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Analyzing Improvised Jazz

Author(s): Gary Potter


Source: College Music Symposium, Vol. 32 (1992), pp. 143-160
Published by: College Music Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40374206
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Analyzing Improvised Jazz
Gary Potter

\Tow that jazz is achieving respectability in educational circles and analysts are
JL i plying their diverse techniques to improvised solos, it is appropriate to review wha
is being done in jazz analysis and to suggest a direction for the future. The three p
poses of this article are: to present an overview of several methods for analysis of impr
vised jazz, including bibliographic references for further study; to introduce an analyti
format which approaches a synthesis of aspects of these methods; and to apply
format to a classic solo, both to demonstrate the format and to acquaint the reader wit
a fine piece of music to share with students.

Overview of Various Approaches to Jazz Analysis

downbeat magazine was regularly publishing transcriptions and analyses of ja


solos by the early 1950s.1 One early analytic tool would relate each pitch of a solo to th
root of the chord in effect as that note is played (for example, noting a melodic leap fr
the 7th to the augmented 11th of a particular chord). Problems arise immediately
deciding which chords to use as reference points. The "original" chord changes (ha
monic progression)? There may be no authoritative set of changes. The progress
played by piano and bass? They may not even agree with one another, and the sol
may not always be relating to either of them. The changes the soloist is "thinking
made evident in the solo itself? Trying to recreate the soloist's thought process is diffi-
cult and dangerous. Nevertheless, even with these problems, the attempt to relate melod
to the underlying harmony in this way has proved useful to improvisation students and
still important in jazz education.
Often it is even more useful to show the relationship between a longer melod
passage and the underlying harmony than to deal with each note individually. For
ample, pointing out that a passage of music over an E-flat major seventh chord "uses th
E-flat lydian mode" summarizes the pitch material and ties in well with the chord-scale
correlation approach of many jazz improvisation courses.
A second approach to analysis of jazz solos entails recognition of the fact that many
solos seem to be constructed not in terms of notes or scales prompted by a certain chor
but in terms of complete melodic patterns or formulas which can fit a chord or series o
chords. Jazz writers have long pointed out that most players reuse musical ideas fr
solo to solo, to one extent or another. But it was Thomas Owens who made it clear
how pervasive formulas could be in the solos of Charlie Parker. Owens's dissertation
labor of love which included some 250 transcriptions, catalogued the appearance

This article is re-printed from Volume 30. It was edited for that volume by Margaret M. Barela.

1 See Bill Russo and Lloyd Lifton, "Jazz Off the Record," an irregular series beginning with Vol. 17, No. 1 (Januar
13, 1950). I am indebted to Barry Kernfeld, editor of theAfew Grove Dictionary of Jazz, for reminding me of a column
Sharon Pease which appeared regularly indownbeat from April 1937 through the 1940s. Each column contained a pianist
biography, a notated piano solo, and often a few analytical comments as well.

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144 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

about 100 formulas which Parker reworks solo after solo.2 Such evidence of formula
playing in perhaps the greatest of jazz improvisers suggests that formula identification
and cataloguing is a fruitful analytic pursuit. And it also adds a new aspect to improvi-
sation pedagogy: the student learns not only scales which fit various chords, but also a
series of melodic formulas which can be plugged into appropriate spots in the chord
progression.
Recent jazz writers have noted the similarity between this sort of formulaic jazz
improvisation and a kind of poetry in which a story-teller relies on often-used phrases
when retelling a poem which has not been fixed into written form. Borrowing from ana-
lysts of Homer's epic poems, jazz analysts have applied some of their techniques to
improvised solos.3 Some of the problems in poetic analysis have carried over into music
analysis as well, however. In both areas it has proven to be difficult to decide exactly
what qualifies as a formula. Must it be of a certain length? Must it be sufficiently unique
to be recognized as a formula? How does one decide whether a certain musical idea is
one long formula or two shorter formulas? Gregory Smith, in his dissertation on Bill
Evans,4 discusses these problems and determines formulas primarily according to direc-
tion of motion (up or down) from one tone of "relative stability" to another. In one solo
alone he identifies 190 formulas which he then divides into categories about which gen-
eralizations can be made and conclusions drawn.
Barry Kernfeld has circumvented the problem of delineating specific "formulas" by
identifying "formulaic networks" in a solo or solos.5 Using an ingenious and informative
display, Kernfeld clearly shows recurrent patterns without having to define the formula.
Although a complete explanation is beyond the scope of this article, Figure 1 sums up
formulaic playing by John Coltrane in one solo consisting of 22 blues choruses. In all,
Coltrane plays B-flat-C-D-(E-flat)-F in eighth notes 36 times in this solo. The figure also
shows that the context of that pattern - the two or three beats on either side - varies
rather little as well.

