A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation

by John Corbett

Improvisation rattles some listeners. Maybe they’re even suspicious of it. John Coltrane’s saxophonic flights of fancy, Jimi Hendrix’s feedback drenched guitar solos, Ravi Shankar’s sitar extrapolations—all these sounds seem like so much noodling or jamming, indulgent self-expression. “Just” improvising, as is sometimes said. For these music fans, it seems natural that music is meant to be composed. In the first book of its kind, John Corbett’s  A Listener’s Guide to Free Improvisation  provides a how-to manual for the most extreme example of spontaneous music with no pre-planned material at all. Drawing on over three decades of writing about, presenting, playing, teaching, and studying freely improvised music, Corbett offers an enriching set of tools that show any curious listener how to really  listen , and he encourages them to enjoy the human impulse— found all around the world— to make up music on the spot.
           
Corbett equips his reader for a journey into a difficult musical landscape, where there is no steady beat, no pre-ordained format, no overarching melodic or harmonic framework, and where tones can ring with the sharpest of burrs. In “Fundamentals,” he explores key areas of interest, such as how the musicians interact, the malleability of time, overcoming impatience, and watching out for changes and transitions; he grounds these observations in concrete listening exercises, a veritable training regime for musical attentiveness. Then he takes readers deeper in “Advanced Techniques,” plumbing the philosophical conundrums at the heart of free improvisation, including topics such as the influence of the audience and the counterintuitive challenge of listening while asleep. Scattered throughout are helpful and accessible lists of essential resources—recordings, books, videos— and a registry of major practicing free improvisors from Noël Akchoté to John Zorn, particularly essential because this music is best experienced live.
           
The result is a concise, humorous, and inspiring guide, a unique book that will help transform one of the world’s most notoriously unapproachable artforms into a rewarding and enjoyable experience. 

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Jazz

172 pages, Paperback

First published February 22, 2016

About the author

John Corbett is a writer, curator, and producer based in Chicago. He is co-owner of Corbett vs. Dempsey, an art gallery. Corbett is the author of several books, including Extended Play: Sounding Off from John Cage to Dr. Funkenstein (Duke U. Press, 1994), Microgroove: Forays into Other Music (Duke, 2015), A Listener’s Guide to Free Improvisation (University of Chicago Press, 2016), Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium (Duke, 2017), and Pick Up the Pieces: Excursions in Seventies Music (University of Chicago, 2019). As an essayist and reviewer, Corbett has written for numerous academic and commercial publications, including DownBeat, The Wire, The Chicago Reader, The Chicago Tribune, NKA, Bomb, LitHub, and Lapham’s Quarterly. Corbett has edited or co-edited many books, including several on the musicians Sun Ra and Peter Brötzmann, as well as the 125 books and catalogs that his gallery, Corbett vs. Dempsey, has produced, and he has contributed to major museum monographs on artists including Jim Lutes, Charline Von Heyl, Christopher Wool, Albert Oehlen, and Sadie Benning, and essays on artists Rachel Harrison for the Art Institute of Chicago and Bob Thompson for the Museum of Modern Art, NY. Corbett’s work as a music producer includes his label, the Unheard Music Series, which existed from 1999-2006, and Corbett vs. Dempsey, an ongoing label issuing CDs of new and historical jazz, experimental music and improvised music. In 2002, Corbett was invited to be guest artistic director of JazzFest Berlin, and he co-produced the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music as well as a weekly series of concerts at the club of the same name. He has organized many musical events and festivals, most recently a series at the Art Institute of Chicago and stand-alone events at the Guggenheim Museum of Art, NYC, and the Menil Collection, Houston. As a curator, Corbett has been involved in many exhibitions at museums including the Smart Museum of Art, Chicago (Monster Roster: Existentialist Art in Postwar Chicago, 2016), the Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Springs, NY (3-D Doings: The Imagist Object in Chicago Art, 1964-1980), Sullivan Galleries, the School of the Art Institute, Chicago (Touch and Go: Ray Yoshida and his Spheres of Influence, 2010), and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn, and Chicago’s Afro-Futurist Underground, 2009). Corbett taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1988 to 2014.

Reviews

[Lee Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this as an impulse buy when getting a few others things at Joseph Fox Books in Philadelphia -- they had a bunch of little books by the register and this caught my eye so I threw it on the pile. Easy reading, intelligent yet breezy, funny at times, flowing, and with enough ideas and insights particularly about the dynamics between players and later between players and audience to make it worth the price (the time required to read is not so long). Good lists of albums and players in this too. Definitely worth a look for the five of you out there into improvisation.

