The Art Ensemble of Chicago (1965 - present)
"Jazz is about freedom, now you just think about that."- Thelonius Monk
Free jazz characteristics, any one, or combination of any two, or all three in a musical piece makes it free jazz:
1. Free rhythms - no time signatures, no measures, so no 4 beats to a measure
2. Free harmonies - no chords, no modes
3. Dissonance - harmonics that can be uncomfortable or harsh to hear
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s as musicians attempted to alter, extend, or break down jazz convention, often by discarding fixed chord changes or tempos. 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. Often described as 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.
As its name implies, free jazz cannot be defined 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 (speed up and slow down).
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, 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 song's melody or chordal structure. Although today "free jazz" is the generally used term, many other terms were used to describe the loosely defined movement, including "avant-garde", "energy music" and "The New Thing".
Many critics have drawn connections between the term "free jazz" and the American social setting during the late 1950s and 1960s, especially the emerging social tensions of racial integration and the civil rights movement. Many argue those recent phenomena such as the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, the emergence of the "Freedom Riders" in 1961, the 1963 Freedom Summer of activist-supported black voter registration, and the free alternative black Freedom Schools demonstrate the political implications of the word "free" in context of free jazz. Thus many consider free jazz to be not only a rejection of certain musical credos and ideas, but a musical reaction to the oppression and experience of black Americans.
A central organization of free jazz musicians is the Association for Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) which was founded in Chicago in 1965.
Free jazz pioneers of the 1960s
Ornette Coleman (d. 2015) - alto saxophone (and some trumpet & violin)
Lonely Woman (live) - very calm and listenable
Jordan from the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winning album "Sound Grammar"
Cecil Taylor piano (very abstract - and daunting)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (d. 1977) - saxophones & other reed instruments (free jazz, but only occasionally dissonant, deeply steeped in blues and gospel music)
The Inflated Tear (live, 1967) Free jazz, but not much dissonance.
Pedal Up (live, 1975) Short period of dissonance.
Albert Ayler (d. 1970) - alto saxophones (very radical in his approach, one of the most difficult free jazz players to embrace)
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Main members: Lester Bowie (d. 1999), trumpet, Roscoe Mitchell& Joseph Jarmin, saxophones, Don Moye, percussion, and Malachi Favors, (d. 2004) bass.
Live in Warsaw (1982) 10 minutes
Sun Ra - pianist, composer & Arkestra leader (Extraterrestrial visiting jazz musician, Sun was born on Saturn in 1914 (Earth years) and returned home on May 30, 1993)
Sound of Joy (live, 1988, 7.5 minutes)
Muhal Richard Abrams - piano, composer; 1st president of the AACM
Anthony Braxton - alto saxophone
Live in East Berlin, 1985 - 43 minutes
Henry Threadgill - alto saxophone
Live with his Society Situation Dance Band (20 minutes - cello solo by Deidre Murray).
A notable free jazz musician:
John Coltrane (1927-1967) is one of the seminal figures in jazz history. A tenor (and later a soprano) saxophonist, he began as a hard bop player in the mid 1950s when hard bop was emerging as the prevalent form of mainstream jazz. In the late 1950s he was a member of Miles Davis's "first great quintet" and followed Miles into explorating modal jazz, playing on the landmark album Kind of Blue. Coltrane also released his first albums as a leader in this period.
By 1961, Coltrane formed his own now famous quintet. In 1963 he released a version of the popular song My Favorite Things, in which he incorporated the scales of the classical music of India. Coltrane's technique of abundant, non-stop notes, often called Sheets of Sound created a meditative effect to his music. This period culminated in the 1965 recording A Love Supreme, which is widely regarded as one of the very great jazz albums.
Between 1966 and his death in 1968, Coltrane embraced free jazz. Many free jazz aficionados consider this music very important, but many of his original fans rejected his later music.
Not really avant-garde, but explores harmonics with "sheets of sound" technique using Indian scales:
A Love Supreme (full 1965 album, regarded as one of the greatest albums in jazz history) 35 minutes.
Coltrane playing totally free jazz:
Jupiter Variation (studio album "Interstellar Space," 1967) duo w/ drummer Rashad Ali) 6:45
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