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Imaging music: Abstract expressionism and free improvisation

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Matthew Sansom

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Abstract

The author defines free improvisation, a form of music-making that first emerged in the 1960s with UK composers and groups such as Cardew, Bailey, AMM and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. The approach here considers free improvisation as creative activity, encompassing its artistic agenda on the one hand and the process-based dynamic of its production on the other. After considering the historical location of free improvisation within Western music history, the article explores free improvisation as analogous with Abstract Expressionist art. This comparison enables a fuller understanding of the activity's conceptual basis and the creative process it engenders.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Sansom M

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Leonardo Music Journal

Year: 2001

Volume: 11

Pages: 29-34

ISSN (print): 0024-094X

ISSN (electronic): 1530-9282

Publisher: MIT Press

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/09611210152780647

DOI: 10.1162/09611210152780647

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