ELECTROACOUSTIC, CREATIVE, AND JAZZ: MUSICIANS NEGOTIATING

BOUNDARIES

Robert J. Gluck
Department of Music, University at Albany
[email protected]

ABSTRACT 2. ELECTROACOUSTIC MUSIC IN JAZZ

Throughout its history, electroacoustic music has viewed The free jazz, aka creative music aesthetic of the 1960s
itself as distinct from what are perceived as popular and 1970s in particular reflected great openness to new
musical forms. This is problematic because a parallel musical ideas, while remaining grounded in earlier
experimental musical universe has existed within jazz and traditions. That movement “… reflected an African-
other African-American musical traditions. This American tendency to enrich artistic expression with the
presentation explores collaborations between sonic textures of everyday life … [in this case] through the
electroacoustic and jazz musicians during the 1960s and arcane language of modernist concert music …In short,
early 1970s, through the lens of the personal experiences free jazz had achieved a tenuous balance between black
of members of Herbie Hancock’s “Mwandishi” band, and vernacularism and radical change.” (Radano, 1994)
of electroacoustic musicians including Richard Teitelbaum Especially worthy of note in this regard is the work of the
and Gordon Mumma. The discussion interrelates racial Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
and musical segregation, and argues for the inclusion of (AACM) in Chicago and, after 1980, New York, and most
jazz and “creative music” forms within the domain of relevant to a discussion of connections between jazz and
electroacoustic music. electronic music, pianist and multi-instrumentalist Muhal
Richard Abrams, saxophonist Anthony Braxton, violinist
1. INTRODUCTION Leroy Jenkins, and trombonist George Lewis (Lewis 1996,
2002, 2008). Other musicians with related sensibilities
The history of electroacoustic music is often described as have included Marion Brown, Oliver Lake, Joe McPhee,
an offspring of Euro-American Art music. The present and Don Cherry.
author’s previous writings have sought to recast this All of these people, with the addition of Herbie
history in a more international, culturally specific manner. Hancock, whose early 1970s “Mwandishi” sextet defies
Within the United States, one consequence of the Hancock’s popular image as a more mainstream jazz
conventionally drawn line of descent is the separation of musician, have engaged in collaborations with electronic
electronic music from other experimentalist traditions, musicians: Braxton with Richard Teitelbaum, David
particularly African-American. George Lewis (Lewis Rosenboom, Gordon Mumma and, in the context of MEV,
1996) has observed that electronic music in fact evolved in the anarchic, collectivist live electronic ensemble Music
parallel with, and at times has been informed by African- Electtronica Viva, Alvin Curran; Leroy Jenkins with
American musical traditions, jazz in particular. This Richard Teitelbaum and Joel Chadabe; George Lewis with
should not be surprising since jazz, an inherently Richard Teitelbaum and others; Marion Brown with Elliot
improvisational art form, has historically provided fertile Schwartz; Don Cherry with Jon Appleton; Steve Lacy with
ground for exploration in response to new social, political MEV; Joe McPhee with John Snyder and later, Pauline
and musical ideas. Oliveros; Oliver Lake with Ivan Pequeno; and Herbie
I use the term “jazz” advisedly because some have Hancock with Patrick Gleeson. George Lewis (Lewis
viewed it as a means of limiting and segregating black 2000) and Muhal Richard Abrams engaged their own
musicians from the breadth of the fullness of all musical electronics within their work. Teitelbaum has also
practices. I use it here for its usefulness as a concise term, collaborated with AACM trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith
albeit with some caution. This paper explores examples and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, as well as a number of
where musicians have crossed boundaries and engaged in important jazz musicians including Andrew Cyrille, Lee
collaborations between the jazz world and electronic Konitz, Joe McPhee, Marilyn Crispell, and Jimmy
music. Garrison.
