Free jazz is a type of modern music that does not follow the usual rules of tonal organization, bluesy chord progressions, and swing rhythms.
The focus is on spontaneous group improvisation. The range of expressive tools allows for the sensuality and intellect of free jazz music.
Free jazz is considered inventive and adventurous. However, some music theorists see it as an attempt to reconnect with the ethnic and religious foundations of traditional jazz.
Free Jazz Definitions
The vast majority of contemporary jazz forms use the performer’s voice as the central element. Classical jazz, on the other hand, is based on compositional intent.
E. Barban, a scholar of jazz forms, argues that any performance or artistic expression of music meets the criterion of a work of art. In this case, skill helps to transform the personality of the musician into a set of symbols that can be studied as works of art.Similar to the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, Barban believes that exaltation, spontaneity, affect, and mental preoccupation are the most important artistic elements of free jazz.
Free jazz has never tried to hide its ideological foundation, its social protest, or its radical nature. Because of this, it is very difficult to develop and organize a single cultural philosophy for free jazz.
Free jazz is clearly centered on black self-awareness and authenticity, yet the style is susceptible to symbiotic fusion with other cultures, often those with which it is in conflict. These crossings may reflect a desire to assimilate the spiritual and aesthetic characteristics of another ethnicity.
Religion in general became a source of inspiration for free jazz musicians, and you can hear it in the music and see it in the song titles, album names, and CD artwork.
You just have to be creative in how you digest it and incorporate it into your improvisation. Modern academic avant-gardists use a similar strategy, which makes these two approaches comparable.
