This text reveals how musicians, both individually and collectively, learn to improvise. It aims to illuminate the distinctive creative processes that comprise improvisation. Chronicling leading musicians from their first encounters with jazz to the development of a unique improvisatory voice, Paul Berliner demonstrates that a lifetime of preparation lies behind the skilled improviser's every note. Berliner's integration of data concerning musical development, the rigorous practice and thought artists devote to jazz outside performance, and the complexities of composing in the moment leads to a new understanding of jazz improvisation as a language, an aesthetic and a tradition. The product of more than 15 years of immersion in the jazz world, "Thinking in Jazz" combines participant observation with detailed musicological analysis, the author's own experience as a jazz trumpeter, interpretations of published material by scholars and performers, and, above all, original data from interviews with more than 50 professional musicians. Together, the interviews provide insight into the production of jazz by great artists like Betty Carter, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker. "Thinking in Jazz" features musical examples from the 1920s to the present, including transcriptions (keyed to commercial recordings) of collective improvisations by Miles Davis's and John Coltrane's groups.
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About the Author
Paul F. Berliner is professor of ethnomusicology at Northwestern University. He is the author of The Soul of Mbira, also published by the University of Chicago Press, and is the recipient of an ASCAP-Deems Taylor award for outstanding writing in music.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
An absolutely groundbreaking work that cuts through all the misconceptions about improv & tells what it's really like. Honestly, this is the only book of its kind that really resonates with musicians and has this level of scope, clear & cogent writing, organization, musical examples (what transcriptions!), and respected primary sources.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Tamsin Dance
Format:Paperback
A highly informative book. it's a big book, and full of loads of quotes. clearly explained concepts. i actually used this book for a dance essay about using music structure in dance improvisation. i got a bit carried away with quoting the book and had to cut lots out of the essay- all very interesting stuff!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By lexo1941
Format:Paperback
'Thinking In Jazz' is a fascinating study of what jazz musicians actually do when they're improvising; how they prepare for it, what it's like at the time, what factors affect it. Berliner put it together the hard way, by interviewing and hanging out with numerous musicians over what seems to have been a fifteen-odd year process, including players as illustrious as Lee Konitz, George Duvivier, Doc Cheatham and Barry Harris. There's a wealth of musical examples but, so as not to scare off readers who can't read music, the bulk of them are stowed at the back of the book. (You don't need to be able to read music to find this book valuable, but it helps.)
Berliner's style is a bit stiff and formal (visions of this earnest classically-trained ethnomusicologist studying jazz trumpet so as to get to know his subject better), in sharp contrast to the more conversational manner of his interviewees. But he has allowed the musicians' own opinions to remain as contradictory and unresolved as real life, rather than trying to come to formal conclusions about the 'nature' of jazz; for example, Lou Donaldson is as scathing about rhythm players who want to improvise behind him, as other guys are about rhythm players who refuse to improvise. (You never know what you're expected to do until you're told off for not doing it.)
Don't be put off by the formidable bulk of the book; it's a good read, as well as containing a wealth of stories about the working lives of jazz players.
Berliner's style is a bit stiff and formal (visions of this earnest classically-trained ethnomusicologist studying jazz trumpet so as to get to know his subject better), in sharp contrast to the more conversational manner of his interviewees. But he has allowed the musicians' own opinions to remain as contradictory and unresolved as real life, rather than trying to come to formal conclusions about the 'nature' of jazz; for example, Lou Donaldson is as scathing about rhythm players who want to improvise behind him, as other guys are about rhythm players who refuse to improvise. (You never know what you're expected to do until you're told off for not doing it.)
Don't be put off by the formidable bulk of the book; it's a good read, as well as containing a wealth of stories about the working lives of jazz players.
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic
Completely amazing! A wonderful insight - easy to read and inspirational. A must for all musicians!
This book is one of the all time classics in musical literature.
This book is one of the all time classics in musical literature.
Published 2 months ago by MRS C DAVIES
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great insight
This book is a must read for any aspiring jazz musician. Whatever instrument you play you'll get something out of this book. Great qoutes/solo samples and really well layed out
Published 13 months ago by Ah um
1.0 out of 5 stars
The infinite art of complication
Too much like a doctoral thesis to be of value in practical terms. Over complicated and much of the essence could have been condensed into fewer than a quarter of the pages.
Published on 27 April 2010 by Mr. Ian Brameld
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