The incorporation of electronics in jazz, in the form of
electric or electronic instruments, actually predates the
AACM. Pianist Sun Ra, whose creative work in Chicago
preceded the founding of the AACM, performed with the Stepney treats singer Minnie Riperton’s five-octave vocal
electric piano as early as 1956, the Clavioline, an early range like a wailing Theremin. One example is their 1969
electronic keyboard instrument in 1965, and by 1970, with cover of the song ‘Sunshine of Your Love’.
Mini Moog synthesizers. Sun Ra preferred not to be
associated with the “avant-garde,” a distinction lost on 3. MUSICIANS NAVIGATING RACE
most who have listened to his bands during these periods.
His recorded electric piano work was the first in a jazz It is common for African-American and other jazz
setting, a decade before the instrument appeared in the musicians to have studied European classical music. It is
music of Josef Zawinul and subsequently within the less common for classical musicians to have exposure to or
context of Miles Davis’ late 1960s quintet, Herbie training in non-European musical traditions. Herbie
Hancock and Chick Corea. During this same period, Eddie Hancock recalls that during the late 1960s: “I was listening
Harris explored the use of electronics with his saxophone to Trane [John Coltrane] and Ornette and, of course, the
using the Selmer Varitone, which added reverberation and stuff with Miles [Davis] and Gil Evans had of course
octave doubling. The work of Muhal Richard Abrams, a always been interesting to me. And I was listening to some
co-founder of the AACM, and a student of electronic contemporary classical composers, too, like Messiaen and
music at Governors State University in Chicago with Debussy, and Stravinsky and Penderecki. Also Bartok.” In
Richard McCreary in 1973, was a model closer to 1964, Hancock told an interviewer that he was listening to
electroacoustic music. Abrams had already begun to a work by John Cage and Stockhausen’s Gesang der
explore aspects of electronic music in his first recording, Jünglinge, commenting: “it is fascinating. I haven’t as yet
‘Levels and Degrees of Light’ (Abrams 1967). In this been able to absorb it into my emotional makeup. I’ve
series of compositions scored for acoustical instruments been affected by it.” (Mehegan 1964)
and voice, Abrams uses subtly shifting amounts and depths Two of Hancock’s Mwandishi band mates recall quite
of reverberation to suggest changing aspects of light. clearly their exposure to an eclectic assortment of music,
Electronics have remained a significant element in his including classical, early in their lives. Drummer Billy
work ever since. Hart: “Outside of [singer and pianist] Shirley Horn, my
The music of George Lewis, a younger AACM biggest inspiration in music is John Coltrane… My
colleague of Abrams, intensely straddles jazz and live grandmother, even though I never really heard her play the
electronics. Lewis describes his composition/computer piano, had been a concert pianist. So, I guess in some way
program ‘Voyager’ (1985-1993) as “a nonhierarchical, through her I had gotten some knowledge about the
interactive musical environment that privileges European classical repertoire. Between that and movies; I
improvisation.” (Lewis 2000) The Voyager computer remember being really attracted by ‘Sheherazade’ by
program consists of multiple improvising players that can Rimsky-Korsakov. And that was even before I knew that I
combine to create ensembles. The character of those liked music.” Saxophonist Bennie Maupin: “Where I was
players is determined by generative algorithms within the growing up in Detroit, you were automatically exposed to
software, or influenced by human players whose all that church music, blues, the beginnings of R&B and
improvisations are being analyzed by the computer. There all those things that came out of Motown. Classical
results can be multi-layered, melodically complex, varied musicians came there; they had emigrated from Europe…
in timbre, simultaneously multi-rhythmic and arrhythmic, great teachers ended up being there, in the unified school
and intentionally unpredictable. A performance of district of Detroit. They all played in the Detroit
‘Voyager’ is aesthetically in keeping with Robert L. Symphony Orchestra. It was a place to get some good
Douglas’ description of Afrological culture as training, so I kind of came up through that.”
