Silent form: embodied structure in transitional jazz performance practice

这是一个为期24个月的研究项目，将调查跨越20世纪50年代后期和60年代初的爵士乐过渡时期，在此期间，主要音乐家-包括钢琴家塞西尔·泰勒，萨克斯管演奏家奥尔内特·科尔曼和约翰·科尔特兰-制作音乐，试图打破许多在前几十年建立的方法规范。这个过渡时期的音乐通常被认为是20世纪60年代中后期“自由爵士”运动的先驱。的确，过渡爵士乐的一些主要支持者会继续演奏自由爵士乐——而且这两种类型的实践经常被混为一谈（例如，参见Jost(1974)）——但在方法上存在一些关键的差异。本项目将分析这些差异，并考虑这样做对我们理解和背景化的方式的影响：1)科尔曼和科尔特兰在这一时期所做的工作；2)对我们理解随后的自由爵士运动的方式的更广泛的影响。20世纪60年代中后期的“自由爵士”运动对音乐、文化和政治的影响已经得到了广泛的研究，但在这一过渡时期创作的爵士乐的重要性仍然没有得到充分的体现。这个项目的一个主要目的是增加我们对过渡爵士乐的文化和历史意义的理解，就其与20世纪50年代末到60年代初之间发生的更广泛的文化变化的关系而言，以及随后的60年代后期的自由爵士运动。该项目的一个更广泛的目标是为新兴的话语做出贡献，这些话语将体现的知识和群体互动作为理解爵士即兴创作的基本因素，从而挑战对作曲和即兴创作之间关系的传统理解。该项目将通过强调仅使用传统音乐学手段无法理解的音乐外因素的重要性，强调结合传统和实践主导方法的研究方法对爵士乐研究的价值。该项目的另一个目标是探索如何将实践主导的研究问题和结果传达给学术界以外的爵士乐听众。以实践为主导的研究将与一系列与伯明翰组织Jazzlines和TDE促销合作的演讲/音乐会密切相关。一个开源的转录资源将允许研究人员开发新的洞察方法实践和小组互动在过渡的20世纪60年代的爵士乐实践。以实践为主导的研究将用于调查“沉默形式”的概念，以揭示标准爵士表演实践的具体知识如何影响自由即兴创作。通过收集Coleman和Coltrane乐队20世纪60年代早期关键录音的转录组合，通过使用传统和实践主导的方法阐明和研究“沉默形式”的概念，并利用实践研究人员和非学术表演者的综合专业知识，这个项目强调了标准爵士形式的具体知识，作为向自由爵士过渡的核心组成部分，以及随后的爵士表演实践。通过对受众参与和对研究问题的反应进行系统研究，本研究还将增强我们对影响策略以及实践与研究之间关系的理解。

This is a 24-month research project that will investigate a period of transition in jazz that spanned the latter part of the 1950s and early 1960s, during which key musicians - including pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane - made music that sought to break down many of the methodological norms established during the preceding decades. The music of this transitional period is generally recognised as a precursor to the 'free jazz' movement of the middle to late 1960s. While it is true that some key proponents of transitional jazz would go on to perform free jazz - and the two types of practice are often conflated (see, for example, Jost (1974)) - there are some key methodological differences. This project will analyse these differences and consider the impact of doing so on the way we understand and contextualise 1) the body of work made by Coleman and Coltrane during this period and 2) the wider implications for the way we understand the subsequent free jazz movement.The musical, cultural and political impact of the 'free jazz' movement of the middle to late 1960s has been widely studied, but the significance of the music made during this transitional period in jazz remains underrepresented. A primary aim of this project is to increase our understanding of the cultural and historical significance of transitional jazz in terms of its relationship to wider cultural changes that occurred during the period between the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as the subsequent free jazz movement of the later 1960s. A broader aim of the project is to contribute to the emerging discourse that foregrounds embodied knowledge and group interaction as factors that are fundamental to the understanding of jazz improvisation, and consequently to challenge traditional understanding of the relationship between composition and improvisation. The project will emphasise the value to jazz studies of a research methodology that combines traditional and practice-led methods by highlighting the significance of extra-musical factors that cannot be understood using solely traditional musicological means. A further aim of the project is to explore ways of communicating practice-led research questions and outcomes to jazz audiences beyond academia. The practice-led research will be closely linked to a series of presentations/concerts in partnership with Birmingham-based organisations Jazzlines and TDE Promotions. An open-source transcription resource will allow researchers to develop new insight into the methodological practices and group interaction in transitional 1960s jazz practice. Practice-led research will be used to investigate the concept of 'silent form' in order to shed new light on ways that embodied knowledge of standard jazz performance practices can influence free improvisation.By amassing a portfolio of transcriptions of key early-1960s recordings by the bands of Coleman and Coltrane, by articulating and researching the concept of 'silent form' using both traditional and practice-led methods, and by drawing on the combined expertise of practice-researchers as well as non-academic performers, this project emphasises the embodied knowledge of standard jazz forms as a central component in both the transition towards free jazz as well as subsequent types of jazz performance practice. By incorporating a systematic study of audience engagement with, and reaction to, the research questions, the study will also enhance our understanding of impact strategies and the relationships between practice and research.