A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation offers suggestions for appreciating improvisational music. The author focuses on free improvisation, by which he means music with no preplanned elements, but his suggested techniques can enrich less rigorously free music as well. In fact, I doubt that totally free improvisation actually exists: musicians surely agree about something before they start playing.
By virtue of his definition of free improvisation, Corbett has to point to musical elements without reference to the conventions of particular genres. He is more successful at providing concrete suggestions than Ben Ratliff was in Every Song Ever. Corbett's prose style is very accessible and enjoyable, which is impressive given how intimidating this genre of music can be.
You can read A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation in one sitting -- I know because I did -- but of course you'll want to have it at hand while you listen to the recommended recordings -- I know because I do.
By virtue of his definition of free improvisation, Corbett has to point to musical elements without reference to the conventions of particular genres. He is more successful at providing concrete suggestions than Ben Ratliff was in Every Song Ever. Corbett's prose style is very accessible and enjoyable, which is impressive given how intimidating this genre of music can be.
You can read A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation in one sitting -- I know because I did -- but of course you'll want to have it at hand while you listen to the recommended recordings -- I know because I do.
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