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Re: George Lewis Pdf



I enjoyed Derek's book. In particular, I resonated very well with explanation of what has happened to jazz since the 50's.
 
"It was probably during the 1950's that jazz first gave signs of running out of steam...In recent years the news from America has been mainly in the form of obituaries and the surviving 'stars' perambulate the world of displaying their wares in an endless round of festivals, unchallenged by the arrival of new players and seemingly divorced from any sort of indigenous activity or musical development. Each successive jazz revival leaves the music more firmly established as a bulwark of the nostalgia industry".
 
The long passage from Steve Lacie is my favorite.  "Jazz got to so that it wasn't improvised anymore. A lot of music that was going on was really not improvised. It got so that everybody knew what was going to happen and, sure enough, that's what happened. Maybe the order of the phrases and tunes would be a little different every night, but for me that wasn't enough. It reached a point where I, and many other people, got sick and tired of the 'beat' and the '4 bars' - everybody got tired of the systematic playing, and we just said 'Fuck it'."...some people are interested in carrying on an old tradition and they can find their kicks in shifting round patterns and they are not in any rush to find new stuff. They can rummage around the old stuff their whole lives. People become obsessed with not just maintaining a tradition but with perfecting it...[cut] "And you have to keep it going otherwise you lose that freedom. And then the music is finished. It's a matter of life and death. The only criterion is - 'Is this stuff alive or dead?'". 
 
I also like Bailey's interpretation of the value of transcribing in jazz or in learning to improvise. I've never found that as a useful tool, in terms of making me a better player or increasing my improvisation skills...maybe making it easier for me to copy other players' licks and clichés, but nothing from a creative standpoint.
 
Basically, Derek's book is condensed catalogue of various forms of improvisation, based on interviews he conducted on a radio show. And of course, he integrates a bit of his own opinions, observations, and biases throughout this format.
 
Kris
 
----- Original Message -----

Kris, if you can spare the time, I'd like to get my hands on this document, too. BTW, has anyone read Derek Bailey's "Improvisation"? I can highly recommend it (make sure you get the 2nd edition). Samba, it also covers Indian music.

Cheers from Switzerland

Nico



Am 14.04.2008 um 07:07 schrieb samba -:

 George 
Lewis' "Improvised Music after 1950"
  Yes please send me a copy ,I'm very interested. 
  I too feel these studies aren't defining improvisation carefully enough.
I expect that will develop. I would like to see Indian Classical musicans studied,
as well as players with much less formal training.



















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