2 Thomas Owens, "Charlie Parker: Techniques of Improvisation" (Doctoral diss., Univ. of California at Los Angeles,
1974).
3 For jazz analysis relying heavily although not exclusively on formula identification, see Lawrence Gushee, "Lester
Young's vShoeshine Boy,'" in International Musicological Society, Report of the Twelfth Congress, Berkeley, 1977, (Kassel,
1981). See also Barry Kernfeld, "Adderley, Coltrane, and Davis at the Twilight of Bebop: The Search for Melodic Coher-
ence (1958-59)" (Doctoral diss., Cornell Univ., 1981). Sources on formulaic composition in literature include Ruth Finnigan,
Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance and Social Context (Cambridge, 1977); Albert B. Lord, The Singer of Tales, (1960;
reprint, New York, 1965); and Milman Parry, The Making of Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers ofMilman Parry, ed.
Adam Parry (Oxford, 1971).
4 Gregory Smith, "Homer, Gregory, and Bill Evans? The Theory of Formulaic Composition in the Context of Jazz
Piano Improvisation" (Doctoral diss., Harvard Univ., 1983).
5 Barry Kernfeld, "Two Coltranes," Annual Review of Jazz Studies 2 (New Brunswick, N.J., 1983), 7-66.

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ANALYZING IMPROVISED JAZZ 145

Figure 1. Barry Kernfeld: Formulaic Recurrence Table for a J

' 1 k

9J 3

I, i ^
'.''t'l'l',
t) L t) ' |L J
' | JIJJ-J
,'lllLLiLl'l'l
i
UJ UJp3
'fff

Li

lxl '_!i_J
A

<v -^r^^1^^ ' ' - - '


tT" | ' L-^U^^--

Li

6 Ibid., 26.

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146 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

Other writers have discussed pattern terminology,


"motive," and "lick."7 One point still seems as clea
tation appeared: many jazz improvisers do make u
study of these recurrences leads to clearer unders
helps us understand coherence and continuity in
musician), or possibly exposes uncreative redunda
important aspect of jazz analysis.
A third analytic approach applies Schenker's ana
recent dissertation Steve Larson makes a strong case
analysis to improvised jazz.8 Some analysts would
ships Schenkerian analysis might uncover, assum
improvisers - cannot be expected to think in such lon
strates that the best improvisers do indeed have this
solo and Evans's discussion of the solo to prove it
Larson is not alone in applying Schenkerian tech
Stewart has studied Clifford Brown's style from a
mas Owens has included several Schenkerian graph
viously-mentioned dissertation.
A fourth approach also uses reductive techniqu
tion-realization theories of Leonard Meyer and E
(composed melodies) noting that bebop improvisat
Simplifying Meyer and Williams greatly, various
their continuation. Scale wise motion often tends to
to a point of stability. Melodic leaps may be the begi
may be gaps which imply a scalewise "fill" of that
tion. Whatever the implication of a gesture, the r
may not take place; that is, the listener's expectation
expectation may be fulfilled after a delay.
Figure 2 diagrams a network of interlocking im
Williams's graphing techniques cannot be discussed in
F in m. 1 is filled in by the scale passage complet
reaches "satisfactory" closure on G (mm. 5-8), but
left unrealized until m. 15 when its appearance al
for two separate linear descents. Thus that G repr
three different implications reaching as far back as

