Anthony Braxton and His Two Musical Traditions, the Meeting of Concert Music and Jazz. (Volumes I and II) (Avant-Garde, Free Jazz).

Abstract

The dissertation examines the musical life of black composer-saxophonist Anthony Braxton, a leading jazz innovator of the 1970s. During this decade, Braxton aroused a critical controversy that grew out of his stance as an artist who straddles two musical traditions. The first, jazz, is a personal vernacular from which his principal musical learning stems; the second, avant-garde concert music, is an acquired realm that has re-shaped his perception of himself as an artist. Together they have produced a musical approach and an aesthetic theory that st and unprecedented in the history of jazz. The dissertation consists of four sections, all of which draw from ten interviews conducted by the author. The first observes the changes in Braxton's musical perception after he encountered the music of Schoenberg. It also analyzes the journalistic formula that critics invented in order to portray Braxton. This formula, while diverting and entertaining, did not correspond to the reality of Braxton as a musician. Part Two analyzes Braxton's music for improvising ensembles. It explains how he employed the sound world of the avant-garde in composing jazz forms. The analyses are based on transcriptions made by the author and manuscripts supplied by the composer. Part Three examines Braxton's approach to composition. It shows how methods first conceived independently later evolved into a comprehensive system of "language music" stemming from his saxophone improvisations. The section also discusses Braxton's spatial conception of sound and his mystical beliefs, showing how they influenced his notations, his non-verbal titles, and his underst and ing of musical meaning. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of Braxton's "Tri-Axiom Position," a three-volume treatise on history and aesthetics and the first philosophical writing by a jazz musician. The section outlines the basic tenets of Braxton's writing. It also argues that the book is above all a defense of Braxton's black-nationalist views and taste for avant-garde art.