior to their refutation as is done in the next slide

IV Philosophy of Jazz The Myths of Improvisation

1 Improvisers are primitive and unstudied musicians who naturally produce improvisations not based on memory

2 The improvisations are not particularly governed by rules or conventions

3 Improvisation cannot be taught4 Free jazz improvisations not based on chord

changes are easier to play than straight ahead jazz improvisations because they need not conform to any particular rules

IVa Philosophy of Jazz The Myths of Improvisation

From the very beginning of jazz many musicians were highly accomplished and well trained in European musical conventions

Improvisers often know from memory what kinds of musical responses are appropriate for a given context and have studied them in great detail Charlie Parker learned how to play the same tune in all twelve keys etc

IVb Philosophy of Jazz Refutation of the Myth

Many accomplished improvisers often use individually distinctive musical phrases and sounds typical of one of his or her own ways of playing Individual musicians voices are often discernible in how that person makes his way through an improvisation Charlie Parker has musical licks distinctive of how he plays as does Stan Getz and Miles Davis etc

Bill Evans in ldquoThe Universal Mind of Bill Evansrdquo was at great pains to stress the importance of conforming onersquos improvisation to the original melody He believed that there were numerous constraints that one should follow to produce a quality improvisation

There are many musical rules that musicians often obey during an improvisation

For example limiting onersquos solo to a specific number of bars of music

Staying in the same musical key Keeping in the same harmonic range Using the appropriate notes for a pentatonic

versus a diatonic musical scale

2 Improvisations are not particularly governed by rules or conventions

Playing in the appropriate style (Dixieland modal Latin a blues etc)

Playing in a conventional manner so that your fellow musicians know where you and the music are during a performance

Each of these is a rule governed activity

3 Improvisation cannot be taught As jazz music schools from Maine to California

know improvisation is offered as a class from beginning to advanced improvisations

One can teach oneself how to improve onersquos own improvisations and this is a kind of teaching One learns from onersquos own experiences and reflections upon what worked and did not work during onersquos improvisations

IVb Philosophy of Jazz Refutation of the Myths

4 Free jazz improvisations not based on chord changes and so are easier to play than straight ahead jazz improvisations because they need not conform to any particular rules

On the contrary improvising from chord changes supplies the musician with an obvious jumping off point There is a place to start and a place to which one can return or dip back into

During a free improvisation on the other hand it remains a constant challenge how one will accomplish saying something musically interesting given that there is no starting point

V Is Improvisation Essential to Jazz

bull Different authors have had different opinions as to the answer to the question posed above Some have argued that improvisation is not essential to jazz and some have argued that it is using the very same phrase of ldquoessential to jazzrdquo

bull Depending upon how someone interprets what ldquoessential to jazzrdquo means both sides could possibly be correct

bull Start by defining ldquoessentialrdquo as meaning the same thing as a necessary condition where a necessary condition is such that were it to fail to occur then what it is a necessary condition for can also not occur

[Va] What Can Be Meant By Essential to Jazz

bull The question becomes whether it is possible for a musical performance to count as a jazz performance while nevertheless lacking any improvisation during the performance

bull The answer is that few would argue that this was impossible Many jazz scholars agree that Big Band music of the 1930rsquos and 40rsquos often did not contain much improvisation but still should count as jazz Similarly Harvey Pekar noted jazz commentator urges the recognition of non-swinging music still counting as jazz in his ldquoSwing As An Element of Jazzrdquo (in CODA AugustSeptember 1974 pp 10-12 updated in Jazzis June 1996)

bull Therefore improvisation fails to be a necessary condition for jazz to existbull However there are other

interpretations that can be given for what ldquoessential to jazzrdquo can be taken to mean

Consider the following situation Could a musician who never improvises or only improvises poorly ever qualify as a master jazz musician

Here the answer is clearly ldquoNordquo Any musician who is not an expert in improvisation cannot qualify as a jazz performer of the first order Hence in these terms improvisational ability is required as a necessary condition for being a qualified jazz master

The above conclusion regarding the necessity of improvisational skills being required for any genuine jazz musician is not shared by every commentator Mark Gridley disagrees when he remarks that ldquoIs it important that aspiring performers develop an improvisatory technique No not necessarilyrdquo (Gridley ibid p 11)

