Gunther Schuller, MJQ, and the 'Third Stream'
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Forum Name: Jazz Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
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URL: http://www.JazzMusicArchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28
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Topic: Gunther Schuller, MJQ, and the 'Third Stream'
Posted By: Atavachron
Subject: Gunther Schuller, MJQ, and the 'Third Stream'
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 9:47pm
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A term coined by Gunther Schuller, Third Stream music was the synthesis of jazz and classical on a molecular level. Players had to be proficient in both styles and improvisation was as important as structure. Interestingly; 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." [wiki] The Modern Jazz Quartet were among the best practitioners of this and though I've not heard enough from that classy bunch, Blues On Bach is one of my favorites. Thoughts, comments, other artists ? |
Replies:
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 10:07pm
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This is a big favorite of mine. a have a Pandora radio station that is based around 3rd Stream and sophisticated classic to modern jazz. Although I would not apply my broad view of 3rd Stream on this site. To my ears I hear 3rd stream influences in these jazz artists: Herbie Hancock mid to late 60s and much later in his career too. The non-kitsch Don Ellis albums. Lots of Duke Ellington Gil Evans Miles' work with Gil Evans solo Bill Evans for classical: Gershwin Poulenc some Stravinsky Milhaud also sometimes Hindemith, Shostakovitch, Debussy and Ravel. A real favorite for me lately is William Grant Still who wrote classical pieces based around the language of jazz and blues in the early part of the twentieth century. His music is kind of simple in a way, but it is really effective. Lately I am really attracted to late 20s to early 40s big band jazz and its relationship to the classical music of its time. The place where Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington meet Poulenc and Milhaud is a smart urban sound that still sounds modern to me.
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Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 10:14pm
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JMA has the mechanism that the genre can be added by the unit of the album. I learnt it by Slava. Branford Marsalis has one "Third Stream" now. By the way, I recalled "The Threepenny Opera" of Joachim Kuhn. However, this was not classics but the dramas. |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 10:14pm
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love Bill E. too, and I keep trying to get people to hear Brubeck's Brandenburg Gate: Revisited, a real stunner .. I'll have to look into William Grant Still, thanks John |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 10:17pm
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Kazuhiro wrote:Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 10:21pm
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I added this album by instructing John.
http://dev.jazzmusicarchives.com/branford-marsalis--romances-for-saxophone.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://dev.jazzmusicarchives.com/branford-marsalis--romances-for-saxophone.aspx
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 10:57pm
I think there is too much marketing thinking going into Branford's music and it all comes out sort of forced and unnatural. I saw him on TV one time playing some live insane high speed post-bop and he was having fun and he sounded like about the best saxophone player I ever heard in my life. He has it in him, but it rarely comes out on his records, too much A&R input probably.
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Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 11:06pm
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yeah it's too bad, his playing was often better on the Sting records than on his own |
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 11:14pm
I believe that, which reminds me of reading about how Miles was angry because Sting could steal his musicians and pay them better  The other time I saw Branford go off was another live performance on TV, this time a really twisted Ornette style hip-hop piece with a repeating sax melody. You have to have some real conviction to pull off that sort or thing and Branford was great. Once again, one of the best performances I've ever heard on sax, but its true, his records can sound stilted, Buckshot LaFounque was one big disappointment. |
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2011 at 11:46pm
| A really great piece of weird jazz by a composer is Milton Babbit's All Set for jazz ensemble, kind of humorous in its abstractions. |
Posted By: 4theboids
Date Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 9:42pm
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There was a Stan Kenton album called "City of Glass" (1951) that predated the Third Stream movement significantly. Kenton was playing compositions by Robert Groettenger http://www.allmusic.com/album/city-of-glass-stan-kenton-plays-bob-graettinger-r154962" rel="nofollow - http://www.allmusic.com/album/city-of-glass-stan-kenton-plays-bob-graettinger-r154962 |
Posted By: idlero
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 4:17am
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I consider Jacques Loussier as the master of this genre(although his Ravel and Vivaldi works impressed me less) and everything I hear I compare to him I consider Steve Kuhn's Pavane For A dead Princess a pretty good one too. |
Posted By: danielpgz
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2011 at 10:38pm
| You can also listen to Dimitri Shostakovich's quartets to get a pretty good idea of "third stream" (although I don't agree too much with the term) and pianist György Cziffra, especially the albums of his improvisation |
Posted By: Jazz Pianist
Date Posted: 29 Jul 2011 at 11:19am
| Mingus and Gershwin did a few mainstream compositions as far as I know? Also Hindemith helped bridge the jazz-classical gap. |
Posted By: idlero
Date Posted: 06 Aug 2011 at 1:33am
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nice one ------------- I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely predictable, it's a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again ... Ken Burns |