the jazz composer
moving music off the paper
An important new book from jazz composer Graham Collier, to be published by Northway Books early in 2009.
The Jazz Composer, moving music off the paper is not an exhaustive survey, detailing the life and works of every jazz composer who ever lived, not even just the famous ones. It’s a philosophical 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.
Part One, defining the situation, discusses the repertoire in terms of some of the tunes that are in common use throughout the music, and the performance, improvisation and arrangement, which are necessary to make them into jazz compositions.
showing the way deals with Duke Ellington and his skill in writing something more than a tune with some arranged elements. The performance is still vital to move it from the paper but the composer’s regard for the individual voices of the players makes this into a different kind of music.
rediscovering the potential looks at how tradition can have a stranglehold on individuality and creativity, how Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman changed jazz for ever in the late 1950s, and how those changes affected jazz as an art, one open to any musician wherever he comes from.
skinning the cat shows the endless opportunities for more to be done with the tune, the arrangement, the composition and improvising now that individuality and collectivism have come back into jazz - and how Duke Ellington’s example is still vital.
directing 14 Jackson Pollocks is a case study of my own work showing my inheritance from Ellington, Gil Evans and Mingus and how I deal with elements such as idea and form, what’s written versus what’s improvised and invisibles such as space and levels. The concluding section shows how what’s on the paper is transformed by the performance.
Graham Collier has been called ‘a pioneer, a true British jazz original’, and praised for being ‘far more radical than most of his generation’. His music has been regularly compared to that of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Gil Evans. They are all heroes of his, but he also realises that jazz, real jazz, needs a future, a future he is helping to shape with his radical approach.
More on Graham Collier, including examples of his music, can be found at jazzcontinuum.com
Northway Books are publishers of books on jazz and drama. These include Workout - the Music of Hank Mobley by Derek Ansell and The Little Giant - The Story of Johnny Griffin by Mike Hennessey.