Postbop Jazz in the 1960s
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Innovations in postbop jazz compositions of the 1960s occurred in several dimensions, including harmony, form, and melody. Postbop jazz composers such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea broke with earlier tonal jazz traditions. Their compositions marked a departure from the techniques of jazz standards and original compositions that defined small-group repertory through the 1950s: single-key orientation, schematic 32-bar frameworks (in AABA or ABAC forms), and tonal harmonic progressions. The book develops analytical pathways through a number of compositions, including "El Gaucho," "Penelope," "Pinocchio," "Face of the Deep" (Shorter); "King Cobra," "Dolphin Dance," "Jessica" (Hancock); "Windows," "Inner Space," "Song of the Wind" (Corea); as well as "We Speak" (Little); "Punjab" (Henderson); "Beyond All Limits" (Shaw). These case studies offer ways to understand their harmonic syntax, melodic and formal designs, and general principles of harmonic substitution. By locating points of contact among these postbop techniques-and by describing their evolution from previous tonal jazz practices-the book illustrates the syntactic changes that emerged during the 1960s.
Keith Waters is Professor of Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is author of the book The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet 1965-68 (Oxford University Press), co-author of the jazz history textbook Jazz: The First Hundred Years, and a contributor to the recent edition of the Grove Dictionary of American Music. He has published numerous articles on jazz, particularly jazz in the 1960s. As a jazz pianist, he has recorded and performed throughout the United States, Europe, and in Russia, and appeared in concert with James Moody, Bobby Hutcherson, Eddie Harris, Chris Connor, and others.