Free jazz

Free jazz was developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Proponents of free jazz were Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Joe Harriott, and Bill Dixon. These artists have paved the way for the founding of free jazz. But it was not until Coleman moved to West New York and signed under Atlantic Records that a giant step was realized with his album releases Change of the Century and The Shape of Jazz to Come. In early 1960, he released an album entitled Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation that created a major jazz movement and gave birth to whole new style as a whole.

There was generally no known accepted definition for free jazz except that its proponents often labeled it as ‘Energy music’ or “The New Thing”. Free jazz players were often said to be playing either “out” or “outside”, contrary to “inside” which implies “conventional”. Free jazz players liked the idea and produced titles that denote their “out” jazz.

Free jazz was a black American expression of dissent to the white venture for what was called a soul jazz. Free jazz appeals more to the intellect, hence, it became less suitable for dance than bebop. It is a silent rebellion to the white beats of that era as exemplified in This is Our Music by Ornette Coleman in the 1960s. Freedom from music conventions was often the theme of free jazz, as this was often vividly expressed by free jazz artists themselves. The artist Sun Ra, through his music, exemplified his philosophies on being a black American in the public scene and on intellectualism. They employed different expressive harmonies beyond than those that were often dissatisfying in bebop and modal jazz. Free was incepted to breakdown the barriers that created the conventions in jazz music, often by extending the chord changes and tempos but retain the essence of jazz but with the much-enjoyed freedom.

Free jazz’s domination ended in the late 1960s with the advent of fusion jazz. Fusion jazz is the result of another evolution that quickly outpaced free jazz with its hybrid chord progressions, and harmonies that were derived from other existing music genres. Even so, free jazz continued to flourish to the other parts of the world especially in Europe and Japan. Inspired by Ornette Coleman’s embrace of jazz, artists like Ronald Shannon Jackson and Sonny Sharrock forged musical styles that incorporated free jazz back in the 1970s.