“multidominant,” “the multiple use of colors in intense The musical crossover between races was, however,
degrees, or the multiple use of textures, design patterns, or largely unidirectional, as educator, writer and drummer
shapes.” (Douglas 1991, cited in Lewis 2000) A 2005 Philip Royster observes about Chicago in the late 1940s
collaboration between George Lewis, Muhal Richard and 1950s: “Audiences were rigidly segregated, with
Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell, “Streaming,” incorporates dominant whites having access to black clubs, but not vice
Lewis’s more recent work engaging electronics within an versa. White musicians visited black nightspots in order to
improvisatory musical fabric. (Abrams, Lewis and listen to and transcribe what they were hearing.” Parallel
Mitchell 2006) issues existed in New York City’s clubs. For some white
In a more popular music vein is Charles Stepney’s musicians, the discovery of jazz was a revelation and
musical arranging and studio-based production work at involved maybe a degree of intrigue and behavior
Chess Records. Stepney’s best known work, with the considered by some to be transgressive.
psychedelic band Rotary Connection, utilizes numerous Gordon Mumma: “I followed the growth of Charlie
creative approaches to sound design, influenced, he Parker, Miles Davis, Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Coleman,
observed, by ideas about timbre from Henry Cowell. One Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and company. The closer to
poignant example is found throughout his work, where the "edge" the more I was interested in their artistic
virtuosity. I still carry awe and admiration for those in the Benny Goodman, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, etc., and
1940s and earlier… In the 1950s one of my college then, as puberty approached we began standing outside the
roommates, a black jazz trombonist, introduced me to doors of clubs in the "colored district," until someone
much of the still "underground." There was much cultural taking the door would let us in, warning us, more often
and intellectual intermingling following the 2nd World than not, that "I had nothing to do with this, and you just
War, and that was part of the momentum that pushed the go in, go to the back, and SIT DOWN."
United States governments to gradually remove the laws Anthony Braxton grew up loving early rock and roll
that enforced segregation. That was also a complicated and discovered jazz as a teenager. It was in the Army,
time because it was illegal for people of different color to stationed in Korea, that he began to fully appreciate the
share the same living quarters, and my parents received free jazz movement, particularly the music of Ornette
notice of my violation of the law. That law was in the state Coleman, Cecil Taylor, late John Coltrane, and Albert
of Michigan where College and University housing was Ayler. During that same period, Braxton discovered
segregated. The concert band I performed with had to Twentieth Century European music, as he relates in an
leave the colored people [the term used at that time] home interview with Ronald Radano: “[In Seoul, Korea] I
when we toured to other states that prohibited people of discovered Schoenberg. Until that time I had always
different color from performing on stage together. Even thought of Western art-music as something only relevant
the recording companies, e.g. RCA, had separate to white people; it had nothing to do with me and my life. I
catalogues and stores that segregated "race music”… My played in the orchestra on clarinet, I played my part, I
use of the term "underground" is fairly wide, but it served played my Bach, but it never touched me…Experiencing
as a cover-word for places "one wasn't supposed to go," Schoenberg[‘s Opus 11], however, suddenly made
for example south of Detroit's 9-mile Road was where I everything more meaningful… It opened up the next
traveled to the stores that sold “race records”. It was still whole aspect of my life. It affected me in as profound a
discouraged, and uncommon, for a white guy to go there, way as anything has ever affected me…” (Radano 1993)
but I was accompanied by a black friend.” Braxton connected with the AACM immediately upon his
Richard Teitelbaum: “I first listened to jazz return to Chicago from military service. It was at that point
recordings in high school, and I heard Louis Armstrong that his association with Muhal Richard Abrams began,
perform at the Paramount Theater in New York and it and when he first read John Cage’s book ’Silence’. By
blew me away. I was in the back row of the balcony and 1968, Braxton had completed his first recording for solo
his first note was the loudest thing I ever heard. [During saxophone, ‘For Alto’ (Braxton 1968) and composed his
college] my main interests were Stravinsky and Bartok. first notated works in a contemporary art music idiom,
And then I started getting interested in Schoenberg and moving towards his unique synthesis of musical
Webern, more in graduate school, and Stockhausen and languages.
jazz. I liked bebop a lot … I got really into Coltrane
around 1960, and I went to hear his quartet in a club and, 4. INTERRACIAL COLLABORATIONS
by chance, during a recording session at A&R Studios.
