ornette coleman was the first jazz musician that exhibited free jazz techniques.
who was the first jazz musician that exhibited free jazz techniques?
ornette coleman
although free jazz is widely considered to begin in the late 1950s, there are compositions that precede this era that have notable connections to the free jazz aesthetic. some of the works of lennie tristano in the late 1940s, particularly "intuition", "digression", and "descent into the maelstrom" exhibit the use of techniques associated with free jazz, such as atonal collective improvisation and lack of discrete chord changes. other notable examples of proto-free jazz include "city of glass" written in 1948 by bob graettinger for the stan kenton band and jimmy giuffre's 1953 "fugue". it can be argued, however, that these works are more representative of third stream jazz with its references to contemporary classical music techniques such as serialism.
free jazz
free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. although the music produced by free jazz composers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s. each in their own way, free jazz musicians attempted to alter, extend, or break down the conventions of jazz, often by discarding hitherto invariable features of jazz, such as fixed chord changes or tempos. while usually considered experimental and avant-garde, free jazz has also oppositely been conceived as an attempt to return jazz to its "primitive", often religious roots, and emphasis on collective improvisation. free jazz is strongly associated with the 1950s innovations of ornette coleman and cecil taylor and the later works of saxophonist john coltrane. other important pioneers included charles mingus, eric dolphy, albert ayler, archie shepp, joe maneri and sun ra. although today "free jazz" is the generally used term, many other terms were used to describe the loosely defined movement, including "avant-garde", "energy music" and "the new thing". during its early and mid-60s heyday, much free jazz was released by established labels such as prestige, blue note and impulse, as well as independents such as esp disk and byg actuel. free improvisation or "free music" is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. the term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in its own right. free improvisation, as a genre of music, developed in the u.s. and europe in the mid to late 1960s, largely as an outgrowth of free jazz and modern classical musics. none of its primary exponents can be said to be famous within mainstream; however, in experimental circles, a number of free musicians are well known, including saxophonists evan parker, anthony braxton, peter brötzmann and john zorn, drummer christian lillinger, trombonist george lewis, guitarists derek bailey, henry kaiser and fred frith and the improvising groups the art ensemble of chicago and amm.
counterculture of the 1960s