7 See Lewis Porter, "Lester Leaps In: The Early Style of Lester You
See also the formulaic approach incorporated into abroad eclectic stu
Young (Boston, 1985).
8 Steven Larson, "Schenkerian Analysis of Modern Jazz" (Doctoral
9 Milton Stewart, "Some Characteristics of Clifford Brown's Impr
11 (1979), 135-64.
10 Leonard B. Meyer, Explaining Music: Essays and Exploratio
Schenkerism: The Need for Alternatives in Music Analysis (Chicago,
posed by Jazz Musicians of the Bebop Era: A Study of Harmony, Rh
1982).

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ANALYZING IMPROVISED JAZZ 147

Figure 2. Kent Williams: Analysis of Bud Powell's "Wail"11

EtMaj Atmin6 A7 Et/Bt Cmin7


,kiiiii J J m rf \ifir v * i 7 7 r 1 ir^r rlr J J
I J> ' J J J J r rjj m ' v ' i * 7 7 p r 1 1 r r y

2iA j j J J J J
Fmin7 Bb7 E^Maj Fmin7_ F|f7

Gmin7 P7 F7 Bt7 Et

ik|fi. J ^J T
Al> A7 Et/Bb Cmin7 F7 Bl>7

iiJ'i. *> r j^j* ^ p i p i[j if p 7 [rvt> cf

Et C7 F7 Bl>7 E\> BVJ Ek

"^ 1 1 1 T from m 8

from m. 12

A fifth approach to analyzing improvise


and spoken language. Although drawing pa
dangerous pursuit, Alan Perlman and Daniel

11 Williams, 1,211.

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148 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

tive ideas.12 For example, the structural levels in


analogues in jazz; deep, shallow, and surface langu
seen to parallel underlying harmonies, various scale
nies, and the particular solo itself. II-V-I harmonic pa
common bebop harmonic patterns - are similar to
tures. Quotations may be seen to play similar roles
must know a language to understand a speech in th
language to fully understand jazz improvisation. Perlm
ever, that there are "inside" and "outside" jazz au
different kinds of significance, "as it may be meanin
impassioned - but untranslated - speech by the prime
see and hear it in its original context."13
While such parallels between spoken language a
ing - and Perlman and Greenblatt present many m
guistic techniques to jazz analysis has, to my kno
takes a linguistic approach in an attempt (largely u
quoting melodic fragments from pieces with lyrics, i
sometimes do communicate specific verbal informa
"telling stories" in their solos.14
A sixth approach involves pitch class set analysi
Contemporary Jazz,15 Jeff Pressing applies set an
vertical structures in a Thad Jones arrangement and
improvisation. In a recent presentation entitled "Pitch
Steven Block demonstrates that pitch set analysis can
ing improvisations of Cecil Taylor, Ornette Colema

Toward a Synthesis

Certainly there are variations on all these appro


some quite different approaches as well. In any cas
informative; all of these focused approaches ought to
and their results made available to interested listener
that there is a need for a kind of analysis which d
approaches, combining them into a single presentat

Alan Perlman and Daniel Greenblatt, "Miles Davis Meets Noam


Improvisation and Language Structure" in The Sign in Music and Lite
83.

13 Ibid., 181.

14 Nicholas Strout, "I've Heard That Song Before: Linguistic and Narrative Aspects of Melodic Quotation in
Instrumental Jazz Improvisation" (Masters thesis, Indiana Univ., 1986).
15 Jeff Pressing, "Pitch Class Set Structures in Contemporary Jazz," Jazzforschung/Jazz Research 14 (1982),
133-72.

16 Steven Block, "Pitch Class Transformation in Free Jazz," paper delivered at the annual meeting of the Society
for Music Theory, Baltimore, November, 1988.

