Lennie and Ornette searching for freedom in improvisation : observations on the music of Lennie Tristano and Ornette Coleman

Abstract

This thesis examines the music of two pioneers of free improvisation in jazz: Lennie Tristano and Ornette Coleman. Besides emphasizing the melodic language of both musicians, this study presents analyses and transcriptions of their compositions and improvisations. The author's approach as a musician researcher stresses the importance of transcription and emulation as study methods.

Because Tristano and Coleman are somewhat controversial figures in jazz history, this study addresses to most commonly asked questions: Was Tristano a genuine modernist and innovator who was ahead his time? Does Coleman's music have inner logic and structure despite its seemingly naive and chaotic surface?

Analyzing Tristano's music proved to that he was already using modern harmonic devices in his late 1940's compositions. In his Line Up improvisation, for example, he systematically employed side slipping techniques to create harmonic tension. Although Tristano experimented with odd time signatures and off-kilter melodic accents, his rhythmic concept and phrasing were not significantly ahead of his contemporaries.

Analysing Coleman's melodies proved that his melodic language consists of several elements – archaic country and blues, tonal bebop melodies and modal techniques among them – that are used deliberately. Coleman exploits the principles of western tonal music intuitively with great artistic success despite his apparent unfamiliarity with formal music theory.

This thesis examines the music of two pioneers of free improvisation in jazz: Lennie Tristano and Ornette Coleman. Besides emphasizing the melodic language of both musicians, this study presents analyses and transcriptions of their compositions and improvisations. The author's approach as a musician researcher stresses the importance of transcription and emulation as study methods. Because Tristano and Coleman are somewhat controversial figures in jazz history, this study addresses to most commonly asked questions: Was Tristano a genuine modernist and innovator who was ahead his time? Does Coleman's music have inner logic and structure despite its seemingly naive and chaotic surface? Analyzing Tristano's music proved to that he was already using modern harmonic devices in his late 1940's compositions. In his Line Up improvisation, for example, he systematically employed side slipping techniques to create harmonic tension. Although Tristano experimented with odd time signatures and off-kilter melodic accents, his rhythmic concept and phrasing were not significantly ahead of his contemporaries. Analysing Coleman's melodies proved that his melodic language consists of several elements – archaic country and blues, tonal bebop melodies and modal techniques among them – that are used deliberately. Coleman exploits the principles of western tonal music intuitively with great artistic success despite his apparent unfamiliarity with formal music theory.