Third stream
Encyclopedia
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller
, within a lecture at Brandeis University
, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz
. Improvisation
—a key element of jazz, but far less common in classical music—is generally seen as a vital component of Third Stream.
Schuller noted that while purists on both sides of Third Stream objected to tainting their favorite music with the other, more strenuous objections were typically made by jazz musicians who felt such efforts were "an assault on their traditions." Schuller writes that "by designating the music as a 'separate, Third Stream,' the other two mainstreams could go about their way unaffected by the attempts at fusion." Because Third Stream draws on classical as much as jazz, it is generally required that composers and performers be proficient in both genres.
Critics have argued that Third Stream—by drawing on two very different styles—dilutes the power of each in combining them. Others reject such notions, and consider Third Stream an interesting musical development.
In 1981, Schuller offered a list of "What Third Stream is not":
, who earned great acclaim after incorporating elements of Hungarian
folk music
into his music, which had earlier been heavily influenced by Claude Debussy
and Richard Strauss
.
There were very early attempts to integrate jazz and classical music in the early 1900s. Though few of these examples might be strictly classified as Third Stream, they do demonstrate that there was widespread mutual interest and appreciation from both the jazz and classical traditions.
Third Stream is notably separate from the "symphonic jazz" movement of the 1920s in that it involves improvisation
.
Some Ragtime
music drew upon classical music, and symphonic pieces such as George Gershwin
's 1924 Rhapsody In Blue
blended jazz and symphonic music. The piece La création du monde
by French composer Darius Milhaud
includes jazz-inspired elements, including a jazz fugue. Igor Stravinsky
drew upon jazz for several compositions, such as "Ragtime", "Piano-rag Rag Music" and "The Ebony Concerto" (the latter composed for jazz clarinetist Woody Herman
and his orchestra in 1945). Other notable composers who utilized jazz elements in at least a few compositions include Maurice Ravel
, Bohuslav Martinů
, Paul Hindemith
, William Grant Still
, Aaron Copland
, Kurt Weill
, and Dmitri Shostakovich
.
Much of Duke Ellington
's work has often been recognized as being among the early efforts to blend the elements associated with both genres. His music has been described as sharing characteristics with that of classical composers such as Delius
, Debussy, and Ravel, particularly in impressionistic mood pieces such as "Mood Indigo" and "Dusk."
Pianist Art Tatum
drew upon elements of classical technique and recorded jazz versions of short pieces by European composers such as Antonín Dvořák
and Massenet.
Another important jazz-classical fusion
was Artie Shaw
's "Interlude in B-flat," recorded in 1935 with the most unusual ensemble of a string quartet, a jazz rhythm section, and Shaw on clarinet
and saxophone
.
Much of Charles Mingus
' oeuvre before and after the coining of the term "Third Stream" parallels Schuller's idea. Indeed, the title of Mingus' two-part album Jazzical Moods (1955), a blend of "jazz" and "classical", may have helped to inspire Schuller, also considering that the two men were friends.
writes, "it was not until the mid-to-late '50s that more serious experiments began to take place. Schuller
, John Lewis
, J. J. Johnson, and Bill Russo
were some of the more significant composers attempting to bridge the gap between jazz and classical music." Yanow also suggests that the impact of Third Stream music was blunted by the rise of free jazz
in the late 1950s, which overtook Third Stream as the leading development in jazz. Schuller was heavily involved with the Columbia Records
LPs Music For Brass (1957) and Modern Jazz Concert (1958) later re-issued became what is know as the recording Birth Of The Third Stream (now as CD). The recording greatly helped to push the concept and legitimacy of the style and approach to this music.
Jazz composer and producer Teo Macero
, who went on to produce Miles Davis
and Dave Brubeck
, was influenced by the Third Stream movement. Other notable examples of the style include Lewis's Modern Jazz Quartet
and solo efforts, Teddy Charles, Don Ellis
, Gil Evans
, Bill Russo
, George Russell, Brubeck and his brother, Howard Brubeck, Jacques Loussier
and his Play Bach Trio
, Jimmy Giuffre
, Toshiko Akiyoshi
, David Amram
, Ran Blake
, David Baker, and Bob Graettinger
. Many free jazz
composers and performers, such as Cecil Taylor
, Anthony Braxton
, Yitzhak Yedid
, the band Oregon, and Sun Ra
, were also influenced by the Third Stream school.