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ANALYZING IMPROVISED JAZZ 149

might ultimately concentrate on one or two of the individual ap


should be broad enough to consider them all, open to the gre
vised solos. Different solos are prized for different reasons. A li
tion characteristics contains diverse and even contradictory
would not be difficult to think of a solo or soloist valued for ea

Great speed
Wide range (particularly high range)
Tremendous endurance
Beautiful legitimate tone and flawless intonation (or)
Wonderfully bizarre and unique sound; unusual approach to intonation
An excited, propulsive, on-top-of-the-beat feel (or)
A loose, relaxed, laid-back feel
Showing empathy with past eras of jazz (or)
Being novel, original, non-derivative
Quoting often and effectively (or)
Refusing to "mar" the solo by "sudden quotation"17
Showing restraint and classical balance (or)
Making expressive use of growls, honks, squeaks, and split tones

And this is just the start of a long list. David Baker, in a series of monographs analyzing
the music of Cannonball Adderley, Clifford Brown, Fats Navarro and others, does take
into consideration many seldom-discussed features.18He employs a standard two-page
form on which the features are listed; the analyst checks off those features present in a
given solo.
Many factors may contribute toward making an improvised solo "good" or "great."
A solo which shows little motivic or formulaic coherence, or which will not reduce to a
Schenkerian model, or which leaves implications unrealized may nevertheless be a great
solo for other reasons, reasons harder to theorize about or harder to uncover by applying
one specific analytic methodology. Although there is a place for analysis in which one
method is applied exclusively, the analyst must realize that it provides only a single
view.
Any music analyst needs to ask two questions: Why analyze this music? And for
whom is my analysis intended? My answers to these questions determine the direction of
the rest of this article. Why analyze jazz? Jazz deserves to be studied because, at its best,
it is glorious music, worthy of appreciation on all levels including the intellectual. For
whom is my analysis intended? Any fairly well-trained listener-reader, whether jazz
lover or not, particularly the musician who may have little exposure to jazz and who can
be guided to greater understanding and, therefore, greater appreciation.

17 Gunther Schuller, "Sonny Rollins and the Challenge of Thematic Improvisation," Jazz Review 1 (1958), 6.
18 David N. Baker, The Jazz Style of Cannonball Adderley (Lebanon, Ind., 1980). See additional volumes in this
series on Clifford Brown, Fats Navarro, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Sonny Rollins.

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150 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

With these answers in mind, my analysis strive


closely as possible:

(1) The analytic perspective should be eclectic, h


help explain a solo's effectiveness.

(2) The improvised solo should be transcribed in


out elaborate additional symbols which can clutter
every expressive nuance.

(3) As much of the analysis as possible should b


Some verbal description is inevitable, but it should

I try to present as much information as possibl


itself. A four-line score works well, at least for preli
transcribed solo, at concert pitch rather than in th
changes are indicated above the solo. Again, it can
to indicate; those of the rhythm section players carr
by particular pitch patterns of the soloist. Publishe
ered, but suspiciously. Ultimately, chord choice m
guess. This top line may also be used to indicate th
chord roots or use of certain scales, but nothing sh
The second line focuses on pitch continuity, par
tions of tendency tones, and stepwise motion at th
Meyer inform the approach but are not followed stri
nuity seems to disappear, nothing appears on that
a continuity or coherence which does not exist.
The third line deals with motivic patterns. It migh

(1) Motives from the head which are woven into

(2) New motives which are repeated and develop

(3) Formulas (recurrent melodic patterns of var


terns only within a single solo and make no attempt
style. Nothing would preclude taking a broader per

19 There is certainly no necessity for using a 4-line display for every


format for new transcriptions. In a letter to the author in which he supp
"cookbook* approach to analysis. For me analysis is an inspirational, creative activity, like making music

suggests its own approach

with a standardized chart or with the staff setup you suggest." And while Porter values "a
on words," he points out that his article on John Coltrane ("John Coltrane's VA Lov
Composition," Journal of the American Musicological Society 38 [ 1 985] , 593-62 1 ) w
out substantial text.

