Title: Forbidden triads and Creative Success in Jazz: The Miles Davis Factor,
Abstract: This article argues for the importance of forbidden triads - open triads with
high-weight edges - in predicting success in creative fields. Forbidden triads
had been treated as a residual category beyond closed and open triads, yet I
argue that these structures provide opportunities to combine socially evolved
styles in new ways. Using data on the entire history of recorded jazz from 1896
to 2010, I show that observed collaborations have tolerated the openness of
high weight triads more than expected, observed jazz sessions had more
forbidden triads than expected, and the density of forbidden triads contributed
to the success of recording sessions, measured by the number of record releases
of session material. The article also shows that the sessions of Miles Davis
had received an especially high boost from forbidden triads.