Description
“The book is more than welcome, because it offers a kind of foundational explanation of what ‘free music’ is, and then in an almost academic fashion. Morris presents “The Properties Of Free Music”, a description of the constituents and building blocks of the music, with definitions of the known ingredients like melody, harmony, rhythm and their absence and their alternatives. He describes the conceptual methods and systems that musicians can use in establishing their sound, the essence of what musicians try to achieve, and they can do that through synthesis, interpretation and invention, by using known forms or by creating new ones. He writes about musical platforms, about interaction, about open forms, templates and layering, about melodic structure. He explores four theoretical frameworks of free form in a little more depth : Ornette Coleman’s ‘harmolodics’, Cecil Taylor’s ‘unit structures’, Anthony Braxton’s ‘tri-axiom theory’, and European Free Improvisation
A very valuable book that will be of interest to many musicians and fans of free music.”
– Stef “Free Jazz Blog” 2013