Charles Mingus
' immense final work, Epitaph
, was edited and premiered at Lincoln Center in 1989 by Schuller.
Fred Tompkins
, has forged a style which seems to enjoy the benefits of fully notated composition, while also capturing the strong, propulsive essence of jazz. His early works were often accompanied by the drumming of Elvin Jones
and then by other drummers from New York or St. Louis.
Examples of recordings that synthesize composed and improvised music are the albums Miles Ahead
by Miles Davis
and Gil Evans
; Focus by Stan Getz
and Eddie Sauter; Perceptions by Dizzy Gillespie
and J. J. Johnson; Alegria by Wayne Shorter
; Wide Angles by Michael Brecker
, and Myth of the Cave
by Yitzhak Yedid
. These albums feature a soloist improvising in a jazz style over a complex composed background.
Composer Krzysztof Penderecki
experimented with compositionally guided free jazz improvisation in his "Actions for Free Jazz Orchestra." Hans Werner Henze
also brought free jazz into his compositions—-notably, in "Der langwierige Weg in die Wohnung der Natascha Ungeheuer
"—-though some may consider his use of jazz to be more incorporated texture than synthesis.
The contemporary Ukrainian composer-pianist Nikolai Kapustin
writes fully notated music in a jazz idiom that fuses the Russian piano tradition with the virtuosic styles of Tatum, Oscar Peterson
, and others.
The Grammy Award
winning record label Planet Arts and producer Tom Bellino are in the process of recording a new CD of Third Stream music which is a melding of Charles Ives
songs with a jazz orchestra instrumentation. This was originated by a study and thesis completed at the University of Texas in 1999 on how to push the boundries of Third Stream composition.
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
, within a lecture at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. Improvisation
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
—a key element of jazz, but far less common in classical music—is generally seen as a vital component of Third Stream.
History
In 1961, Schuller defined Third Stream as "a new genre of music located about halfway between jazz and classical music". Schuller insisted that "by definition there is no such thing as 'Third Stream Jazz'".Schuller noted that while purists on both sides of Third Stream objected to tainting their favorite music with the other, more strenuous objections were typically made by jazz musicians who felt such efforts were "an assault on their traditions." Schuller writes that "by designating the music as a 'separate, Third Stream,' the other two mainstreams could go about their way unaffected by the attempts at fusion." Because Third Stream draws on classical as much as jazz, it is generally required that composers and performers be proficient in both genres.
Critics have argued that Third Stream—by drawing on two very different styles—dilutes the power of each in combining them. Others reject such notions, and consider Third Stream an interesting musical development.
In 1981, Schuller offered a list of "What Third Stream is not":
- It is not jazz with strings
String sectionThe string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
.- It is not jazz played on 'classical' instruments.
- It is not classical music played by jazz players.
- It is not inserting a bit of Ravel
Maurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
or SchoenbergArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
between be-bopBebopBebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
changesChord progressionA chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
—nor the reverse.- It is not jazz in fugal
FugueIn music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
form.- It is not a fugue played by jazz players.
- It is not designed to do away with jazz or classical music; it is just another option amongst many for today’s creative musicians.
Earlier fusion attempts
Schuller suggested that a similar fusion was made by Béla BartókBéla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
, who earned great acclaim after incorporating elements of Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
into his music, which had earlier been heavily influenced by Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
and Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
.
There were very early attempts to integrate jazz and classical music in the early 1900s. Though few of these examples might be strictly classified as Third Stream, they do demonstrate that there was widespread mutual interest and appreciation from both the jazz and classical traditions.
Third Stream is notably separate from the "symphonic jazz" movement of the 1920s in that it involves improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
.