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ANALYZING IMPROVISED JAZZ 1 5 1

ize about overall style only after studying a substantial percen


recorded output.

(4) References to the original melody or quotations from oth


can alternatively be indicated on the top line, provided they do
transcription itself.

An optional fourth line in my preliminary score allows for in


matters for which musical notation or a brief comment would be c
diate than a separate verbal statement. Various rhythmic and ex
appear here.
Separate tables or notated reductions could be added, but only if the same informa-
tion could not as effectively be presented parallel to the transcription. A danger in plac-
ing so much emphasis on musical notation in the analysis is that important but hard-to-
notate features may be ignored. A brief narrative mentioning such features, highlighting
important aspects of the notational analysis, and perhaps drawing conclusions, is there-
fore usually part of the analysis as well.
The value of this analytic format can best be demonstrated by listening to a solo
several times while studying the notational analysis. Each successive hearing brings the
listener-reader closer to an understanding of the analyst's view as to what makes the solo
effective. The eye of the listener-reader moves easily among the solo and analysis lines.
Shifts from one analytic tool to another are easily visible; indeed, they suggest tactical
changes in the improviser's approach as well.
The following sample analysis begins with a brief verbal summary of a legendary
improvised solo by Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. Figure 3 presents the original me-
lodic material. My transcription of the improvisation itself along with the majority of the
analytic information are presented in Figure 4.

Sample Analysis

In a classic recording of Thelonious Monk's Straight, No Chaser, Cannonball


Adderley improvises on alto saxophone over five choruses of the standard twelve-bar-
blues chord progression; pauses at or near the end of each chorus divide the improvisa-
tion into five almost equal sections, and the individual choruses are further divided - by
rests for breaths - into two to five phrases each. In spite of the quick tempo, the soloist's
rhythmic approach is relaxed, often "laid-back" (slightly behind the pulse of the rhythm
section). In portions of all but the fourth chorus, Addrley's melody moves primarily in
sixteenth-notes; these flowing and relaxed "double-time" sections demonstrate absolute
technical control of the instrument and provide vivid contrast to the primarily eighth-
note motion of the rest of the solo. Rhythmic mastery and inventiveness are strikingly
demonstrated by an area in the second chorus (mm. 6-8) in which accented notes create
an implied 3/8 meter against the 4/4 of the rhythm section.

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1 52 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

References to the "head" (Monk's composed melody


occur frequently: at the beginning of choruses 1, 3, 4
last chorus.

Figure 3. Thelonious Monk, "Straight, No Chaser," pr

F Bk7

The third li
patterns whi
particularly in
virtually intac
gression recu
ruses, a long p
first chorus a
The third lin
improvisation
varied at the
ences to the h
A different k
can be percei
on the second
the improvisa
in which a sca
emphasized p
two, heard to
of this kind o
provisational
emphasis on t
heat-to-light
lent in these d
Remarkably,
just sixty me
formed with
series of idea
contrary, the

20 Gregory Smith
Composition in th
note in each instan
21 Descending step
Parker's improvisa

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ANALYZING IMPROVISED JAZZ 153

particularly as Adderley moves between eighth- and sixteen


the entire range of the saxophone, and at several places (e.g., the
the fifth chorus) "plays outside," - i.e., deliberately choosing
operative chord progression. And although the five choruses are
idea, Schenkerian or otherwise, Adderley's solo is a single, u
The last few measures return to the eighth-note pace, the range
pitches of the solo's beginning. The final four notes in part
gesture, and the solo ends, satisfyingly, much as it began.22

Figure 4. Transcription and analysis by the author of Cann


vised Solo on "Straight, No Chaser."23

(1), F Bk7 F [G7 C7]

Linear Jr L 4 ==== I 1 1 :====I= ==


Continuity :feg=;p= * ^ I 1 * , *

Motives/ /U *
Formulas 1 (fo * 4 ' m '^*1 \
tT - ^

(1)4 F7 t B7 1 Bk7

22 For readers unfam


indicates a major triad o
the root are common ad
added. The tonic chord
needed, an arabic 7 afte
on A. In jazz, inversion
"Straight, No Chaser," F
B indicates a Db major-m
' position.
In Fig. 4, measures are numbered by chorus and measure within the 12-bar chorus. For example, (1)5 refers to the fifth
measure of the first chorus.
24 Milestones. Columbia Records CL 1193 and CS 9428 (New York, April 2, 1958). Currently available on record,
tape, and compact disk reissued by Columbia Jazz Masterpieces, CJ/CK/CJT-40784.

