Michael Fischer
With this lecture I
would like to talk about the developments in improvisation mainly with acoustic
instruments since the beginning of the 1960ies. Some motives and conclusions of
the musicians who were involved will be illustrated by some facts and musical
examples.
The beginning of an
european improvised music development was very much influenced by the
afro-american free-jazz movement in the USA around 1960. The beginning was
carried by individuals mainly from a non-academic musical, sometimes
non-musical background. Musicians who found a way to express themselves through
music based on improvisation, did this of course in many different ways.
Influential for the style of improvisation was and is the individual musical
environment which builds the personal interest in music or models in music over
the years.
Peter Niklas Wilson
and Bert Noglik, were two important german writers on the history of improvised
music. Bert Noglik wrote in his book 'Klangspuren' about several impulses for
the developement of an european identified improvised music.
Impulses such as -
seven examples:
1) in the early 1960ies improvisation in american
jazztradition began to stuck and free jazz florished. The new soundspectrum of
players like John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman,or Albert Ayler of
course also influenced european musicians.
2) Some musicians combined the sound language of
the US american free jazz players with european compositional methods. They
were inspired by materials and compositions of composers such as Stockhausen,
Cage, Berio, Xenakis, Messiaen, Lutoslawski, Pendercki, Kagel, Ligeti or Webern
because of the similarities of the used material. It is interesting that Pierre
Boulez said about Anton von Webern's work: "He gave back the meaning to
the sound". To connect the sound language of US american free jazz with
the mentioned composers was a major step in the development of an european
identified improvised music.
3) some musicians broke with the american free
jazz improvisation style, because they got aware of an european heritage in
improvisation f.i. improvisation in Baroque and Renaissance music.
4) musicians in Great Britain started to work on
non-ideomatic music based on free improvisation
We are still talking about the impulses for the developement of an
european identified improvised music
5) european musicians critizised the american jazz educational tool
imitation, they set more value on authenticity
6) the interest of european musicians in
different musical traditions based on improvisation increased
f.i. the
interest in indian or oriental music styles
7) last but not least there was a discussion
amongst european free improvising musicians, how much they see themselves
related to the jazz tradition in the USA
All these issues
inlfuenced the developement of an european identified improvised music.
In the mid 1960ies
small ensembles like the british
'AMM' or 'Joseph Holbrook' worked on the combination of improvised and
composed music. At these times the term 'instant composition' was created to
describe the situation when a compositional idea is immediately realised within
an improvisatoinal context.
End of the 1960ies
larger ensembles for improvised music working on the combination of improvised
and composed music gained more popularity (such as): Alexander von
Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra, Misha Mengelberg's Instant Composers
Pool Orchestra, Tony Oxley's Drum Workshop Orchestra, Barry Guy's London Jazz
Composers Orchestra or the London Improvisers Orchestra.
The sounds of
electronic instruments developed in the 50ies and 60ies (f.i. Buchla or Moog)
were an additional inspiration for the musicians to work on new structures of
sound.
Now I would like to
mention some notes on european geographical developments - five examples:
1) Wuppertal, - a small town in the coal-mining
region of Western-Germany got famous as one of the cradles of europe's
development in improvised music. Peter Kowald and Peter Brötzmann started their
collaboration in 1960/61, performing there every Monday at the same club - two
to five listeners were the audience in the beginning.
2) In Eastern-Germany musicians like Conrad
Bauer, Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky or Günter Sommer started to play free jazz mid of
the 1960ies. In the 1970ies they developed a vivid community of improvising
musicians within the country and collaborations with musicians from Poland and
Hungary started, followed by invitations
from musicians all over Europe. The invitations from western countries made it possibility for the musicians,
to leave Eastern Germany and to travel, which was very difficult at these
times.
3) In Russia the Ensemble 'Archangelsk' made
their living by playing dance music for the guests of hotels. Archangelsk is
the name of a city at the White Sea, close to Scandinavia. At the end of such
parties they sometimes played free improvised music. Beeing more or less
isolated from the other musicians in Europe or the USA, they developed over
twenty years a very personal style in eclectic improvisation.
4) Hungary composer and pianist György Szabadosz
was one of the key figures in terms of combining composed and improvised music
with local/'ethnic' music. In the 1950ies he started to listen to jazz music
via radio broadcasts from the USA and started beginning of the 1960'ies to play
his own style of free improvised music mostly independently from the improvised music movement in the USA and
Europe.