Nevertheless such differences in what is meant by ldquoessentialrdquo helps to account for why different commentators intuitions about the essentiality of improvisation to jazz can differ

bull Bill Evans in conversation appears to require that improvisation actually is essential to jazz even in light of Leonard Featherrsquos comment that a musical performance could count as jazz that lacked any improvisation Why is that possible

bull One answer may be that besides using different interpretations of the phrase ldquoessential to jazzrdquo Evans may be stressing how important improvisation is to jazz performance and its musical production

bull Here are some quotations on the subjectbull Ted Gioia claims that ldquoimprovisation if not restricted to

jazz is nonetheless essential to itrdquo (The Imperfect Art p 53)bull ldquoPart of the education of a jazz musician is learning to

create improvised melodies that are coherent and emotionally engagingrdquo (from Essential Jazz The First 100 Years Henry Martin and Keith Waters Belmont CA Thompson Learning Inc 2005)

bull ldquoImprovisation is defined as the act of simultaneously composing and performing It is an essential element in the performance of most but not all jazzrdquo (History amp Tradition of Jazz Thomas E Larson 2nd ed Dubuque Iowa Kendall Hunt Publishing Co 2002)

bull Paul F Berliner in his book Thinking in Jazz The Infinite Art of Improvisation discusses some of the aspects of interpreting a song versus improvising on it

bull ldquoBeyond its variable key a piecersquos precise melodic features can differ from version to version Within an arrangement singers or instrumentalists who carry the melody can transform it to varying degrees engaging in compositional activities of increasing lsquolevels of intensityrsquo that Lee Konitz [alto saxophonist born 1927] distinguishes along a continuum from interpretation to improvisation Success at one level provides the conceptual grounding and lsquolicensersquo musicians need to graduate to successive levels each increasing its demands upon imagination and concentrationrdquo (p 67)

bull Berliner continues to explain some of the levels of intensity leading from interpretation to improvisation

bull ldquoAt the outset of a performance players commonly restrict themselves to interpretation They reenter the piecersquos circumscribed musical world along the rising and falling path of a particular model of the melody focusing firmly on its elements and reacquainting themselves with the subject of their artistic ventures Musicians take minor liberties when orienting themselves to a piece at this level of intensity coloring it in numerous ways They vary such subtleties as accentuation vibrato dynamics rhythmic phrasing and articulation or tonguing ldquostriving to interpret the melody freshly as if performing it for the first timerdquo (Lee Konitz)rdquo (p 67)

bull Berliner goes into a great amount of detail as to how a musician can use different aspects of the musical elements just mentioned to interpret a piece of music He then moves on to discuss a higher level of intensity that he terms ldquoembellishmentrdquo He explains how trumpeter Kenny Dorham embellished a tune with fellow trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer being impressed by how ldquohe could say all that just by playing the melodyrdquo

bull ldquoRendering the piece with his warm intimate tone Dorham embellished the melody with spare grace notes and varied its phrasing with subtle anticipations and delays He articulated sustained pitches with soft unaccented attacks before bending them down and drawing them quickly back again then allowing them to sing with an increasingly wide vibrato Only once did he interject into the performance a phrase of his own by filling a rest with melodic motionrdquo (p 69)

bull Berliner now explains that the highest level of intensity of musical production lies in improvisation

bull ldquoFinally musicians periodically raise performances to improvisation the highest level of intensity transforming the melody into patterns bearing little or no resemblance to the original model or using models altogether alternative to the melody as the basis for inventing new phrases These artistic episodes can occur at various points in a performance as when players add short melodic figures in such static areas of tunes as rests or sustained pitches at the ends of phrases Additionally if the player carrying the melody is the first soloist in the group he or she may depart from the melody before its completion to improvise a musical segue to the solo Typically however players restrain themselves during the melodyrsquos formal presentation reserving their most extensive compositional activity for improvised solosrdquo (p 70)

bull Finally Berliner notes how improvisation while musically interesting in and of itself and posing a significant challenge for the performer may also lead to the development of new songs based in part or whole on the improvisation

bull ldquoAt the same time the combined operations from interpretation to improvisation have the potential to ldquocarry musicians more than halfway to creating a new songrdquo [says Lee Konitz] within the framework of another melody Such situations underscore the extent to which pieces serve jazz musicians not simply as ends in themselves but as vehicles for invention Just as these procedures taken in sequence provide artists with a routine for practicing pieces their sequential mastery corresponds for some artists to the progressive stages of their developmentrdquo (p 70)

Some might argue that mistakes are impossible during an improvisation since there is no pre-determined musical score that one is trying to mimic or reproduce with accuracy

Someone might argue that there are no mistakes in an improvisation but only better or worse choices of notes

An argument could be made that since a mistake can occur if someone understands something wrongly that this makes them impossible to occur during an improvisation since there is nothing to wrongly understand since the improvisation is fresh original and unique

[VIa] Mistakes are Impossible in a Jazz Improvisation

VI The Epistemology of Jazz Possibility of Mistakes

The etymology of the word ldquomistakerdquo according to the American Heritage Dictionary 4th edition 2009 is that the word comes from several sources From Middle English the word ldquomistakenrdquo means to misunderstand From Old Norse ldquomistakardquo means ldquoto take in errorrdquo In Indo-European roots the prefix ldquomis-rdquo means ldquowronglyrdquo (related to ldquomeirdquo) and ldquotakardquo means ldquoto takerdquo so a mistake happens when one wrongly takes something (typically in comprehension)

[VIb] Etymology of the word ldquomistakerdquo

The definition of a mistake is to be in error relative to an action calculation opinion or judgment caused by poor reasoning carelessness or insufficient knowledge etc A mistake can be the result of a misunderstanding or a misconception To wrongly understand interpret or evaluate something produces a mistake