Some Ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
music drew upon classical music, and symphonic pieces such as George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's 1924 Rhapsody In Blue
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
blended jazz and symphonic music. The piece La création du monde
La Création du Monde
The composition La création du monde, Op. 81a, is a 20-minute-long ballet with music composed by Darius Milhaud, in 1922-1923,which outlines the Creation of the World, based on African folk mythology.- History :...
by French composer Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
includes jazz-inspired elements, including a jazz fugue. Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
drew upon jazz for several compositions, such as "Ragtime", "Piano-rag Rag Music" and "The Ebony Concerto" (the latter composed for jazz clarinetist Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
and his orchestra in 1945). Other notable composers who utilized jazz elements in at least a few compositions include Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, Bohuslav Martinů
Bohuslav Martinu
Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
, Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
, William Grant Still
William Grant Still
William Grant Still was an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. He was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major...
, Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
, and Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
.
Much of Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
's work has often been recognized as being among the early efforts to blend the elements associated with both genres. His music has been described as sharing characteristics with that of classical composers such as Delius
Delius
Delius is a surname. It may refer to:* Ernst von Delius - German racing car driver* Frederick Delius - English composer* Nicolaus Delius - German philologist* Tobias Delius Delius is a surname. It may refer to:* Ernst von Delius (1912–1937) - German racing car driver* Frederick Delius...
, Debussy, and Ravel, particularly in impressionistic mood pieces such as "Mood Indigo" and "Dusk."
Pianist Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
drew upon elements of classical technique and recorded jazz versions of short pieces by European composers such as Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
and Massenet.
Another important jazz-classical fusion
Fusion (music)
A fusion genre is music that combines two or more styles. For example, rock and roll originally developed as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music. The main characteristics of fusion genres are variations in tempo, rhythm, i a sometimes the use of long musical "journeys" that can be divided...
was Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....
's "Interlude in B-flat," recorded in 1935 with the most unusual ensemble of a string quartet, a jazz rhythm section, and Shaw on clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
.
Much of Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
' oeuvre before and after the coining of the term "Third Stream" parallels Schuller's idea. Indeed, the title of Mingus' two-part album Jazzical Moods (1955), a blend of "jazz" and "classical", may have helped to inspire Schuller, also considering that the two men were friends.
Examples
Despite the early examples noted above, critic Scott YanowScott Yanow
Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...
writes, "it was not until the mid-to-late '50s that more serious experiments began to take place. Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
, John Lewis
John Lewis (pianist)
John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist and composer best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.- Early life:...
, J. J. Johnson, and Bill Russo
William Russo
William Russo may refer to:*William Daddano, Sr., aka William Russo*William Russo...
were some of the more significant composers attempting to bridge the gap between jazz and classical music." Yanow also suggests that the impact of Third Stream music was blunted by the rise of free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
in the late 1950s, which overtook Third Stream as the leading development in jazz. Schuller was heavily involved with the Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
LPs Music For Brass (1957) and Modern Jazz Concert (1958) later re-issued became what is know as the recording Birth Of The Third Stream (now as CD). The recording greatly helped to push the concept and legitimacy of the style and approach to this music.
Jazz composer and producer Teo Macero
Teo Macero
Teo Macero , born Attilio Joseph Macero, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer...
, who went on to produce Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
and Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
, was influenced by the Third Stream movement. Other notable examples of the style include Lewis's Modern Jazz Quartet
Modern Jazz Quartet
The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...
and solo efforts, Teddy Charles, Don Ellis
Don Ellis
Don Ellis was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures...
, Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, Bill Russo
William Russo (musician)
William Russo, better known as Bill Russo , was an American jazz musician. He is considered one of the greatest jazz composers and arrangers.-History:...
, George Russell, Brubeck and his brother, Howard Brubeck, Jacques Loussier
Jacques Loussier
Jacques Loussier is a French pianist and composer. He is well-known for his jazz interpretations in trio formation of many of Johann Sebastian Bach's works, such as the Goldberg Variations.-Early life and education :...
and his Play Bach Trio
Play Bach Trio
The Play Bach Trio , was a Third Stream jazz piano trio that became known for their Jazz interpretations of European classical music....
, Jimmy Giuffre
Jimmy Giuffre
James Peter Giuffre was an American jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.-Biography:Born in Dallas, Texas, of Italian ancestry,...