Steve Lacy took me to hear him several times during the Given the depth of social, political and cultural segregation
period of ‘Ascension’… And then I also was getting in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, it is notable
involved with free jazz, including Albert Ayler. When I that interracial collaborations between jazz and electronic
got to Italy, I was still writing instrumental music, but I musicians indeed took place. Gordon Mumma believes
was hanging out with Steve Lacy, Don Cherry, Karl that connections between people within particular musical
Berger, Gato Barbieri and Ornette Coleman and listening circles was “for me more social-cultural rather than
to more jazz than classical or electronic music. I was really artistic-stylistic. They were clusters of individuals that
quite obsessed with the notion that noise was something grew larger in their achievements because they worked
shared in common between the jazz of that period and and played together. For most, their individual "origins"
noise music, electronic music. So I had a very conscious made no or little difference, black or white, jazz or
awareness of the connection between improvised music, classical, street people or academics, electronic or
free improvised music and electronic music.” Teitelbaum acoustic. Whatever.” Speaking more generally about
benefited from being in Europe where there was far more musical associations in New York City during the 1960s
interchange between black and white artists, writers and and 70s, Joel Chadabe considers these to have been often
musicians than in the United States. based on “personal friendships and artist affinities; and
Patrick Gleeson, the Irish Catholic synthesizer player very often, personal friendships were based on artist
and sound designer selected by Herbie Hancock to join the affinities, and certainly, different kinds of personalities
Mwandishi band relates: “My best [high school] friend, with different kinds of goals.”
Jeff and I fell in love with jazz to a degree we didn't even
understand. I think in high school this was a well-kept
secret… [we] would hole up in his family den and listen to
 met with the extraordinary Roscoe Mitchell, who now is
on the faculty at Mills College, and was one of the earliest
organizers of the AACM. Of my connections with the
"jazz" oriented performers during the 1960s and 1970s, I'd
say that it was Braxton who became my closest connection
and friend. Braxton in a sense doesn't fit in any category;
he's too universal, open minded and evolutionary in his
innovative creative work.”
Braxton was one of the participants, along with
Gordon Mumma, David Behrman, Leroy Jenkins, and
artist Robert Watts, in their 1970 collaborative multimedia
work ‘Communication in a Noisy Environment.’ Placed
separately on three different floors of Automation House
in New York and interconnected by televisions and
loudspeakers, the musicians played an eclectic assortment
of instruments amidst a dizzying array of projected images
and objects. The New York Times reported that: “The
planned chaos of image and sound was gradually raised to
a level at which communication was impossible.”
(Ericson 1970)
Figure 1. Anthony Braxton and Richard Teitelbaum in
2008. Image courtesy of the photographer, Hiroko
Sakurazawa.

It is fair to say that personal friendships, supported by

artistic commonalities, were at the center of many of the
collaborations between jazz and electronic musicians.
Anthony Braxton’s friendship with Richard Teitelbaum
happened by chance, but resulted in an association that has
continued for decades. Teitelbaum recalls: “I met Braxton
in 1969 in a cow pasture in Belgium, in a place called
Amougies, a big festival that was one of the original
attempts to bring jazz, mostly rock but some free jazz and
a few wacky token electronic avant-garde types to play in
the same festival. Braxton played there with his trio with
Leroy Jenkins and Wadada Leo Smith. The Art Ensemble
of Chicago played there. It was an extraordinary
performance and the first time I heard them and met them.
