Abstract:

Computers, critical doubts not withstanding, provide an important way to extend jazz improvisation and compositional resources. Jazz musicians have long explored the use of new technologies and have given a number of recent instruments their first virtuosos and repertoires. Just as jazz had given the saxophone its voice, through musicians like Coleman Hawkins, it also established the validity of the drum set in the work of Baby Dodds among others, and the electric guitar in the breakthroughs of Charlie Christian. I have sought to expand my work as a jazz improviser and composer through the use of interactive systems. For the past 12 years I have presented concerts that included original compositions for saxophone and computer controlled electronics. In the process I have explored several approaches to designing and performing with these systems, and addressed issues of how jazz is evolving. The lecture will include a demonstration of one such composition that uses an interactive system.