the ends of improvisation

8/12/2019 The Ends of Improvisation

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The Ends of Improvisation

Author(s): William DaySource: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 68, No. 3 (SUMMER 2010), pp. 291-296Published by: Wileyon behalf of The American Society for AestheticsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40793271.

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Day The Ends of mprovisation 291WilliamDayThe Ends of mprovisationThebeginningf azz- wemight dentifyhiswiththe music of New Orleans at the turn fthe astcentury- ad next to no solo improvisations.nthe usualrecountingf azz history,he arrival fjazz as a mature rtforms synonymous ith hemove fromDixieland's group improvisationsotheprominence fthe mprovisingoloist, xem-plifiedbyLouis Armstrong. ut how do we ac-countfor, rassess,this ecounting?What makesthe improvised olo, as it has developed in thewake ofArmstrong,maturation f thepossibili-tiesofthis rtform? hefollowings anattemptoaddress thisquestion n a smallway byconsider-ingthesignificancef one distinguishableeatureof animprovisedazz solo- how tends- n ight fJosephKerman's eemingly arallel onsiderationof thehistory f development f the endings nclassical oncertos. his effort ill ead me topro-pose a counter-parallel,etween the azz impro-viser's ttitude oward he olo's end andWittgen-stein's attitude toward our (or philosophy's)arrivingt the end of ustifications.he parallelwilldependon one'sgrantinghat oth he mpro-viser nd Wittgensteinre, n theirdistinctways,doingbattle gainst herecurringumanfantasyof thefixityf experience.The essay concludeswith n illustration f the azz improvisers treat-mentof the solo's end that houldhelp to bringout how that battle s waged-and, in exemplaryinstances,won- on the bandstand nd in the stu-dio.I. THE ENDS OF CONCERTOSIn his ConcertoConversations,he book versionof his 1997-1998 Norton Lectures at Harvard,JosephKerman devotes his last chapterto dis-cussing heevolving pproachto endings fcon-certos nthe classicalrepertoireftheeighteenththrough he twentieth enturies.1 e notes thatFrank Kermode (fromwhom Kerman steals hischapter'stitle "The Sense of an Ending") findsthearchetype or iterary ictional orm nescha-tologicalhistory,hatmovement rom reation oapocalypsefound nthe Bible. Kermodeexplainsthatwe are attracted o this weep or motion nstorytellingecause "man in the middest,"ourcommonexperienceof human ife, needs such

models s solace,to make tolerable our]own mo-mentbetweenbeginningnd end" (p. 103). Thatneedmight e describedbya RomanticreaderofKant as an overlooked element of his transcen-dental aesthetic, n unacknowledgedfeatureofour intuition f time: Kerman summarizesKer-mode's pointby saying hat literary enres uchas thenovel, ragedy,nd autobiographyre seenas answering need to 'speak humanly f life'srelation o [time]- need in the moment f exis-tence to belong, o be related to a beginningndto an end'" (p. 103).The movement oward an ending, ven whenworksof iterary iction r of musicemploy on-ventional r ngeniousways odelay t, hus eemsallied to the notion of tragedy s schematizedby Aristotle.And yet,as Kerman remindsus,the rondo finale that closes the typicalthree-movementmusical concerto s rarely ssociatedwith ragedy r apocalypse:"It spells accommo-dation, cceptance, nd collusion,which t s easyto associate withhighcomedyas it flourished ntheeighteenth entury"p. 104),andcomedies,henotes, are about beginnings,more or less confi-dentbeginnings,boutgetting longwith life f-terdelays, iversions,etbacks, ndgeneral razi-ness" (p. 105).Still,Kerman's lectureproceeds to identifyhistoricalineof ragic rnear-tragiconcerto nd-ings, eginning ithMozart's twopianoconcertosin the minormode: hisD minor,K. 466,and theC minor,K. 491. In the D minor oncerto, or x-ample, nddespite tspuckish,major-mode oda,it s theaggressivenddisturbingattlesbetweensoloist and orchestra ver theincreasinglyrun-cated theme hat taywith he istener.On Kerman'stelling, his Mozartianeruptionoftragic oncerto ndings n the late eighteenthcenturys followedby nothing- r rather, y anentirecentury f variationson the lietofineor"happy ending"concerto. t is not until heearlypart fthenext entury,r theperiod urroundingWorldWar , that veritablemunitionstockpileoftragic oncertos- yProkofiev, lgar,Walton,Berg,Hindemith, ritten, hostakovich, travin-ski, nd others- ppearsandmultiplies,ulminat-ing in the "tragic andscape" (p. 120) that con-cludes ElliottCarter'sPiano Concertoof 1965.