MEV was part of that. [Before then] I had barely known
anything about any of the AACM guys.” By this time, Figure 2. Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins and Gordon
Braxton’s musical interests included Karlheinz Mumma at Automation House in New York, 1970. Image
Stockhausen and John Cage as well as jazz. After courtesy of Gordon Mumma.
returning from a year in Paris in 1970, Braxton began to
tour with MEV. 5. MWANDISHI HERBIE HANCOCK
Gordon Mumma first met AACM members in March
The evolution of electronics in Herbie Hancock’s
1965, “when Robert Ashley and I, along with Peter Yates,
“Mwandishi” band (1970-1973) unfolded in a different
gave a concert and lecture series at the Chicago Musical
way. Hancock was the leader of a relatively lyrical
College of Roosevelt University… From the late 1960s
ensemble founded in 1969, after departing from the Miles
and 1970s "jazz" oriented artists I connected with included
Davis Quintet. Hancock recalls the evolution towards a
Braxton, Jenkins, Lacy, Lewis, etc. Braxton became a
more exploratory style of playing: “[At first] it really
particularly good friend, and I recall that we first met when
wasn’t that avant-garde Mwandishi sound. It really started
he was visiting a rehearsal of the Merce Cunningham
out with me playing ‘Speak Like a Child’ and songs from
Dance Co. Our interconnections went on from there. The
that record. And it was a much softer, more gentle kind of
connections keep growing; in the past few years I have
sound. I was trying to come out of a Gil Evans influence, The Mwandishi band more fully entered the world of
that combination of instruments, those arrangements. electronics on their second recording, ‘Crossings’
When we were playing that more gentle kind of music in (Hancock 1972). Hancock had expressed an interest in
the beginning, the avant-garde was having a bigger and learning to play a synthesizer and Rubinson recommended
bigger influence on many of the more curious jazz that he visit synthesizer player and sound designer Patrick
musicians, more mainstream post-bebop players or Gleeson. Gleeson had gained experience with synthesizers
whatever you want to call that, and with me too. So the and tape techniques at the San Francisco Tape Music
band I had was getting further and further out. We were Center and while working with members of the Ann
playing those arrangements, but after we’d leave the head, Halprin Dance Workshop in the early 1960s. He
the playing was getting further and further out by the time demonstrated for Hancock the kinds of interpolations one
I’d made some changes in personnel of the band…. When might add to the largely completed studio recordings.
the personnel changed, there was a whole new spiritual Hancock liked what he heard and urged Gleeson to record
feeling with the band that expanded the playing, opened what he was doing on one of the compositions, ‘Quasar’,
the veins of the lifeblood of the playing of the band, into and then on a second, ‘Water Torture’, both by Bennie
more intuitive playing than had happened with the Maupin. The result was a highly integrated blend of
previous band. I think we started in something like acoustic and electric instrumental performances, electronic
September or October 1970. We got this gig at London sounds, and post-production processing. Hancock
House [in Chicago]. We were already into the avant-garde, subsequently invited Gleeson to join his touring band,
into playing sounds and exploring new sonic territories. resulting in a fuller incorporation of electronics into the
London House had traditionally been a club that had piano band’s musical vocabulary.
trios there.” Trumpeter Eddie Henderson recalls that the Gleeson purchased an Arp 2600 synthesizer, far more
regular audience ceased attending and were replaced in portable than the Moog III in his studio, and he became the
even larger numbers by members of the most exploratory seventh member of the Herbie Hancock Mwandishi
Chicago jazz musicians, a number of them connected with “Sextet.” He was actually the eighth member if one counts
the AACM. After this point, trombonist Julian Priester sound engineer Fundi (William Bonner), who all of the
remembers: “There were no restrictions ... everyone was band members considered to be integral. Fundi had at his
listening to each other, leaving our egos out of the process, disposal a quadraphonic sound system and an Echoplex of
just responding to what the overall group invents.” his own, allowing him to suddenly spatialise and process
Hancock’s sound was also becoming increasingly everyone’s sounds, heightening the electronic feel of the
electric as an Echoplex and other devices gradually music.
