Avant-Garde Jazz

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the avant-garde movement in jazz is important because it represents the departure from traditional forms of jazz into a more free-flowing form that allowed musicians to express themselves in a way that they had not done before. The writer argues that many jazz greats have contributed to this movement, and many critics feel that it is a shame to ignore the significance of the jazz avant-garde movement.

From the Paper:

"Musicians that illustrated a departure from traditional jazz and regularly included bebop into their music are Ornette Coleman, Wilbur Barr, Ed Blackwell, and Billy Higgins. An interesting characteristic of bebop is the type of singing that generally accompanied songs. Much like scat singing, bebop singers would incorporate "something like chants and field hollers" into the music. This freedom allowed the musical instruments to carry the "entire rhythmic impetus of the music" (226). This type of rhythmic freedom and diversity is what Jones claims is the "valuable" legacy of bebop. Gottlieb claims that the Hard Boppers wanted to revolutionize jazz but did not go far enough. What was seemingly lost in the 1940s was rediscovered in the 1960s. Because rhythm and melody complement each other so closely in the latter style, the drummer and bass player were better able to play melodically. There was no longer a concern with continuing the beat in a song."

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