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City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Lockett, P.W. (1988). Improvising pianists : aspects of keyboard technique and musical structure in free jazz - 1955-1980. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/8259/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] IMPROVISING PIANISTS: ASPECTS OF KEYBOARD TECHNIQUE AND MUSICAL STRUCTURE IN FREE JAll - 1955-1980. Submitted by Mark Peter Wyatt Lockett as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The City University Department of Music May 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No I List of Figures 3 IIListofRecordings............,........ S III Acknowledgements .. ..... .. .. 9 IV Abstract .. .......... 10 V Text. Chapter 1 .........e.e......... 12 Chapter 2 tee.. see..... S S S 55 Chapter 3 107 Chapter 4 ..................... 161 Chapter 5 ••SS•SSSS....SS•...SS 212 Chapter 6 SS• SSSs•• S•• SS SS S S 249 Chapter 7 eS.S....SS....S...e.. 286 VI Bibliography 295 VIII Appendix 1 Selected Discography 308 Appendix 2 Biographical Notes 320 Appendix 3 Index of Names 332 LIST OF FIGURES Page CHAPTER 1 Figures 1 & 2 .....••...... S. 55555••••••• •• 15 CHAPTER 2 Figure 1 ........ •.......SS.....S. ..e• 66 Figure 2 ....... ........••.... 5•••S••• 67-68 Figure 3 ........e.. SS••• •S •S•S S ••SS•• 69-70 Figure 4 75 Figures 5 & 6 76 Figure 7 S... ••SS•S •• •• •......SS.....• 77 Figure 8 •... ........................• 77-78 Figure 9 S... •••S•••SS••••SS•S•... SS 78 Figures 10 & 11 ......S....S.......S......... 80 Figures 12 & 13 ............S...S............ 81 Figures 14 & 15 ..............S............S. 82 Figures 16 & 17 SSSS•S• •S••S• •S••SSSSSSSSSS.S 84 Figure 18 .S..SSSS...S.S......S....S..S 86 Figure 19 ....S.......SSS....S.S..SSS.. 88-89 Figure 20 ....S........................ 96-96 Figure 21 98 Figure 22 •.............S..S.SSSSSS•Se 98-99 Figure 23 ... ...................•S••S•• 100-101 Figure 24 102 -3- CHAPTER 3 Figure 1 ......•.••. S •S•SS•S •SS •••S••S 114 Figure 2 ..............e. SS ••S•SSSS. 115 Figure 3 • SS •SS••••••S.•..SS.• •.••.•e• 116- 117 Figure 4 .••.•• .......... S. •.•. S.. •• •S 117 -118 Figures 5 & 6 .•.•..•.................•.... 119 Figure 7 ..•.•.S.• •....S.S..S....SS.•S 120-123 Figure 8 SS • •• SS S••S S ••SS SS S S• ••S • S S S 125 Figures 9-11 ......•...•..•..e......•...•. 126 Figure 12 ...S....e...S.....•....•..... 127 Figure 13 12 7-128 Figures 14 & 15 ...•.....•................•.. 129 Figure 16 .•....•........S..........e.. 131-132 Figures 17 & 18 • S • S SSS•S•SS S S S •SSS••S•••SS.• 136 Figure 19 •SS •Se•••SS•SS •SSSSSSSSS .. .. S 139 Figures 20 & 21 ................•...e.......• 140 Figure 22 ....•..S....e.S..SS.....•.... 142 Figure 23 ...S.....................•S.• 143 Figures 24 & 25 SSS S S •••SSSSSS. SSSSSSSS.S• ... 145 Figure 26 S.. SSSSSS.S SS SSSSSS SS •S.S•••S 146 Figure 27 .....e...S.............S.S... 151 Figures 28 & 29 152 Figure 30 ....e...S.................... 155 Figure 31 •5.S.. 55S•••SSS S SSSS •S SS••S •S 156 -4- CHAPTER 4 Figure 1 ............................e 164 Figure 2 S.. •SSSSSS ••SS• •• ••• .......•• 179 Figure 3 ............................. 183 Figure 4 ....................S........ 193 CHAPTER 5 Figures 1 & 2 ............................. 213 Figures 3 & 4 ............................. 214 Figure 5 ............................. 214- 215 Figure 6 ............................. 216 Figure 7 ............................. 217 Figure 8 ............ S... •S••••S••S•S. 218 Figure 9 .......................e..... 228 Figure 10 ...........e............e.... 231 Figures 11-12 .e......e.................... 234 Figure 13 SASSS S S •SSSS•S• S ••S••.SS. •SSS 238 CHAPTER 6 Figure 1 • S SS.••• •e•• S • •SS•S•S. • SS S S• S 252 Figure 2 253 Figure 3 • S •SSSSS•SS S SS S S SS S S S S S S S S S SS 260 Figure 4 555 S...... S •55 S 555555.555.... 261 Figure 5 ......•..•.....•....e.S...... 263 Figure 6 •.SSS.S.S..S..S.. •55•SSSSSS•• 264 Figure 7 •5555555 55•5•55S55 •5 555555555 269 Figure 8 .•.........•SS•.S...S...•.... 278 Figure 9 •55555555 S S S S•SS S •SSSSSSS S5. 280 -5- LIST OF RECORDED EXAMPLES Chapter 1 Cassette 1 Side A 1. Ornette Coleman: "Free Jazz" (excerpt 2:50). 2. Horace Silver: "The Baghdad Blues" (4:48). 3. Charles Mingus: "Pithecanthropus Erectus" (10.18). 4. Charles Mingus: "Passions of a Man" (4:35). 5. Lennie Tristano: "Intuition" (2.22). 6. Lennie Tristano: "Digression" (3.00). 7. Thelonius Monk: "Evidence" (9.42). 8. Herbie Nichols: "The Gig" (4.18). 