, Toshiko Akiyoshi
Toshiko Akiyoshi
is a Japanese American jazz pianist, composer/arranger and bandleader. Among a very few successful female instrumentalists of her generation in jazz, she is also recognized as a major figure in jazz composition. She has received 14 Grammy nominations, and she was the first woman to win the Best...
, David Amram
David Amram
David Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston...
, Ran Blake
Ran Blake
Ran Blake is an American pianist and composer from Springfield, Massachusetts. In a career that spans five decades, Blake has created a unique niche in improvised music as an artist and educator...
, David Baker, and Bob Graettinger
Robert Graettinger
Robert Frederick Graettinger was an American composer, best known for his work with Stan Kenton.-Early life and work:...
. Many free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
composers and performers, such as Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
, Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
, Yitzhak Yedid
Yitzhak Yedid
Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli Australian composer of classical music and jazz pianist.-Biography:Yitzhak Yedid was born on September 29, 1971 in Jerusalem, Israel. His family immigrated from Syria. He studied at the Rubin Academy of Music and the New England Conservatory in Boston with Ran Blake...
, the band Oregon, and Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
, were also influenced by the Third Stream school.
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
' immense final work, Epitaph
Epitaph (Mingus)
Epitaph is a composition, and a live album, by jazz musician Charles Mingus. It is over 4000 measures long, takes more than two hours to perform, and was only completely discovered during the cataloguing process after his death...
, was edited and premiered at Lincoln Center in 1989 by Schuller.
Fred Tompkins
Fred Tompkins
Fred Tompkins is an American jazz flautist and composer - best known for his work as a composer of third stream music.- Early life:...
, has forged a style which seems to enjoy the benefits of fully notated composition, while also capturing the strong, propulsive essence of jazz. His early works were often accompanied by the drumming of Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
and then by other drummers from New York or St. Louis.
Examples of recordings that synthesize composed and improvised music are the albums Miles Ahead
Miles Ahead
Miles Ahead is a jazz album by Miles Davis that was released in 1957 on Columbia CL 1041. This was the first album following Birth of the Cool that Davis recorded with Gil Evans, with whom he would go on to release albums such as Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain...
by Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
and Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
; Focus by Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
and Eddie Sauter; Perceptions by Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
and J. J. Johnson; Alegria by Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
; Wide Angles by Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, and Myth of the Cave
Myth of the Cave
Myth of the Cave is a suite in five movements for clarinet/bass clarinet, double bass and piano, composed by Yitzhak Yedid in Jerusalem, Israel, 2002, and premiered in Frankfurt, Germany, October 2002....
by Yitzhak Yedid
Yitzhak Yedid
Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli Australian composer of classical music and jazz pianist.-Biography:Yitzhak Yedid was born on September 29, 1971 in Jerusalem, Israel. His family immigrated from Syria. He studied at the Rubin Academy of Music and the New England Conservatory in Boston with Ran Blake...
. These albums feature a soloist improvising in a jazz style over a complex composed background.
Composer Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
experimented with compositionally guided free jazz improvisation in his "Actions for Free Jazz Orchestra." Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
also brought free jazz into his compositions—-notably, in "Der langwierige Weg in die Wohnung der Natascha Ungeheuer
Der langwierige Weg in die Wohnung der Natascha Ungeheuer
Der langwierige Weg in die Wohnung der Natascha Ungeheuer is a composition by the German composer Hans Werner Henze...
"—-though some may consider his use of jazz to be more incorporated texture than synthesis.
The contemporary Ukrainian composer-pianist Nikolai Kapustin
Nikolai Kapustin
Nikolai Girshevich Kapustin is a Ukrainian Russian composer and pianist....
writes fully notated music in a jazz idiom that fuses the Russian piano tradition with the virtuosic styles of Tatum, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
, and others.
The Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winning record label Planet Arts and producer Tom Bellino are in the process of recording a new CD of Third Stream music which is a melding of Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
songs with a jazz orchestra instrumentation. This was originated by a study and thesis completed at the University of Texas in 1999 on how to push the boundries of Third Stream composition.