[VIc] Definition of a mistake

There are at least two basic types of mistakes that can and do occur in jazz improvisations execution mistakes and interpretation mistakes

An execution mistake directly relates to performance skills For example when a performer intends to play a specific note but actually plays a different note then this is a flaw in performance execution A second way an execution mistake can occur is to flub a note and produce a flawed sound by honking coughing not finishing splatting etc

[VId] Mistakes DO occur during jazz improvisations

bull An execution mistake occurs when a performer1 Uses poor intonation2 Plays with uncharacteristic tone quality3 Lacks interaction and fails to dialog with

accompaniment4 Plays with a lack of confidence

bull An interpretation mistake concerns creative development and can occur in numerous ways such as when a performer

1 Makes poor decisions2 Plays schmaltzy when one should not3 Gets lost during the performance4 Plays too many cliches5 Does not relate the improvisation thematically to

the tune being played

6 Overly repetitious performance7 Plays an improvisation with an inappropriate time

feel andor rhythm

bull The reason why these interpretation mistakes count as mistakes is because each satisfies the definition of a mistake As was seen in the definition of mistake as an error in judgment caused by insufficient knowledge or reasoning a jazz improviser can lack sufficient or appropriate knowledge about how to play a particular song or reason poorly about the songrsquos structure and how it relates to his or her improvisation Beginning musicians make these kinds of errors and mistakes all of the time

bull What should one say about a beginnerrsquos weak and impoverished improvisation other than the person lacks knowledge of the right chord changes to play or some other flaw in how the person proceeds in producing a musical event

bull Paul Berliner recounts the story of trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer as a youngster playing with Miles Davis

bull ldquo[Hillyer] laughs ruefully as he recalls losing his place after the first eight bars and how brutally thereafter each pitch of his impassioned performance clashed with the band When the dismal solo finally aborted Davis pulled him off the stage and grumbled hoarsely ldquoYou donrsquot know your chords do yourdquo When Hillyer confessed to this Davis told him not to return to the club until he had mastered harmonyrdquo (Thinking in Jazz p 71)

bull Even professional jazz musicians can be accused of having made mistakes of interpretation during a non-improvised performance Thelonious Monk who composed the song often accused Miles Davis of not playing the bridge properly for one of his tunes Since Monk wrote the song he has a point

bull On the other hand Miles may just have been producing an alternative version of the tune and in the history of jazz oftentimes a famous soloistrsquos musical production has been adopted by future players as a good way to play that particular song

bull If one can make mistakes relating to knowledge of a songrsquos structure during the non-improvised performance then if one bases onersquos improvisation on the mistaken knowledge regarding the songrsquos structure then this would count as an additional error relative to that musical structure

VII Epistemology of Jazz Factors of Good Improvisations

bull On the other hand one can specify what jazz educators and musicians consider positive aspects of an effective jazz solo during an improvisation An effective improvisation occurs when a performer

1 Demonstrates a knowledge of musical theory2 Uses melodic motifs andor sequences3 Plays with appropriate time feel andor rhythm4 Plays with good technical facility

[VIIa] Positive Evaluations of Good Improvisations

5 Develops the solo in a logical manner6 Plays with emotional expression7 Plays with appropriate style8 Shows imagination and creativity9 Effectively uses chromatic approach tones10 Has effective interaction and dialog with musical

partnersbull To fail at any of the above factors is to make onersquos

performance open to the criticism that one has made mistakes

bull Important factors for assessing the quality of an improvisation

1 Personalindividual voice (auditory tonal style)2 Individual expression (can express musical ideas

that reveal emotions or show a spirituality etc)3 Clarity of musical thought and purpose4 Aesthetic relationships related to the following

consistent with aberrant from poorly executed masterfully performed extended and insightful musical addition etc to the original composition

Outline of ldquoThe Nature of Improvisation

Outline of ldquoThe Nature of Improvisation (2)

I The Nature and Methods of Improvisation (2)

I The Nature amp Methods of Improvisation Melodic

I The Nature amp Methods of Improvisation Common Forms (2)

II Etymology of ldquoimprovisationrdquo (2)

III Improvisation versus Composition

V Is Improvisation Essential to Jazz (2)

VI The Epistemology of Jazz Possibility of Mistakes (2)

VII Epistemology of Jazz Factors of Good Improvisations (2)

I The Nature amp Methods of ImprovisationII The Etymology of ldquoImprovisationrdquoIII Improvisation versus CompositionIIIa Is All Music Making ImprovisationalIIIb Differences Between Improvisation amp CompositionIIIc Do Aesthetic Evaluation Standards Differ for Improvisation and Composition

feel andor rhythm

Improvising Complexity: The Philosophy of Jazz

Documents

jazz improvisation outline

art of improvisation

improvisation essential

improvisation compositioniiic

standard improvisation

legitimate improvisation

jazz improvisation vib

myths of improvisation

The Art of Improvisation