The Jazz Framework had essentially remained unchanged to the end of the ‘50’s - basically a musical ‘universal’ that defined the music as Jazz: Formal simplicity of a theme taken as a basis for improvisation; this Theme served primarily to provide a harmonic and metrical framework for the improviser; Improvisation is the focus of Jazz - not the material; Prerequisites were the laws of Functional Harmony reflected in the Theme, acceptance of strictly applied and relatively easy to handle formal patterns [standard chord progressions], the continuous and accented underlying pulse. The various styles differed in ‘choices’ of these universal agreements - but not in principles.
The emancipation from the traditional musical universals occurred first with Functional Harmony and the development of ‘Modal’ playing. With the advent of this style, whole sections of a tune were built upon a single modal ‘center’ - not vertical chord changes. Because of this horizontal emphasis, melodic development was freed from vertical constraints and the necessity for regular phrase lengths [to fit the harmonic rhythm] became unnecessary. If the traditional elements of form were retained, it was done so out of habit - again, not necessity.
It was Miles Davis who made the first statement in this new music - but he did not do it alone or to completion. His association with John Coltrane during this period was essential to the developments of Modal playing and Coltrane was essential to its mature development.
John Coltrane was born Sept. 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina. He took Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins as models and grew into the ‘modern’ jazz of the ‘40’s under the influence of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. As early a John Coltrane 1947, he worked briefly with Sonny Rollins in one of Miles Davis’ groups but soon left to work with Jimmy Heath, and later the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Bostic, and Johnny Hodges.
He was hired by Davis in 1955. Coltane’s approach was still exploratory - this period would culminate in his ‘sheets of sound’ technique. In mid-1957 he left Miles to work with Thelonious Monk whom he considered a ‘musical architect of the highest order’. Benefiting from Monk’s help in harmonic exploration and his own study of past practices Coltrane’s approach is best summed by his own words: “…I’ve found you’ve got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light”.
In 1958, he rejoined Miles Davis - then in a middle period of stylistic change. A period where Miles was utilizing minimum chord changes and freely flowing horizontal lines. The concepts Miles was working under acted as a catalyst - Coltrane first tried to adapt his ‘sheets of sound’ approach but soon recognized the wider potential of Davis’ interests: ‘I could play three chords on one. But on the other hand, if I wanted to, I could play melodically. Miles’ music gave me plenty of freedom.’
The first phase of modal playing was the Milestones album - a year later, the second phase appeared with the Kind of Blue album of 1959. The tune So What is easily accessible as an example of Modal playing: within the 8 bar sections, there is no harmonic movement at all, improvisational material for the A section is D Dorian and the B Section Eb Dorian - with no functional relationship between the sections, just an abrupt chromatic shift. But it was the Flamenco Sketches cut which was the most consistent modal piece contained within the album: no actual theme in the sense of a ‘composed melody’, the form consists of five sections of different lengths, and each section was based upon a different modal center.
Having the improvisations vary in length [coupled with the varying modal centers] had some important consequences for the development of Free Jazz: with the standardized ‘bar patterns’ of a given form dropped, other means of signaling the end of a solo had to be developed; the change in Modal centers [within the improvisation] was signaled either by the Rhythm Section setting up a series of suspensions or by the soloist ‘leading’ to the new Mode. Both of these required intense listening to each improviser in order to follow the entrance into an new section and accommodate the varying length of the improvisation. While this album was the exception to current practice [the group dissolved soon after], it was indicative of what was to come. With the dissolution of this musical unit, Miles went back to working with Gil Evans and it was left to Coltrane to expand the principle of Modal Playing.
John Coltrane’s first important LP as leader of his own group was Giant Steps in 1959. Here, he reverts to the mult-chord structures of his ‘sheets of sound’ but also moves beyond the harmonic framework of Hard Bop - the changes are not based on ‘circle of fifth’ movement but rather chords a third away. The improvisation is based on arpeggiated chords - impressively played to say the least, but still vertical structures. The recording and the approach it contained led Coltrane to a realization: “I haven’t completely abandoned this approach, but it wasn’t broad enough. I’m trying to play these progressions in a more flexible manner now” [from a Downbeat interview in 1960] A year after Giant Steps and the restrictions of the vertically oriented improvisation, Coltrane returned to Modal playing and a concentration on horizontal melodic development.
In October of 1960, he recorded the My Favorite Things album. The title tune is a Richard Roger Waltz written originally for a musical - not one obvious for Modal treatment. The chord movement in the first sections is minimal Emi at first and a following section of GMaj - it is these sections which Coltrane utilizes for his Modal improvisation. This, coupled with his use of the soprano sax, make the treatment unique. Also, while the 8 Bar sections become obvious, it is his horizontal approach and Tyner’s tension building piano accompaniment which avoid the inherent monotony of scale based [vs chordal] improvisation. After this album, Coltrane recorded with Don Cherry - then a member of Ornette Coleman’s Quartet and the stage was set for John Coltrane’s move toward Free Jazz in next year.
