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This fresh look at the neglected rhythm section in jazz ensembles shows that the improvisational interplay among drums, bass, and piano is just as innovative, complex, and spontaneous as the solo. Ingrid Monson juxtaposes musicians' talk and musical examples to ask how musicians go about "saying something" through music in a way that articulates identity, politics, and race. Through interviews with Jaki Byard, Richard Davis, Sir Roland Hanna, Billy Higgins, Cecil McBee, and others, she develops a perspective on jazz improvisation that has "interactiveness" at its core, in the creation of music through improvisational interaction, in the shaping of social communities and networks through music, and in the development of cultural meanings and ideologies that inform the interpretation of jazz in twentieth-century American cultural life. Replete with original musical transcriptions, this broad view of jazz improvisation and its emotional and cultural power will have a wide audience among jazz fans, ethnomusicologists, and anthropologists.

Jazz --- Improvisation (Music) --- Criticism and interpretation. --- ethnomusicology, musical techniques, jazz music, rhythm section, fresh look, ensembles, improvisational interplay, piano, drums, bass, innovative, complex, spontaneous, musicians talk, examples, saying something, race, politics, identity, cecil mcbee, billy higgins, sir roland hanna, richard davis, jaki byard, improvisation, interactiveness, tempo, timing, social communities, ideologies, 20th century, united states, african-american, musicology, anthropology, sociology, history.

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A landmark in jazz studies, Thinking in Jazz reveals as never before how musicians, both individually and collectively, learn to improvise. Chronicling leading musicians from their first encounters with jazz to the development of a unique improvisatory voice, Paul Berliner documents the lifetime of preparation that lies behind the skilled improviser's every idea. The product of more than fifteen years of immersion in the jazz world, Thinking in Jazz combines participant observation with detailed musicological analysis, the author's experience as a jazz trumpeter, interpretations of published material by scholars and performers, and, above all, original data from interviews with more than fifty professional musicians: bassists George Duvivier and Rufus Reid; drummers Max Roach, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Akira Tana; guitarist Emily Remler; pianists Tommy Flanagan and Barry Harris; saxophonists Lou Donaldson, Lee Konitz, and James Moody; trombonist Curtis Fuller; trumpeters Doc Cheatham, Art Farmer, Wynton Marsalis, and Red Rodney; vocalists Carmen Lundy and Vea Williams; and others. 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 overflows with musical examples from the 1920s to the present, including original transcriptions (keyed to commercial recordings) of collective improvisations by Miles Davis's and John Coltrane's groups. These transcriptions provide additional insight into the structure and creativity of jazz improvisation and represent a remarkable resource for jazz musicians as well as students and educators. Berliner explores the alternative ways-aural, visual, kinetic, verbal, emotional, theoretical, associative-in which these performers conceptualize their music and describes the delicate interplay of soloist and ensemble in collective improvisation. Berliner's skillful integration of data concerning musical development, the rigorous practice and thought artists devote to jazz outside of 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. This unprecedented journey to the heart of the jazz tradition will fascinate and enlighten musicians, musicologists, and jazz fans alike.

Jazz --- Improvisation (Music) --- Jazz musicians --- jazz, improvisation, creativity, music, ethnomusicology, musicology, trumpet, miles davis, coltrane, performance, composition, bands, venues, rhythm section, rehearsal, precomposition, community, charlie parker, coleman hawkins, dizzy gillespie, betty carter, vea williams, carmen lundy, red rodney, wynton marsalis, art farmer, doc cheatham, curtis fuller, james moody, lee konitz, lou donaldson, barry harris, tommy flanagan, emily remler, akira tana, ronald shannon jackson, max roach, rufus reid, george duvivier, nonfiction, analysis. --- History and criticism.