[Djll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friendly, jargon-free, helpful to both veterans and newcomers alike.

[Jay Hinman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic small guide to the intricacies of listening to free jazz and other improvised music. Smart, funny and most importantly NOT condescending in the least. Corbett is an excellent writer and sherpa, and only deepened my interest in listening to more and more improvised jazz.

[Phillip · Rating 2 out of 5]

not a lot of meat on the bone here ... a lengthy introduction (the first three sections of the book feels like the intro) that goes nowhere, really, but when he gives the listener some exercises to do while listening, he makes a few good points, but some of them are obscured by his "just sitting at the bar shooting the shit" prose. and i'm not even sure a book is necessary to "guide" someone into the realm of freely improvised music, other than to say make some time to sit down and keep your mind open - this music behaves differently than pop music.

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a member of Corbett's target audience - I'm not a newcomer to the free improvisation scene. But a friend and musical colleague suggested that I read this, and I'm glad he did. It's a wonderful, easy-to-read book, which should be helpful to anyone who is interested in this esoteric corner of the musical world. There are few things I disagree with, but so what - I have no problem in giving this handy little book five stars.

[Herb · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've been listening to free improvised music for a long time, you may not get a lot from reading this book. But if you have friends or acquaintances who are curious about the music, this could be a good item to recommend.

It covers a lot of performing and listening strategies, and may be a lot better introduction than trying to explain/convince a friend that if they listen one MORE time to your all-time favorite album they really may finally understand your love for the music.

[John Spiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile read for anyone interested in improvised jazz, poly-free jazz and the like. Corbett makes a fairly esoteric and daunting subject accessible. I wish that he could have used a couple examples of improvised jazz pieces to illustrate the techniques he describes in this book.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe some of the simplest, clearest writing about music I've ever read. Conversational and witty and a pleasure to read.

[Phil Overeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended for Corbett's witty, clear, and practical approach to a worthy and difficult task--and especially for the 40-record recommended discography!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know yet how I feel about improvised music. I do know how I feel about this book. It's readable, funny, and kinda sweet (to his wife).

[Chris Dadge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astounding, a must read for jaded improvisors and neophytes alike.

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been in the great presence of this man's writing and it's taken me this long to mention just how much I enjoyed this read. It's become a bit of a reference guide for me at times when trying to remember lineups at festivals I've allowed to slip the mind. Corbett writes so eloquently but never ado I feel a pretentious, overwritten language. The words here, much like the spontaneous music described therein, allow this reader to relax and accept dynamic patterns and sets a conversational tone as he delves into more advanced stuff, which serve as tips for the listener, such as understanding vocabularies of individual players, lists of essential records and improvisors over the years and ones outside of his vibrant and ever-evolving Chicago free-jazz surroundings. I'll continue to pick up this book at least a few times a year, it's a veritable fountain of knowledge for those of us who like to dig deep..

[Jim Lemanowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to free improvisation as a performer when I was younger because I didn't really want to learn anyone else's songs and at time both my attention span and patience could be very short. What I learned as a listener eventually was how to be more patient and how to develop my attention. John's book is the first book that I have come across that provides an idea of how free improvisation can work (what to focus on) for various types of listeners and yes drops enough names to keep you interested when you want to try something new.

[DJ Yossarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small book, short chapters, very insightful. From my point of view, a perfect primer on the topic.

Improvised music is challenging to most humans, and Corbett guides the reader thoughtfully through the process of understanding, bit by bit, the appeal of free improvisation. He's very non-didactic, and he uses humor here and there to get his ideas across. He also includes several lists of recommendations.

If you're at all curious about free improvisation and don't know where to start, start here.

[Jason Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short and smart and fun book that will help just about anyone who wants to dive into the world of free improvisation. The music can be daunting, but Corbett makes it seem very possible to find a way in.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corbett writes with great clarity and erudition and his analyses find a sweet spot between facts and feeling. To be so remarkably accessible on such a niche subject is quite the achievement.

[Vince Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instructional in a way that I hoped it would be. “You must unlearn what you have learned.”

[Graham Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, easy to read, funny. There's blurb on the back from Glenn Kotche and David Grubbs. That's good blurb!

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming and thoughtful. But if you're already familiar Corbett's work, and have some experience with free improvisation, I'm not sure if you need this.

[Tom Mckenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book on learning how to enjoy music that clears the room.