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1 54 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

rAk7i
(1)7 F (

V I

jp l r ii i . ^ i J i
m* l ^^ r J i>r . I i l i

(Dio C7 F [Blrm7 El>7] F

^S^^

If ' W^J a

(D12 (2)1 F

(2)2 Bl7 [Btm7?] F

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ANALYZING IMPROVISED JAZZ 155

- , [B71 F7J Bl>7 [Btm7]

^
?
?f
seqTCe
I a seqTCe

(2)6 Et7 F Am7 Akm7

[melodic accents create |j cross rhythm]

cf. (1) 11

(2)9 Gm7 C7 3^

JLi'

(2)12 (3)1 F [Bl>7?l

^ " i v ^
Js
-*
I
q

A> "T :::".

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1 56 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

(3)3 F , Cm7

hi ,.

I '

(3)5 fi^7 Am7 [D7]

j)'~T~ \ If
\ If

Q - | - same pitches

I'!1 Q - ,.. ' | - same pitches i


(3)8 Akn7 D7

glissando

^ ^J >J ^ J iJ.|J. J i J J J ^
^ i1- HiJm I i
(3)11 F <4>1 F p^
L *' 9th L
ju vi- /
f] * i
* pattern (motive)

b_ _ . i ^ ii' * * * ^^
I - ^ head: structural pitches - I

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ANALYZING IMPROVISED JAZZ 1 57

(4)2 Bl7 p-^ F Lf7 J

s-k modified: rhythm & pitch ^-^ modified: rhythm ^-^ modified: rhythm & p

(4)5 Bl>7 Am7 [D7]

^ Jl

cf. (3) 6-8

(4)8 Akn7 [Dl7] Gm7 C7

^ ^r [jj ^i>J i P ( r I ' F blues scale

(4)11 F (5)1 F

l^ _rJ
vv.'

J I i || U
Cf. (3)11

* 1 J I II bb> # ' -^ - ^^U :

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1 58 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

(5)2 Bl>7 F F7

v ..r^L..

-Af-ty vw - |

s - ^ modified: rh

(5)5 Bl>7 _

-ijL-y- # " "


^

t) - ^ V

(5)7 F Am7 D7

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ANALYZING IMPROVISED JAZZ 159

(5)9 Gm7 C7

4jl f f r 'r r Y r 'r '


(5)11 F [F7/A Bl> Dt/rtl F/C C7 (6)1 F

*'* l|j rJ ^'J ' f' # I

'^U

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160 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

Conclusion

Analysis of improvised jazz is still in its infancy. Various analytic approaches men-
tioned in this article have begun to illuminate the music, and other as yet undiscovered
analytic techniques will undoubtedly contribute to our understanding. Meanwhile, a
broader analytic approach is also needed, one which draws upon the various focused
approaches and presents the music and its explanation to interested listener-readers,
including musicians who lack extensive jazz backgrounds. Too often, non-jazz music
teachers and students assume that jazz is esoteric, that one needs years of study and
perhaps even a special sort of talent to appreciate it fully. Too often, jazz lovers them-
selves have encouraged this assumption, enjoying status as the privileged few able to
understand such difficult music. In fact, jazz music is, for the most part, not at all diffi-
cult, and the best jazz quickly rewards study. Jazz lovers have an obligation to share their
music. College music teachers in particular should be given the opportunity, in part
through clear broad-based analyses, to understand it themselves and pass their under-
standing on to others. Generations of music students must not be allowed to miss the
beauty and depth of this uniquely American music.

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