9. Herbie Nichols: "The House Party Starting" (4.30). Cassette 1 Side B 10. Herbie Nichols: "Query" (3:20). 11. Herbie Nichols: "Hangover Triangle" (3.55) 12. The People Band: (excerpt - 2:07). 13. John Coltrane: "Kulu Se Mama" (excerpt - 3:35). 14. Stockhausen: "Aus Den Sieben Tagen" (excerpt - 2.00). Chapter 2 15. Bill Evans Trio: "My Foolish Heart" (4.50). 16. Cecil Taylor: "Song" (excerpt 1:08) Fig. 1. 17. Cecil Taylor: "Luyah! The Glorious Step" (6.25) Fig.2-3 18. Cecil Taylor: "Conquistador!" (18:00) Fig.4-18. Cassette 2 Side A 19. Alex Schlippenbach: "The Hidden Peak I" (8:34) 20. Alex Schlippenbach: "The Hidden Peak II" (8.09) Fig.19 21. Alex Schlippenbach: "Payan" (6:33) Fig.20. -6- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks to Dr. Stanton for his advice and encouragement in the development of this project, and to the support, financial and otherwise, of the Music Department of the City University which greatly aided my research, and also made possible an extended period of study at the Creative Music Studio, Woodstock, New York. I am indebted to all those musicians who have assisted me in their willingness to be interviewed or to enter into correspondence about their work. These include Karl Berger, Ran Blake, Marilyn Crispell, Fred van Hove, Guus Janssen, Don Pullen, Howard Riley, Irene Schweizer, Martin Theurer and Keith Tippett. My thanks particularly to Borah Bergman for the many hours of discussion and stimulating keyboard sessions at his 73rd St studio which first pointed me in the many directions of this thesis. The City University may allow this thesis to be copied in whole or in part for study purposes without further reference to the author provided that the normal conditions of acknowledgement are observed. M.P.W. Lockett. -9- ABSTRACT The jazz avant-garde of the 60s and 70s has often been depicted as a movement that signalled the end of jazz as we had come to know it, a movement of unbridled musical energy and passion without the essential restraining influences of formal guidelines and reverence for - traditions. With the benefit of hindsight, from observing the almost neoclassical stance of jazz in the 80s, the notion that this music signified the genre's Armaggedon was patently a misconception. This thesis argues that free jazz was as much a style, concerned with finding its own voice and technical vocabulary, as any other period of jazz history. As an analytical and critical study of pianists and their use of the piano in free jazz and improvised music, this survey is designed to fill a gap in musicological research of this important artistic movement, which hitherto has been primarily concerned with biography and with related sociological issues. The study traces the piano through the turbulent years of radical experirnentalism in jazz and the subsequent refinement in free improvisation in Europe and the U.S. through the work of pianists central to the movement. Rather than adopting the chronological approach, this study considers the music under broad headings specifically related to technique; the - 10 - instrument's position within the group, and the generation of form, motivic structure and 'language'. Chapter 1, by way of introduction, outlines the argument of what constitutes the 'freedom' in free jazz and looks at the early development of the avant garde as it arose in opposition to the prevailing traditions of bebop and contemporary notated music with special reference to three influential pianists: Herbie Nichols, Lennie Tristano and Thelonius Monk. Chapter 2 is concerned with new concepts in overall form, while Chapter 3 takes a closer look at the smaller components, or motifs, of modular improvisatory structure. Chapter 4 examines the physical nature of piano tones, their unique qualities of sustain and resonance and their changing patterns of distribution in this music; looking at 'space' firstly in the sense of the piano's natural resonance and the pianists whose work has explored this particular characteristic, and secondly, the physical space involved in the act of playing, the sense of movement or kinaesthesis. Chapter 5 will concentrate on the dynamic and percussive approach to free jazz piano. Chapter 6 turns from the physiological to the psychological processes of improvisation; how the opposing forces of habit and originality assert themselves in the improviser's art. Chapter 7 will form a brief conclusion. - 11 - CHAPTER 1 There is always a danger in using such etymologically loaded words as 'freedom' that definitions become blurred.