CHAPTER 15: The Avant-Garde
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What is the original context of the term avant-garde?
a.
science
b.
visual art
c.
military
d.
theater
e.
philosophy
2. The first wave of avant-garde art was inspired by all of the following innovations EXCEPT:
a.
the emergence of African American artists as equal to their white counterparts
b.
the devastation of World War I
c.
the expansion of women’s rights
d.
new technology that enabled rapid communication across long distances
e.
jazz
3. The second wave of avant-garde art was inspired by all of the following EXCEPT:
a.
the devastation of World War II
b.
the struggle for racial equality in the United States
c.
the Cold War
d.
the Apollo 11 mission to land humans on the moon
e.
colonialism and globalization
4. Which of the following titles was NOT used to describe the avant-garde jazz of the 1960s?
a.
anti-jazz
b.
post-jazz
c.
free jazz
d.
Black Music
e.
the New Thing
5. Ornette Coleman’s 1959 residency at this New York club established him as a major player in
avant-garde jazz and one of the most divisive figures of the era.
a.
Minton’s Playhouse
b.
Birdland
c.
The Village Vanguard
d.
The Village Gate
e.
The Five Spot
6. All of the following musicians were important associates of Ornette Coleman EXCEPT:
a.
drummer Billy Higgins
b.
drummer Ed Blackwell
c.
bassist Charles Mingus
d.
bassist Charlie Haden
e.
trumpeter Don Cherry
7. Which of the following is NOT the title of an album released by Ornette Coleman on Atlantic
Records?
a.
The Shape of Jazz to Come
b.
There’s a Riot Goin’ On
c.
This is Our Music
d.
Change of the Century
e.
Free Jazz
8. Which aspect of Ornette Coleman’s early recordings was most admired by listeners?
a.
Coleman’s expressive intonation
b.
The quartet’s free approach to collective improvisation
c.
Coleman’s saxophone timbre
d.
Coleman’s strong melodic compositions
e.
the group’s direct political message
9. What quality of Ornette Coleman’s white plastic alto saxophone does he value most?
a.
its precise intonation that matches the tempered tuning of the piano
b.
its facility for producing fast scalar runs
c.
its bell-like high register
d.
its comparatively low cost
e.
an inherent harshness that allows for a “vocal” timbral palette
10. Why does Ornette Coleman make use of fluid, expressive intonation in his improvisations?
a.
He has poor technique.
b.
He believes that each note should be played differently depending on its context.
c.
His plastic saxophone is difficult to control.
d.
His musical goal is to confuse audiences and critics.
e.
All of the above
11. Before leading his own ensemble, Cecil Taylor trained in what musical idiom?
a.
bebop
b.
rock
c.
classical music
d.
Middle Eastern maqam
e.
gospel
12. Cecil Taylor struggled to gain widespread acceptance for his musical approach for all of the
following reasons EXCEPT:
a.
His piano playing is technically unexceptional.
b.
His concerts were incredibly long.
c.
His music showed little musical connection to bebop.
d.
His versions of standard tunes often distort the originals beyond recognition.
e.
He never performs the same work twice.
13. How did Cecil Taylor teach his compositions to his band members?
a.
with fully notated scores, which his musicians had to perfect before rehearsing
b.
through recordings, which his musicians had to study individually
c.
by playing episodes on the piano, which his musicians learned by ear and elaborated on
d.
through vague written descriptions and pictograms which members needed to interpret
e.
all of the above
14. What term did Cecil Taylor apply to the modules or sections that made up his compositions, which
his band could work through for varying amounts of time?
a.
episodic themes
b.
phrase sets
c.
idea groups
d.
unit structures
e.
sound modules
15. Which musician became an important “translator” of Cecil Taylor’s music, working with Taylor
for twenty-five years?
a.
David Murray
b.
Jimmy Lyons
c.
Steve Lacy
d.
Andrew Cyrille
e.
Sonny Murray
16. Which best describes the form of Cecil Taylor’s “Bulbs”?
a.
a loose abstraction of the blues
b.
AABA
c.
based on the introduction and development of a few small motives
d.
formless
e.
harmolodic
17. Which major jazz figure, who had established credentials by mastering bebop, served as an
unofficial referee in debates about avant-garde jazz?
a.
Miles Davis
b.
John Coltrane
c.
Dizzy Gillespie
d.
Bill Evans
e.
Kenny Clarke
18. Which composer’s focus on the relationship between timbre and rhythm proved influential to
reedist Eric Dolphy?
a.
Edgard Varèse
b.
Duke Ellington
c.
Igor Stravinsky
d.
John Coltrane
e.
