The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958 (Da Capo Paperback)

By John Litweiler

Book Overview

Ornette Coleman's discovery some thirty years ago that his band's music was indeed a "free thing" marked the beginning of a revolution in jazz. From the early free-form experiments, Coleman's dancing blues, and John Coltrane's saxophone cries and sheets of sound, to the brittle, melancholy modes of Miles Davis, vibrant, sophisticated new jazz idioms proliferated. In this critical and historical survey of today's jazz, noted critic John Litweiler traces the evolution of the new music through such artists as Coleman, Coltrane, Davis, Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Anthony Braxton, and others. He also addresses questions such as: Is Free jazz a rejection of the jazz tradition? Are European folk classical musics altering this essentially Afro-American art? Do the principles of Free jazz provide real emotional liberation for the creative musician? This is a solid, informed guide--for new jazz fans and serious listeners alike--to what has, in many ways, been the most productive and most controversial period in the history of jazz.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306803771
• ISBN13: 9780306803772
• Release Date: March 1990
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Good, if occasionally didactic

Freedom Principle definitely suffers from the author's avocation as music critic--the prose is choppy, and the big thematic ideas occasionally get lost in the minutiae. Chapter 1 "Steps in Search of Freedom" is especially desultory and poorly focused. The chapters on individual players are better. That said, the book is an excellent introduction to the free jazz movement, and covers the major players well, with very insightful discussions of individual works and solos.Litweiler is at his worst when his own opinions come blazing through; he loves free jazz and despises rock. It's an opinion shared by others, to be sure, but he belabors his point, and, in the final chapters, all but bludgeons his reader with it. It's a fairly ironic twist in a book dedicated to the unbridled freedom of musical expression.

Indispensable for free jazz enthusiasts

An excellent summary of the formative years of America's neglected music. Covers important figures intelligently and succinctly. Best used as an introduction to the field, from which you can move on to biographies of individuals.

An excellent overview of the subject

This is book is an excellent overview of the subject. That said, most of the book is dedicated to the major figures (Coltrane, Davis, Coleman, Sun Ra, Mingus, etc.) and there are other books available dedicated to these subjects with more detail. But if you haven't read the critical biographies on the major figures, this is a good place to start to learn about jazz during 1958-1975, and there are interesting sections on some less well known musicians who you can't read about anywhere else.