Life Begins at Improvisation
A Small Jazz Symposium
Tom Gsteiger
In times where brain sciences come to the conclusion that free will is an illusion, a discussion around free improvisation might seem rather superfluous. In other words: there is no such thing as free improvisation. Contrary to other music forms in which improvisatory processes also play a role (for instance Hindustani music or Flamenco), in Jazz they gradually occurred in all the musical parameters. Indeed, improvisation appears in Jazz in various guises: the spectrum spans over from relatively simple ornamentation and paraphrases of Broadway melodies to hypercomplex mixed forms combining composition and improvisation. In his essay Tom Gsteiger discusses various, sometimes opposite forms and engages in a specifically jazzoriented critique of the present situation in the Swiss improvisation scene. A Small Jazz Symposium
