[Dixielandjazz] Free Form Music

[Paul Kurtz Jr]

David, this piece is a lot like Hohvannes’s Prayer of St. Gregory for organ and trumpet, or orchestra and trumpet. 

What I’m trying to get people to think about is this. We can take traditional dixieland forms of music with instrumentation, take certain parts of freeform thought in chords and musical interactions, create beautiful music, and add to the repertoire. This is what the Bach group, you know, J.S., C.P.E., and all of the other 20 children (not forgetting of course, P.D.Q. Bach :-) :-) :-) did in their many improvisatory works of their day. We don’t know what they really did from week to week in churches; we only have what was written down or commented on. But, we can take a Saints beat, a St. James Infirmary beat, a Nearer my God to Thee beat, and put tons of stuff around that. Maurice Andre did this with his Toot Suite by bringing classical form into jazz and he’s not by himself. In creating just a wee bit of ferment, you create some great music. And by the way, for those who don’t know, Andre loved American jazz and swing music and could play it well. 

Paul Kurtz Jacksonville, FL