5) South African ensembles like the 'Blue Notes' with Christ
McGregor, Louis Moholo, Johnny Diyani, Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana or bassist
Harry Miller were invited to play in Europe beginning/mid of the 1960ies. The
'Blue Notes' were a modern jazz ensemble with african and white musicians. This
was not legal in South Africa at these times. Though they were appreciated by
the audience in South Africa, they decided to migrate from Apartheid
Sout-Africa to England / London where some of them became requested partners of
european and american musicians in improvisational contexts.
Now again in
general:
From the mid 1960ies
on one can see two streams of development in free improvisation in Europe:
On the one hand were
the group of musicans following the U.S. free-jazz movement. To name a few:
in Germany Peter
Kowald, Peter Brötzmann, Sven-Ake-Johannson, Günter Sommer, in The Netherlands
Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Willem Breuker, in Belgium Fred van. Hove, in
Switzerland Irene Schweizer.
The other group were
musicians following a non ideomatic path from the brithish islands like Derek
Bailey, Tony Oxley, Keith Rowe, Evan Parker, Gavin Bryars, John Stevens.
These two streams
could also be described as
-
a
european continental stream following the traditional sound of the instruments,
the traditional melodical musical syntax of jazz and free jazz
and
-
the
stream of musicians from the british islands working more on new playing
techniques of the
instruments, non-ideomatic music.
And now lets come to
some remarks on the 1970ies, 80ies and 90ies:
In the 1970ies
improvised music got wider recognition by being more and more involved in
regular jazz festivals with musicians from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Poland,
France and Great Britain. This attracted listeners of jazz music. So also
festivals for exclusively free improvised music found more interest and
audience.
The new listeners
produced a new need for communication. New magazines, radio-shows and
institutional ressources were generated and so an additional small market could
be established, which garanteed a small financial income for few people
involved.
End of the 1970ies
and in the 1980ies some of the musicians from the 1960ies established their
names as trade-marks in terms of content and recognition, mostly still not in
terms of earning money. Especially Wuppertal and musicians from the Brithish
Islands could establish themselves as key figures. Connected to this fact is
the question how the efforts and benefits are shared among musicians,
organizers, journalists and the music industrial infrastructure since then.
The organizers in
the 1980ies saw an increasing interest in musicians from formerly communist
Europe (f.i. the Ganelin Trio from Russia, Zbignev Seifert from Poland, György
Szabadosz from Hungary). Also the combination of local/ethnic music and free
improvisation gained more interest.
The 1990ies brought
the Personal Computer/LapTop as a new instrument, showing new possibilities and
techniques in sound production. Since a few years the performances of only LapTop
players, formerly highly appreciated at festivals for improvised music
decreased, partly because of a lack of performance. In the meantime performers
use the LapTop more as a supporting tool, as an extension for acoustic or
electro-acoustic sound generators.
From my point of
view at present there is a tendency of standardizing the improvisational
musical material.
Improvised music
still is not very popular in Europe, though some european states support
improvised music - f.e. the music industry and government in Norway and Sweden
put a certain amount of money in the development of a creative music
infrastructure in the last 15 years. This model succeeded in establishing a
more or less new brand of creative music. The improvising musicians in Great Britain
were active not only in musical terms, they also worked and established
Europe's best infrastructures for improvised music. Unfortunately many
musicians in improvised music stay unknown
- but those unknown
musicians are building a communication and interaction infrastructure like f.i.
in Great Britain. Some musicians are working within local and international web
based networks to stay more independent from the established infrastructure of
the flow of information in the music bussines.
Let me come to an
end with some thoughts on the significance of improvised music:
Free improvised
music would not have been attractive till present times if it could not prove
as a lasting versatile tool for a common exploration of different musical
visions. Derek Bailey, one of Europe's most influential improvisers once said:
"You can approach the unknown with method and compass but not with a
map". Improvised music is still developed as a method and a compass that
enables musicians to exchange ideas within different social-, cultural and
musical-educational backgrounds. Further it was and is a diplomatic tool for
international understanding.
For me the most
interesting musicians were always those who communicated an existential need to
play this kind of music; musicians who shared their experiences and motivations
as a part of their social environment.
One of the beautiful
things about improvised music is that it can be played by everybody and it can
be a very helpful tool to create interest in the unknown and a responsable and
emanzipative society. And this could be the basis for a prosperous community of
beeing on this planet.
Thank you for your
attention.