became an integral extension of his electric piano playing. Incorporating synthesizer sounds into a tight-knit
Working in San Francisco, producer David Rubinson group of seasoned jazz players proved challenging. But as
introduced the pianist to the wide range of post-production Julian Priester recalls: “By the time I had completely
studio techniques that he had developed as a producer of accepted the change, the progress, the progression of
psychedelic rock bands, in particular the United States of technology, that I viewed it [Patrick’s synthesizer] as an
America and the Chambers Brothers, and by listening to extension of what we were doing acoustically, so it fit.”
music from the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music For some, it expanded the pallet of sound resources,
Center while working at Columbia Records in New York Bennie Maupin observes: “it was for me like a breath of
City. With the help of engineer Fred Catera, Rubinson and fresh air.” And over time, Patrick Gleeson felt warmly
Hancock integrated echo and tape feedback into band welcomed: “[When I joined this deeply Afrocentric band]
members’ increasingly abstract studio performances, for I felt like I’d gone home. I felt like I’d found my place.
example, Billy Hart’s already dense and shimmering This is where I belong.”
gestures on the drum kit. (Hancock 1971) Musically, Gleeson had to develop a new vocabulary
Rubinson also sought to engage Herbie Hancock fully of sounds and gestures appropriate to this musical setting.
in the studio production, a shift away from standard He created sculpted bands of white noise to back soloists
practice that offered musicians little control over their own and a wide range of non-pitched sounds to join in the
work. Rubinson recalls: “...what really happened with ensemble. Herbie Hancock crafted new compositions that
Herbie was that his creativity was exposed to the entire were keenly suited to the increasingly rhythmic drive of
creative process of making records and making music. He the band and its incorporation of new sounds. ‘Rain
was insightful and he just opened up like a flower ... and Dance,’ which opens the band’s third and final recording
expressed himself in the whole process ... It increased his “Sextant” (Hancock 1973), is a celebration of the analog
palette of colors and effects.” Time magazine opined: synthesizer’s sequencer, a device that allowed a musician
“Miles Davis protégé Herbie Hancock shows what jazz to store a series of voltages, which in this case were
might have sounded like if it had come up the river from translated into pitched ostinati. Tape loops abounded
Darmstadt, that European mecca of the avant garde, during the studio sessions and ‘Raiin Dance’ features
instead of New Orleans.” (Time 1972) overlapping layers of ostinati, shifting in pitch, timbre and
rhythmic complexity. Gleeson’s contribution to “Sextant” 6. ADDRESSING CHALLENGES
was substantial. Unfortunately, the band proved financially
unsustainable and Hancock yearned for what he terms a If segregationist white America tended to separate white
more “earthy” music, leading him to change directions and and black musicians, as well as musical styles, there were
organize the more populist and financially successful elements within African-American culture that looked
Headhunters. askance on the use of electronics in black music. One
cultural critic (Wellburn 1971) wrote: “... [rock musicians
emerged from] a technological lineage extending through
John Cage, Stockhausen, Edgard Varese, all the way back
to Marconi and the wireless. White rock is a technology,
not a real music... black musicians should re-evaluate the
technological intrusions now threatening our music; times
may come when that technology will be useless. Our
music is our key to survival.” And the critical response to
the increasingly electronic and exploratory direction of the
Mwandishi band was often very negative, particularly in
the jazz periodical Down Beat. One staff writer, Harvey
Siders (Siders 1972) was confused by the sounds and the
open-ended improvisations. Criticism of the synthesizer in
particular was harsh. Pete Welding (Welding 1972)
referred to “freaky, eerie sequences of ‘spacey’ effects,”
“empty, overdramatic bluster - the most obnoxious kind of
speciously trippy music.” Clearly, the blurring of
distinctions between jazz and electronic music was
threatening to some. Yet there were others who
appreciated Mwandishi’s music. Bill McLarney
(McLarney 1972): “This group has gotten a lot of strange
reviews - by earnest men, one supposes, with reasons for
their reactions ... What matters is that this music, these
artists, have the ability to get you next to yourself and
Figure 3. Patrick Gleeson and Herbie Hancock in 1977. maybe some night, even to work a transformation – if you
Image courtesy Patrick Gleeson. are ready.”
