but the label has been around so long it's stuck. unfortunately it's mostly associated with those that take the 'free' literally at the expense of the 'jazz'.

the first and most important thing when approaching any free jazz (i'm going to stop using quotes) material is what's the framework under which this was created.

to overly simplify there are two possible facets of a jazz song - the head and the improvisation. most people are comfortable when the head has more notable influence than the improvisation. so the head can be long, or the improvisation can be if it is clearly extended from the head *directly* so that the audience can hear it.

free jazz in essence is about shifting that balance so that the head becomes less of a *direct* factor in the song. for a great majority of what's been called free jazz however the head is still of utmost importance, but the way it extends into the improvisation is often abstracted so that it sounds much less direct. at the extreme the head is lost completely and it's all improvisation.

now the thing about improvisation is also understanding how that can be stretched. in a standard jazz arrangement the improvisation is a solo or (usually at most) a duet of improv where all of the other player play supporting roles which hold the song to the head. on the freer end of the spectrum everyone can improvise t the same time. this can be improvisation with each other or without. without of course being the farthest out because you have as many counter everythings as there are players.

to the everythings point let's simplify playing to melodic, harmonic and rhythmic. so a head has a harmonic, melodic and rhythmic sensibility, and one can improvise off of any of those. this is how it becomes abstracted but still related. a player can improvise without the harmonic and melodic relations to the head but still be hitting it rhythmically. or any mutation of that. two notes from the melody, a chord of the harmony and a triplet from the rhythm. sounds nothing like the head but still related.

again to the extreme extreme you have no head and everyone improvising of their own accord, which can sound like a cacophonous noise. that can be literally a masturbation and performances like this are what can give it a bad rap. however one can't be absolute and say such a set up cannot create good free jazz. in fact the premises may be laid out as such in order to find out where 'nautral' resonances occur. so the drummer and the bassist are playing free to start but then start to react to each other that creates the head, which then inspires the reed which in turn brings in the brass. there was no head to begin with but by the end all the players know it without ever having to say a word. that can be a beautiful thing.


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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." © Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."