Gunther Schuller
19. Saxophonist Albert Ayler spent significant time exploring which aspect of saxophone technique?
a.
embouchure
b.
the low register
c.
alternate fingerings
d.
circular breathing
e.
the highest register
20. All of the following are standard aspects of Albert Ayler’s compositions EXCEPT:
a.
old-time religious fervor
b.
marching
c.
clear musical divisions between soloist and accompanists
d.
simple melodies
e.
free improvisation
21. After studying black nationalism and Egyptian history, Sun Ra developed a personal mythology
surrounding which planet?
a.
Mercury
b.
Saturn
c.
Earth
d.
Mars
e.
Jupiter
22. Which of the following is NOT true of Anthony Braxton’s music?
a.
strikes a balance between free improvisation and contemporary composition
b.
makes use of unusual instruments
c.
features strange drawings in place of song titles
d.
dismissed by academia
e.
criticized for not maintaining a clear connection to swing
23. In the 1970s, musicians dedicated to free improvisation undertook a mass migration to establish
the loft scene of which major city?
a.
Copenhagen
b.
London
c.
New York
d.
Berlin
e.
Moscow
24. Which Loft Era saxophonist became known for his blending of avant-garde and traditional
approaches to jazz improvisation?
a.
David Murray
b.
Henry Threadgill
c.
Roscoe Mitchell
d.
Archie Shepp
e.
Albert Ayler
TRUE/FALSE
1. Surrealism, cubism, and twelve-tone music were all artistic movements associated with the first
wave of the twentieth-century avant-garde.
2. Compared to the musicians of the Swing Era, the avant-garde jazz community of the 1960s was
considerably less politically engaged.
3. The rhythms and harmonies heard on recordings of the Ornette Coleman quartet are largely
improvised along with the melodies.
4. The 1961 recording Free Jazz captured a thirty-seven minute collective improvisation by a group
that Ornette Coleman referred to as his Double Quartet.
5. Despite his great musical range, Ornette Coleman has focused solely on the musical possibilities of
the acoustic jazz quartet.
6. Cecil Taylor developed his approach in response to his observation that African American music
was given very little respect in the classical world.
7. Because of the difficulty of his music, Cecil Taylor’s work has gone largely unacknowledged by
critics and European audiences.
8. Avant-garde musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and their associates focused
single-mindedly on musical exploration, with no consideration of the political ramifications of
their work.
9. Eric Dolphy single-handedly made the bass clarinet a significant instrument in jazz.
10. Avant-garde approaches were a fad of the late 1960s that was not as durable as mainstream jazz.
11. Sun Ra was one of the first musicians to make use of the Moog synthesizer.
12. The Art Ensemble of Chicago popularized the use of “little instruments” that drew a connection
between progressive jazz and Indonesian traditions.
13. In the 1970s and 1980s, freely improvised music found its home in lofts, galleries, and other
unconventional spaces.
SHORT ANSWER
1. ________________ was a 1960s European cinematic movement that challenged traditional
approaches to filmmaking.
2. Trumpeter Don Cherry played a very compact cornet that he called a _________________.
3. Ornette Coleman often makes use of ______________, pitches that fall between the notes of an
equal-tempered scale.
4. To describe his composed and improvised music, Ornette Coleman coined the term
_______________, a contraction of the words “harmony,” “movement,” and “melody.”
5. Cecil Taylor is said to approach the piano as if it is a set of eighty-eight tuned _________.
6. The _____________ nurtured the 1960s avant-garde by providing musicians such as Ornette
Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Eric Dolphy with open-ended engagements to develop their
ensembles’ approaches.
7. The Art Ensemble of Chicago makes use of the motto ______________________________,
indicating the inclusivity and breadth of their experimental approach.
MATCHING
Match each musician to their role in the ensembles of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor.
a.
Steve Lacy
d.
Sonny Murray
b.
Jimmy Lyons
e.
Charlie Haden
c.
Billy Higgins
1. Bassist with Coleman
2. Drummer with Coleman
3. Drummer with Taylor
4. Soprano saxophonist with Taylor
5. Alto saxophonist with Taylor
ESSAY
1. Explain the philosophies and ideologies associated with avant-garde practices in the first decades
of the twentieth century, and describe how the music of one of the musicians discussed in Chapter
15 relates to those originary ideas. Then, choose a modern musician who you believe provides a
current example of avant-garde aesthetics, and explain that artist’s connection to this tradition.
2. Explain how avant-garde jazz differs from mainstream jazz in its approaches to rhythm, harmony,
melody, structure, and instrumentation. In the end, how do these differences affect the ways that
audiences engage with avant-garde jazz performance?
3. Compare and contrast the avant-garde approaches of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, both in
terms of their compositional identities and their approaches to improvisation.