19 Let Freedom Ring: John Coltrane
Coltrane’s recording of ‘The Jazz Avant garde’ with Don Cherry can be used as the pivot point in his move toward Free Jazz. While it does hint at Coltrane’s later directions, the album is more symbolic than substantive. On this recording, Coltrane sounds hesitant - almost erratic - and Don Cherry much more conventional than was typical of his work with The Ornette Coleman Quartet. But, soon after, Coltrane collaborated with Eric Dolphy and this cleared his path toward Free Jazz.
Eric Dolphy started with Coltrane as the second woodwind soloist [Alto Sax, Flute, amp; Bass Clarinet].
While their backgrounds were very different, the common search for musical expansion and new means of expression provided a unity of musical direction.
Born in 1926 in Los Angeles, Dolphy started his career with Gerald Wilson and Buddy Colette - attaining his initial recognition with Chico Hamilton in 1958. He came into contact with the avant garde while working in the groups of Charles Mingus and George Russell. At the beginning of the 60’s, he like Coltrane, inhabited the border between the growing offshoots of Hard Bop and the radical approach of Free Jazz. But, unlike Coltrane - who steadily gained independence from traditional practice - vacillated between the Traditional and Free styles. He renounced the traditional harmonic and rhythmic practices on Ornette Coleman’s 1960 ‘Free Jazz’ album - of which he was coleader - but also was associated with Oliver Nelson and Booker Little in the Hard Bop vein. He worked with such standard materials as ‘Don’t Blame Me’ or ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’ just before his death in 1964.
Dolphy’s collaboration with Coltrane was short - a few months - but still a dynamic influence on Coltrane. After this, Coltrane began to color individual tones reminiscent of Dolphy’s bass clarinet sound as well as the use of larger intervals characteristic of Dolphy’s solo lines. Coltrane had experimented before with tone color but now it sounded natural and fully integrated into the improvised line - the interval work was used much more sparingly than Dolphy and usually in contrast to a contoured eighth note line.
The partnership was not without controversy - the reaction was, in reality, not particular to these two but aimed at the ‘new directions’ - they just happe
ned to be visible and the music did spark the 1961 Downbeat article by John Tynan: “At Hollywood’s Renaissance Club recently, I listened to a horrifying demonstration of what appears to be a growing anti-jazz trend exemplified by these foremost proponents of what is termed avant garde music….I heard a good rhythm section….go to waste behind the nihilistic exercises of the two horns….Coltrane and Dolphy seem intent on deliberately destroying [swing]…They seem bent on pursuing an anarchistic course in their music that can but be termed anti-jazz”.
One of the main charges hurled at the group was the excessive length of their pieces. While extended Eric Dolphy compositions and performances had been presented before, the nature of the Modal improvisation left listeners of the time without the familiar landmarks to follow. The abandonment of functional harmony and formal patterns - and with this a readily comprehensible time division - made for added difficulty in following the music. This new approach demanded new listening - and not everyone was willing to follow this particular path.
Culminating five years of musical experimentation, exploration, assimilation, and perceptions, Coltrane recorded ‘A Love Supreme’ in December of 1964. Ekkhard Jost states that with this album, Coltrane’s role as a pioneer of technical innovation was transformed into one of ‘a new self-realization’. This may be true, but the culture as a whole was reflective of this new self-realization and Coltrane, in the liner notes - reminiscing about his time addicted to narcotics and alcohol [mid 1957] - does state the following: “I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life…in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music”.
Whatever the motivation for the concept - it was to mark a new direction for him.
The composition is a suite of four movements - each with a different structural framework
[‘Acknowledgement’ - relatively freely treated modality, ‘Resolution’ - cadential 8 bar periods, ‘Pursuance’ - 12 bar blues pattern with a modal flavor, ‘Palm’ - strict modality and intensive simplicity] reveals a new feature in Coltrane’s work - motivic ties between sections. These ‘ties’ occur in various permutations and connect the 4 movements. This technic would become a typical procedure in his later work - either sequencing the motif through the keys as it progresses through the different parts of a composition or superimposing it on a modal foundation in the bass and piano.
After this recording, Coltrane - ‘the man in the middle’ - became, with ‘Ascension’ made a half-year later, a central figure for the second generation of Free Jazz musicians. His musical journey wandered many paths and to my mind he was clearly the bridge between what came before and what is ‘now’ - just as Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker had done previously. He died on July 17, 1967 - and I think of all he has done Archie Shepp summed his life the best: “He was a bridge, the most accomplished of the so-called postbebop musicians to make an extension into what is called the avant garde…He was one of the few older men to demonstrate a sense of responsibility to those coming behind him. He provided a positive image that was greatly needed and stood against the destructive forces that have claimed so many. Having suffered and seen so much himself, he tried to see that others coming along wouldn’t have to go through all that.”
20 Let Freedom Ring: Charles Mingus
Mingus spent his youth in the Watts section of Los Angeles and would become a prominent band leader here in the ‘40’s. Born in Nogales, Arizona he was relocated to Los Angeles while still very young and this locale would provide his early musical impressions - the Gospel music of the Church and the ensemble sound of Duke Ellington. His first ‘live’ Ellington experience was a - to say the least - exciting experience for him: “When I first heard Duke Ellington in person, I almost jumped out of the balcony. One piece excited me so much that I screamed” [Hentoff, 1961].
