Free jazz is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during this period believed that the bebop and modal jazz that had been played before them was too limiting, and became preoccupied with creating something new. The term "free jazz" was drawn from the 1960 Ornette Coleman recording Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. Europeans tend to favor the term "free improvisation". Others have used "modern jazz", "creative music", and "art music".
Roscoe Mitchell is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". The Penguin Guide to Jazz described him as "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz; All About Jazz stated in 2004 that he had been "at the forefront of modern music" for more than 35 years. Critic Jon Pareles in The New York Times has mentioned that Mitchell "qualifies as an iconoclast". In addition to his own work as a bandleader, Mitchell is known for cofounding the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music.
Elliott Sharp is an American contemporary classical composer, multi-instrumentalist, and performer.
Tim Berne is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner. His primary instruments are the alto and baritone saxophones.
Roy Sinclair Campbell Jr. was an American trumpeter frequently linked to free jazz, although he also performed rhythm and blues and funk during his career.
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
Steve Swell is an American free jazz trombonist, composer, and educator.
Ascension is a jazz album by John Coltrane recorded in June 1965 and released in 1966. It is considered a watershed in Coltrane's work, with the albums recorded before it being more conventional in structure and the albums recorded after it being looser, free jazz inspired works. In addition, it signaled Coltrane's interest in moving away from the quartet format. AllMusic called it "the single recording that placed John Coltrane firmly into the avant-garde".
Malachi Richard Thompson, was an American avant-garde jazz trumpet player. In addition to his own work as a bandleader, Thompson was known for his work in the brass ensemble led by fellow trumpeter Lester Bowie.
Spiritual Unity is a studio album by American free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler. It was recorded on July 10, 1964 in New York City, and features bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray. It was the first album recorded for Bernard Stollman's ESP-Disk label, and it brought Ayler to international attention as it was so "shockingly different". At the same time, it transformed ESP-DISK into "a major source for avant-garde jazz". A 5-star review in AllMusic called it a "landmark recording that's essential to any basic understanding of free jazz", "the album that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz's avant-garde... really the first available document of Ayler's music that matched him with a group of truly sympathetic musicians", and stated that "the results are a magnificently pure distillation of his aesthetic."
Jemeel Moondoc was a jazz saxophonist who played alto saxophone. He was a proponent of a highly improvisational style.
Chicago Underground is an avant-garde jazz ensemble formed in Chicago in 1997 based around the core duo of cornetist Rob Mazurek and drummer/percussionist Chad Taylor. They have recorded and performed as the Chicago Underground Duo, Trio, Quartet or Orchestra depending on how many additional musicians are included. The ensemble which has released numerous recordings on the Thrill Jockey and Delmark labels.
Dennis González, often credited Dennis Gonzalez, was an American jazz trumpeter, artist, and educator from Texas. He hosted Miles Out on KERA-FM for over twenty years.
Alvin Leroy Fielder Jr was an American jazz drummer. He was a charter member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Black Arts Music Society, Improvisational Arts band, and was a founding faculty member of the Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp.
Jeff Parker is an American guitarist and composer based in Los Angeles. Born in Connecticut and raised in Hampton, Virginia, Parker is best known as an experimental musician, working with jazz, electronic, rock, and improvisational groups. Parker studied at Berklee College of Music and then moved to Chicago in 1991.
The Young Lions is an album by an ad hoc group of jazz musicians: Wayne Shorter, Frank Strozier, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Bob Cranshaw, Albert Heath and Louis Hayes. It was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City in 1960 and released in 1961 on Vee-Jay Records.
Communion is the third album by American jazz trumpeter Roy Campbell and the debut recording with his Pyramid Trio with bassist William Parker and Reggie Nicholson replacing original drummer Zen Matsuura. The album was recorded in 1994 and released on the Swedish Silkheart label. Roy pays tribute to avant-garde jazz musicians Don Cherry, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, and brothers Don & Albert Ayler.
Chad Taylor is an American drummer, percussionist, and composer. Taylor leads both the Chad Taylor Trio with Brian Settles and Neil Podgurski and Circle Down with Angelica Sanchez and Chris Lightcap. He is a founding member of the Chicago Underground along with Jeff Parker and Rob Mazurek.