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292 TheJournalfAestheticsndArtCriticismWhat mean o underscoren Kerman'shap-ter, eyond hebrilliancef hisattentionothedetailsfhow hese oncertosnd,swhat eenu-meratess the econdf two eneralointsboutthese oncertosf amentation,"amely,hatnthemmournings universalizedybeing ppor-tioned etweenhe wo oncertogents:ersonalutterancesgiveno the oloist, hile he rches-tra peaks or he ommunityhroughts horaleor tspassacaglia.his pportionmentrises at-urallyrom he oncerto'specialkind fduality;it s not omethinghat ouldhappenn a sym-phony"p.118). t s"thisntensiveouble rojec-tion" hatKerman indsgoes omeway owardvalidating. . the nalogy etweenhe oncertoagentsnd theprotagonistnd chorus f Greek

tragedy"p.119).II. THE ENDS OFIMPROVISEDOLOSFacedwith erman'smeditationsnwhat ne sleft ithtthe nd f he lassicaloncerto,ome-onepreparedothinkbout he ogic rgrammarofazz s ikelyonotice he istinctaralleln hedivisionf abor etweenhe gentsf he lassi-calconcerto,n the nehand,nd heazzsoloistimprovisingithinsmall r argensemblef c-companyingusicians,nthe ther. owhatortofgrand istoryanonediscovernthe pproachto soloendingsnthework f he xemplaryazzimprovisers?Letme harpenhis uestiony larifyingomerealand somemerely pparent ifferencese-tweenKerman's iscussionnd thequestionmean oberaising.irst,hereooks obe a cleardifferenceetweenKerman's oncernwith hesenseof an endingn the concertondmy n-terestn theendingsf azz solos. amnot, f-ter ll, skingbout he ndingf a jazz tune asong, performance,track n an album), orwhich heconventions,t least, rewell estab-lished, ew,nd familiar.ut theparallel oKer-man's nalysis olds, ecausehisfocuss notonthe losing ars r codaof a concertoutratheronthe xchangesetweenoloist ndensemble;it s theresolutionor absence f a resolution)ofthatnterplayhosehistorye wants o tell.Conversely, ybriefummary aygive he m-pressionhat erman'soncerns with hewholeof he ndingmovementn concertoinMozart'sand Beethoven'say, hiswas therondo inale).

