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FREE JAZZ VS. FREE IMPROVISATION
- Free improvisation is the creation of music without constraints:
no written score, no agreed-upon rhythms or chord progressions.
Free improvisers seek to compose and perform in the same moment. Free
improvisation should be contrasted with the kind of improvisation
encouraged in jazz or blues. This latter style could be called
"structured improvisation."
- Free jazz is not well-defined. I think of it as free improvisation
within the jazz idiom--if traditional jazz instruments and techniques
are used, it's free jazz. Others might disagree and claim that truly
"free" jazz is identical to free improvisation--if you're going to
play within a set idiom, you shouldn't call the style "free"
anything.
Although I draw a distinction between the genres for the sake of
clarity, I've never found such distinctions to have any practical value.
Most free improvisers play a variety of music, both traditional and
non-traditional. It is common for a "free" improvisation to have
moments of structure, and for a structured piece to have moments of
improvisation.
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