In Culture and Imperialism, Said illustrates that we have no "autonomous cultural forms," but rather "impure" ones that are the products of historically "discrepant experiences." American culture has an interesting relationship with the history of imperialism. The Europeans that settled the U.S. imported slave labor to assist in the growth of the new nation and this practice ironically "hybridized" American culture despite institutionalized segregation of the races, mixing disparate cultural ideas in a common social location. Said's theory fits an analysis of jazz in America since the music was instigated by the enslavement of native Africans, West Indians and inhabitants of the Caribbean, and the tensions this produced between traditional European and non-European cultural experiences are emblematic of its evolution into a popular form of music. Concomitant to its popularity in the later 1930s was a scholarly interest in the history of jazz, which culminated in narratives ascribing to it a recognizable "American" history and a set of familiar European aesthetic characteristics, neglecting the "discrepant experiences" of jazz history. During the 1940s, some artists were working with musical ideas that expanded the innovative spaces left open by those preceding them. Criticized for playing "anti-jazz," they produced music for audiences who were late to realize the significance of their contributions. Among them was John Coltrane, a saxophonist who took these controversial approaches into unconventional musical territories. Similar to the shortsighted criticisms weighed against his mentors, critics regarding Coltrane neglected the ways in which his music is important as an expression of the fundamental power struggles that are at the heart of American culture. I analyze several of Coltrane's recordings to illustrate how they are artifacts which can be studied for evidence of the tendency in narratives to preclude the "hybridity" important to the history of jazz. My focus is on the liner notes that accompany the recordings, which I read "contrapuntally" with other forces in their production in order to discuss the tensions between economics, communication and representation that are integral to an understanding of Coltrane's music. / Graduation date: 1999

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 350-359). / xi, 359 leaves : music ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Investigates the influence of Coltrane's music on the improvising of post-Coltrane saxophonists by inspecting selected improvisations of Jerry Bergonzi and David Liebman and comparing them to improvisations by Coltrane on the same repertoire piece. The comparision also demonstrates how two current jazz saxophonists have drawn on the past - the legacy of Coltrane - to create innovative music in the present. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium, 2001

This paper analyzes composer Aaron Cassidy’s 2014-2016 ensemble work The wreck of former boundaries, focusing on Cassidy’s compositional approach to sonically simulating interactive modes and sonic ideals featured prominently in mid-20th century recordings of free jazz artists such as Albert Ayler (Bells [1965]) and John Coltrane (Ascension [1965]). Because these musical conventions can be heard as socio-political simulacra in and of themselves, I argue that Wreck’s sonic simulations dissimulate the anti-hegemonic implications of the sound of free jazz, depicting spontaneous, hetero-original confrontations with socio-political constraint as symbolic and insubstantial. In my conclusion I argue that while an apparitional circulation of free jazz simulacra seems to de-politicize free jazz musical conventions, Wreck can be understood more precisely as critically analyzing the history of revolution. Heard through the interpretive lens of a broader history of hegemonic improvisations that absorb and displace open expressions of political defiance, Wreck appears to pessimistically reimagine free jazz as a novel form of symbolic, musical constraint.

This study documents and analyzes cyclic patterns used as melodic vocabulary in John Coltrane's improvisations from compositions of 1965 to 1967. The analysis is categorized in two distinct sections. The first section analyzes melodic vocabulary that is derived from the cycle of descending major thirds progressions found in the compositions of 1959 to 1960. The second section analyzes melodic vocabulary that is derived from Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns using the theoretical terminology incorporated in the treatise. Musical examples consist of patterns from the Thesaurus and excerpts from selected improvisations of John Coltrane as transcribed by Andrew White. Important scholarly contributions relevant to the subject by Carl Woideck, Lewis Porter, David Demsey, and Walt Weiskopf are included. Every effort has been made to cite interviews with musicians and commentaries by writers contemporary to that period of time with special emphasis on the important influence of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Ornette Coleman. Chapter headings include: Literature Review and Methodology; Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Ornette Coleman: Converging Influences; Analysis: Coltrane's Major Thirds Harmonic Cycles Used as Melodic Vocabulary; Interval Cycles in Coltrane's Melodic Vocabulary Based on Patterns from Slonimsky's Thesaurus; Summary and Conclusion.

There are certain recordings by important artists such as Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Pedro Iturralde, Chick Corea, and Paco de Lucía, among others, that have been associated with the label flamenco jazz. This label is entering jazz discourse, and it needs to be better understood in order to clarify its history, its identity, and its impact on recent developments in flamenco that are labeled nuevo flamenco. There is a lack of agreement in the existent literature on flamenco jazz on the evaluation of these recordings and these artists' achievements and contributions to this field. These writings encompass authors from different backgrounds: journalists, critics, and musicologists, who have approached their analysis of the recordings from different perspectives. The differences in professional backgrounds, approaches, and purpose of the writings of these authors has resulted in controversy about this label. Therefore, the flamenco jazz scholarly conversation needs more objective writings from an analytical point of view. This historiographical study presents a more comprehensive evaluation of flamenco jazz by discussing selected recordings using analytical tools from jazz studies. These analytical arguments clarify the aesthetics of flamenco jazz and the artistic processes that these artists went through when combining musical elements from flamenco and jazz, which in some cases are described as creative misreading. In this century of cultural globalization, where jazz has become a diverse expression of world music because of its capacity to absorb traits from other musical practices, this study can be a resource for international jazz musicians who are seeking to combine jazz with their musical cultural heritage.