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Synopsis
the jazz composer, moving music off the paper is a philosophical consideration of jazz composition, arguing that real jazz happens in real time, once. That this fact eludes many involved in the music today is a major cause of concern. The book takes a close look at the phrase ‘the jazz composer’: what it means in jazz, what it means for jazz, what it can mean for the future of jazz. After a discussion of the repertoire, a section is devoted to Duke Ellington, whose music exemplifies the fact that a jazz composer must have regard for the individual voices of his musicians. Although regard for Ellington’s example and the traditions of jazz in general are still important, the changes that developed in jazz in the late 1950s show that new things are possible. For jazz to develop they can and must happen, and the ways that more can be done with jazz composition are demonstrated with particular reference to the music of Charles Mingus and Gil Evans. Collier’s own debt to them, as well as Ellington, is shown in the final section, which illustrates with examples how he deals with moving what’s on the paper into a ‘real time, once’ jazz performance. Graham Collier, born in Tynemouth, England, in 1937, is a highly regarded jazz composer, whose music has been compared to that of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Gil Evans. He was the first British graduate of the Berklee School of Music, and the first recipient of an Arts Council jazz bursary. He is the author of several books on jazz, and for 12 years was artistic director of the jazz course at the Royal Academy of Music. He currently lives in Greece, where he continues to compose, travelling from there to present concerts and workshops around the world.
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