The idea of post-production was unfamiliar to many
jazz musicians and, for some, of little interest. Eddie
The development of the Mwandishi band as an Henderson notes: “when I finished playing the last note on
electroacoustic ensemble took place within a more the record, that was it for me.” Most members of the band,
commercial context than most of the other jazz-electronic in fact, seemed little interested in the recording process,
collaborations noted in this presentation. With the having never experienced it other than as documentation.
exception of some of Anthony Braxton’s work on Arista When asked to reflect about the band’s recordings, Bennie
Records in the early 1970s, Herbie Hancock is thus one of Maupin commented: “I don’t listen to those recordings. I
the only examples discussed here whose work was hardly listen to any of that [what I’ve recorded]. I’m
documented on a major record label, first Warner Brothers composing now.” A jazz ethic of playing in the moment
and then Columbia Records. Even so, what the band seems to have pervaded the sensibilities of the Mwandishi
delivered was clearly not what the companies were band, although those among them who listened to the
seeking! Operating within a jazz milieu, the Mwandishi results were pleased, once they recovered from the initial
band also tended to play within the commercial context of shock. Although I have no specific evidence, I wonder
clubs. Patrick Gleeson was, like his fellow band mates, a whether playing in a band that drew so heavily on
hired member of Hancock’s band. But even so, what electronics was perceived as a career risk for jazz
distinguished this ensemble was a collective-like musicians. Also, prior to the 1970s, electronic instruments
atmosphere of friendship, mutuality and camaraderie, lacked the technical means relevant to idiomatic jazz
more like than unlike some of the other collaborations performance, as Joel Chadabe notes: “Electronic music
discussed. Relationships were governed as much by performance before the 1980s was practically 100% in the
growing affinities and mutual affection as they were by avant-garde, like David Tudor and Gordon Mumma,
contractual obligation. Still, when bandleader Hancock working with makeshift instruments. For the most part, it
considered the band to have reached its end point, it was was people doing homebrew stuff [which was] very
over. limited, so you couldn’t really play jazz with most of it, in
a conventional sense. [In the 60s] MEV started to play [1] Abrams, M. R.. “Levels and Degrees of Light,”
with a lot of odds and ends instruments and Richard Delmark (LP). The composer told me that the
Teitelbaum started to use a Moog synthesizer when they reverberation was removed from a recent CD re-
became available. So little by little, electronics started to release, an element that he considers to be an integral
work their way into jazz at that time.” aspect of the composition. 1967.
[2] Abrams, M. R., Lewis, G., and Mitchell, R.
7. CONCLUSIONS “Streaming,” Pi Recordings, 2006.
[3] Braxton, Anthony. ‘For Alto’, Delmark (LP), 1968.
The collaborations between jazz and electronic musicians (CD) 2000.
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away from a more musically and socially segregated Viva,” in program notes for the New Music America
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George Lewis and Muhal Richard Abrams, whose work On the web:
bridges both worlds, have broadened the scope of http://www.alvincurran.com/writings/mev.html
electroacoustic music and jazz alike, expanding our (accessed December 19, 2007).
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[12] Hancock, H. “Sextant” (LP), Columbia Records,
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[13] Lewis, G. “Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological
Many thanks to my students Madonna Pognon and Jeff and Eurological Perspectives.” in Black Music
Nania for their research about Anthony Braxton, and for Research Journal 16: 1,1996, pp. 91-122.
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[23] Time Magazine. Best LPs of the year, January 3,
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