Jeff Schwartz 
Free Jazz 

In the late 1950s, free jazz broke all the rules, liberating musicians both to create completely spontaneous and unplanned performances and to develop unique personal musical systems. This genre emerged alongside the radical changes of the 1960s, particularly the Civil Rights, Black Arts, and Black Power movements.
Free Jazz is a new and accessible introduction to this exciting, controversial, and often misunderstood music, drawing on extensive research, close listening, and the author’s experience as a performer. More than a catalog of artists and albums, the book explores the conceptual areas they opened: freedom, spirituality, energy, experimentalism, and self-determination. These are discussed in relation to both the political and artistic currents of the times and to specific musical techniques, explained in language clear to ordinary readers but also useful for musicians.

Table of Content

Acknowledgments



Introduction

Chapter Overviews



1. Freedom



Free

Harmolodics

Time, No Changes



2. Spirituality



A Love Supreme

Universal Consciousness

The Nubians of Plutonia

New Africa

Karma

Bridge into the New Age



3. Energy



Ascension

Machine Gun

We Now Create



4. Experimentalism



Imaginary Values

Sound Structure of Subculture Becoming

Ankhrasmation

Language Music

Zooid

Conduction

Search and Reflect



5. Self-determination



The Jazz Composers Guild

Self-Reliance Productions

Wildflowers

Uptown and Downtown



6. Ancient to the Future



A Jackson in Your House

Dogon A.D.



Notes

Index

About the author

Jeff Schwartz is a writer, bassist, and librarian in Los Angeles, California.