He also had an affinity for the European Impressionist composers - Debussy and Ravel.
He became nationally known in the ‘50’s as the bassist with Red Norvo’s trio - Red Norvo/vibes, Tal Farlow/Guitar. He settled in New York City in 1951, co-founding - with Max Roach - Debut Records and joined the Composer’s Workshop circle of experimentalists. His musical history prior to that was filled with variety and a diversity of Jazz styles - working as a sideman with Kid Ory, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo [as mentioned], Art Tatum, and while in New York ‘every bop musician of consequence’.
This pioneer of Free Jazz directly influenced that movement on two fronts - as a virtuoso Bassist and a Composer. Interestingly, he seems to have not been very impressed either with the Free Jazz movement or his influence on the next generation of Bassists working in that idiom. Litweiler, in his book, ‘The Freedom Principle’ states that Mingus ‘despised’ Free Jazz and looking back in 1974 Mingus stated: “I used to play avant guard bass when nobody else did.
Now I play 4/4 because none of the other bassists do” …rather ironic considering his impact on that particular music.
Mingus developed musically in marked contrast to John Coltrane. While Coltrane evolved stylistically over a period of time - moving further from his starting point - Mingus fused the widespread areas of his musical influences into a personal whole. This truly personal idiom was not a stylistic aggregation of influences but a unique fusion of the ensemble sound of the Ellington Orchestra, the collective improvisation of Dixieland, the call and response of Gospel Music, bebop phrasing, and folk music.
He was a virtuoso on his chosen instrument - with a unique conception that set him apart from the Bassists of the ‘50’s. So strong was this instrumental esthetic that his playing would influence the likes of Charlie Haden, Scott la Faro, and Steve Swallow. Most of the outstanding Bass players of the period - Paul Chambers, Sam Jones, Doug Watkins - worked within the Ray Brown school. It was a ‘4 to the bar’ time keeping role and solos were rare - either in an ensemble style without the ensemble or technical displays [frequently with no relation to the original musical context]. Mingus partly dispensed with the time keeping role and worked with rhythmically independent lines running contrapuntally to the melody - both as a foundation and a counterpoint.
These innovations were only incorporated superficially at the time - Hard Bop had no room for this style within its particular set of conventions.
Compositionally, most of his advanced ideas were introduced by the summer of 1957. Like Ellington, he composed for the particular personnel in his groups - but went one step further. He did not so much compose for them but rather with them - working from sketches outlining the basis of the compositions - he provided space for individual contributions and fostered an atmosphere of spontaneous interactions within the group: “As long as they start where I start and end where I end, the musicians can change the composition if they feel like it. They add themselves, they add how they feel while we’re playing” [Hentoff liner notes Atl.1377].
One of the notable consequences of this approach is that the outward features of his music changed with the musicians. These ‘Jazz Workshops’ provided the setting for his contributions as Free Jazz Pioneer - it was his musical individuality as a composer which set the stage for later developments.
His concept of form rarely fit the formal structures of the ‘50’ and ‘60’s - for the most part he still worked in the traditional 12 and 16 bar blues forms and the 32 bar song form. But, while accepting these formal patterns he filled them with new content - breaking the ‘theme/improvisation/theme’ convention.
In expanding these short forms he often juxtaposed several contrasting themes which provide a differentiation to the musical structure - and change the emotional levels as the form unfolds.He further provided variation with his concept of tempo. Hardly one piece keeps the initial tempo throughout - either by double time in the Bass and Drums or a constant accelerando with a sudden ‘pull back’. This was often combined with an alteration of the basic rhythm and sometimes meter. It crea
ted a powerful and driving performance.
It was the use of collective improvisation - one very notable aspect of Free Jazz - which firmly establishes his pioneer role. While a practice of the Cool School and used by the likes of Gerry Mulligan, Al Cohen, and Zoot Sims - it was usually confined to a two horn dialogue before the return of the last theme [out chorus]. Mingus’s use of this technique had much of the vitality of early Jazz and often formed the emotional climax of a composition. It was also the method through which he brought his musicians into a process of spontaneous co-creation - either against a written theme or a fixed and repeated rhythmic ostinato.
He died after a period of increasingly ill health in 1979.
21 Let Freedom Ring: Ornette Coleman and a New Way-Part 1
Ornette Coleman - born March 19, 1930 in Fort Worth, Texas - started working at 14 with local R amp;B bands throughout the South West. A recording for Contemporary in February, 1958 actually started his career in Jazz and it happened by ‘accident’. He had approached Lester Koenig to offer some of his compositions for recording and Koenig, after hearing Ornette play through some of them, offered to record Coleman for Contemporary.
Two LP’s resulted - ‘Something Else! The Music of Ornette Coleman’ and ‘Tomorrow is the Question’.
Both of these were made with Don Cherry who played a decisive role on both recordings. Shortly after, both went east and studied at the School of Jazz in Lenox, MA and it was here that Coleman studied with Gunther Schuller and John Lewis [of the Modern Jazz Quartet] - at the same time, they were put under contract with Atlantic Records.
Jazz: A Short History Page 8