The State Of Jazz At The End Of The 70s; Jazz Bursts Into Pieces

In the seventies, jazz entered a neo classical phase. From Archie Shepp to Martial Solal, the rereading of yesterday's repertoire became common practise. At the same time, with Lee Konitz, Dexter Gordon or Art Pepper, a young public rediscovered the figures of free jazz. Increasingly numerous references to classical music drew from a wide range of sources.

The radiant figures of Gil Evans (above, 1987, just before his death) leaves one hoping that jazz has a future other than the commercial.

Generally speaking, in the United States as in the rest of the world, young musicians claimed an encyclopedic culture in which classical, rock and world music went side by side. From jazz, musicians retained an impressive ability to absorb and appropriate outside elements.

Jazz Bursts into pieces 

Born at the start of the century, jazz must now take stock. are its newest incarnations indications of an art running out of breath or the sign of an expanding tradition? Those who ask this question ignore the fact that, around the world, different types of music outside the mainstream have been inspired by jazz: they constitute  fanfare for the century that is nearing its end.

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In some circles, the thirties are hot and jazz is fashionable. Its look is evoked in fashion design and black-and-white advertising photographs.
Its imagery pervades the movies, as the film industry exploits the stereotype of the jazz genius.
its impact is felt in rock and roll. In other words, the image and the legend of jazz still have power, even while today's improvised music tends to detach itself from it.

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The West Coast And World Weariness (1)

As much as New York bebop seemed to be the expression of a community struggling for survival and recognition, so West Coast jazz musicians seemed to give themselves fully to introspection and existential suffering, combined with an indifference to everything around them. Admirers and critics alike found it difficult to place these young, white, middle class people on the same level as their urban black idols.

Art Pepper

In the fifties, as McCarthy's campaign against Communism progressed, and the United States plunged into the cold war, cultural life was at a peak. The anti establishment writers of the Beat Generation often referred to jazz in their work and participated with the California musicians in experiment combining music and literature. Preceding rock and roll, West Coast was the expression of a youth in rebellion against the middle class from which it came.

Chet Baker

Far from being easygoing, the music of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, for example, transmitted a quiet and embittered desperation, while Art Pepper, more unstable and intense, displayed an insatiable sensuality on the same instrument. As for Chet Baker, he was the great romantic figure of the West Coast. He played trumpet in a piano-less quarter led by Gerry Mulligan, who exemplified the spirit of the California fifties. This quartet was concerned with structure and melodic clarity, and it solos for two voices in counterpoint, sweet atmosphere, and feeling of chamber music foreshadowed many of the avenues explored in later jazz. Finally, the absence of the piano and the statement of the harmonies by the double bass alone offered wider freedom for the soloist.

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Cool Crystallizes On The West Coast

In the forties Stan Kenton, originally from the West Coast, combined swing with the spirit of 20th century Europeans composers. While they may have contributed to the frequent bombast of his work, his classical leanings - he pastiches both Stravinsky and Ravel - served as crucible for West Coast jazz. 
Indeed, it was in California that the principal players - Art Pepper,Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne and Frank Rosolino - met, all of them white and equally fascinated by Charlie Parker and Lester Young.

Stan Kenton & His Orchestra, "Night Watch" in 1951

From 1947 on Woody Herman made the 'Four Brothers' famous by putting the four unrelated sax players (three tenors and a baritone) at the centre of this band. The best known of the 'brothers' will always be Stan Getz. Discovered because of his solo in ' Early Autumn' in 1948, he set him self up as the apostle of fragility and romanticism that typified the West Coast style.

Stan Getz

Even though the majority of the West Coasters emerged from the ranks of Stan Kenton's and Woody Herman's big bands, it would be dangerous to reduce this style to a single current. Before anything else, it was a question of a geographic place where young musicians came  together, more attracted by the gentle California life-style than by the hard edges of New York. Technically able musicians, they found work in Hollywood studios and shared a taste for the subtlety and writing style that they had developed under the influence of Miles Davis' nonet.

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