Free JazzFree jazz was developed in the 1950's and 60's by pioneering musicians such as Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. It was brought about as a reaction against white interest in popular jazz styles that were beginning to take hold in the 1950's. The integration of previously radical music into the predominantly white mainstream was viewed as another means of racial control. Thus, one of the reasons for its inception was to make it less commercial to the large white audiences.As its name would suggest, there is no clear definition for Free Jazz. It owes its name to the title of Coleman's innovative album, Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. Though it was only intended to be the name of an album, it soon became established as the term for the entire movement. At the time, there was controversy, even amongst jazz musicians, as to whether the style could be called jazz at all. It is characterised by an abandonment of previous adherence to established chord progressions or harmonies. It is heavily reliant on improvisation and largley dispenses with a set rhythm or beat. In the 1960's it came to be known as The New Thing or Energy Music. Though at the time the "Free" movement was developed as a statement against the mainstream and prided itself on being entirely new, today it has built up a set of traditions. It represents a freedom of expression that some consider absent in more conventional styles of jazz; the importance being laid on energy and spirit rather than form and marketability. Though it does largely remain outside the realms of commercial popularity, there are established scenes across the world, particularly in Europe and Japan, where the style is still very much alive and well. Return from Free Jazz to Jazz History
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