The Practice of Musical Improvisation : Dialogues with Contemporary Musical Improvisers

Over several years, Bertrand Denzler and Jean-Luc Guionnet have interviewed a variety of approximately 50 musicians about their practice of musical improvisation. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and carefully edited. Musicians include both the very experienced such as Phil Durrant, Rhodri Davies, Eddie Prévost, John Butcher, Evan Parker, Axel Dörner, Phil Minton, Radu Malfatti, Otomo Yoshihide, Bill Dixon and Annette Krebs, as well as those newer to the field. Asked questions on topics such as the thought process behind a collective improvisation, the importance of the human factor in improvisation, and the technical strategies used, the interviewees highlight the habits and customs of a practice, as experienced by those who invent it on a daily basis. The collection recounts musicians’ radically personal paths to draw an incomplete map of the blurred territory of contemporary improvised music. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements Preface Chapter 1: Starting an improvisation Chapter 2: The mental state during an improvisation Chapter 3: Listening to the other musicians, the human factor, the strategies Chapter 4: Memory and form Chapter 5: Process versus aesthetic result, improvisation as a tool to make music versus music as a tool to improvise, improvisation versus composition Chapter 6: Talking about improvisation and music in general Chapter 7: Non-idiomatic improvisation, experimental music, genre labels Chapter 8: Silence and dynamics Chapter 9: Sounds as material Chapter 10: Instrument and technique Chapter 11: Solo improvisation Chapter 12: The concert situation, the audience, the published recordings Chapter 13: Some political issues Chapter 14: How I came to play this music Chapter 15: How I listen to music, the music I listen to, some hidden gardens Chapter 16: Miscellaneous List of the musicians interviewed An ear for discord: Improvise, they say Diagrams Diagram 1 Diagram 2 Diagram 3 Diagram 4 Diagram 5 Diagram 6 Diagram 7 Diagram 8 Diagram 9 Diagram 10 Over several years, Bertrand Denzler and Jean-Luc Guionnet have interviewed approximately 50 musicians from various backgrounds about their practice of musical improvisation. Musicians include both the very experienced such as Sophie Agnel, Burkhard Beins, John Butcher, Rhodri Davies, Bill Dixon, Phil Durrant, Axel Dörner, Annette Krebs, Daunik Lazro, Mattin, Seijiro Murayama, Andrea Neumann, Jérôme Noetinger, Evan Parker, Eddie Prévost and Taku Unami, as well as those newer to the field. Asked questions on topics such as the mental processes behind a collective improvisation, the importance of the human factor in improvisation, the strategies used and the way musical decisions are made, the interviewees highlight the habits and customs of a practice, as experienced by those who invent it on a daily basis. The interviews were carefully edited in order to produce a sort of grand discussion that draws an incomplete map of the blurred territory of contemporary improvised music. Over several years, Bertrand Denzler and Jean-Luc Guionnet have interviewed approximately 50 musicians from various backgrounds about their practice of musical improvisation. Musicians include both the very experienced such as Sophie Agnel, Burkhard Beins, John Butcher, Rhodri Davies, Bill Dixon, Phil Durrant, Axel Doerner, Annette Krebs, Daunik Lazro, Mattin, Seijiro Murayama, Andrea Neumann, Jerome Noetinger, Evan Parker, Eddie Prevost and Taku Unami, as well as those newer to the field. Asked questions on topics such as the mental processes behind a collective improvisation, the importance of the human factor in improvisation, the strategies used and the way musical decisions are made, the interviewees highlight the habits and customs of a practice, as experienced by those who invent it on a daily basis. The interviews were carefully edited in order to produce a sort of grand discussion that draws an incomplete map of the blurred territory of contemporary improvised music "A range of 50 musical improvisers discuss the complex processes at work in their practice."-- Provided by publisher