Butthis,oo, sa falsempressionn two ounts.(1) Thesignificantevelopmentn thehistoryfthe oncertondercrutinynKerman'snalysissthemove rom he ieto ine r"happynding"fthefinalmovementothemerelystensiblyietofine fMozart's wominor-key,ragiconcertos,followedy nextendederiod fquasi-lietoineendings,rvariationsn the ieto ine nding,ndconcludingith heWorldWar periodnd aterconcertosnwhich tragicttitudesembracedyand nactedn he ast ages f he core.2n otherwords, is nalysissananalysisfwhat hangesover enturies ithinhefinalmovementf on-certoso lter ur xperiencef heirnding. ndfurther,2) Kerman'seadingfthis istoryec-ognizes hat oncertos,ike iteraryictions,ovethediversionsndreversalshat elay heend-ing withoutver fcourse scapingt" p.104).Sohis ttentionn the losingmovements, romthebeginning,oncerned ith he nd, ven s ittakesnote fhow he nd s setup or, s in thecaseofMozart's ragiconcertos,ow he unnyend sundermined)y hemovements a whole.Perhaps t goes withoutaying, ut if onewanted o haracterizehe tructurefazz mpro-visationsenerallys eitheromic rtragic-lineof houghtwill ot epursuingn his ssay- hatwouldnotresolvehe uestion amraisingere.Forwhilewemightgree hat he hape f omedyis more pisodichan ragedyr that he onclu-siveness f he nd ntragedyields more om-plete r closed orm han omedy,till,omedieshave haracteristicays f nding,ust sMozart'slieto ine oncertos ave characteristicaysofending.f thedevelopmentf mprovisationnjazz has notyieldedharacteristicpproachesoending solo, twillnotdo toexplainhis y p-pealingo ts ssociations ithomedy-o ts p-eratingnthe ccommodating,ccepting,etting-alongmode f omedy.or ngeneral,necan aythat s an art ormrogresses,nd s the ossibil-ities f hemediumecome amiliaropractition-ers, ertainrtisticroblemssuch s how oend)will etworkedut. tanley avellhasexplainedthedevelopmentf narrativerdramaticenrein similar ays: he reativertistomes oreal-izewhat henature fhermaterials andwhatitsparticularhallengesre; s these ecome p-parent, er nergiesredirectedncreasinglyo-ward atisfyingolutionso those hallenges.3owithazz, f he imof solo mprovisationereto fulfill compositionaldeal- pecifically,o



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Day TheEnds of mprovisation 293createa structure here he end recallsor fulfillsor otherwise ompletes hebeginningndmiddle,or where hedirectionfthe mprovisedolo aimsat itsending- hen, s the azz art formmatures,one wouldexpect hat heshapeofexemplaryo-los wouldprogress o a clearer rticulationf thiscompositional r formaldeal.But that s notwhat ne finds.nstead, heover-whelmingmpression or nyone, venture osay,who listens o somerepresentativessortmentfjazz solosbyexemplarympro isers- hat s, hoseimprovisersmostfamiliarwith nd adeptatfind-ingsatisfyingolutionsto the challengesof im-provising jazz solois thatthe end of the solois,byand large,noparticular oncernfor he m-provisingrtist, ot omethingimedat,not a sig-nificant artof thestory f this rtform's evel-opment. fanything,hedevelopment f the soloendingwithin hat argerdevelopment f azz asan artform as beenin theoppositedirection,hepatternedwaysoftheendings n the earliest azzgivingwayto theaforementionedverabundanceofapproaches, r absence ofan approach, o theending- n directproportion,ne can say,to theart form'sgrowing evelopment f and relianceon improvisation.It s notmy ntentionodeny hat here repat-terns o be found nendings crossdifferenter-formancesfthe ame tuneby he ame azz artist,acrossdifferenteriods n a single azz artist's a-reer, nd even across a rangeof azz artists ndperiods.WhenMiles Davis soloed on "Bye ByeBlackbird" n the late 1950s and early1960s, twas hispractice obeginby tatinghemelodynakeyone wholetoneupfrom herest f theband.4He would thenend his solo bybeginning newchoruswiththefirst otes of themelody, gainplayingt nthiswrong-soundingne-tone-up ey.Davis isnot alone in anotherpractice- vident na versionof "If I Were a Bell" recordedbyhismid-1960s uintet t thePluggedNickel-of con-cluding highlybstract olo,over oosely tatedchordchanges,with a straightforwardeturn othe ast fourbars of themelody, s if to signal-withperhapsthemosttransparentural deviceone canimagine- hathismusings ad cometo anend.5But these and otherpatterns re like thepat-terns cross he andof a quietbeach:smallmarksofregularityperhapsbearingevidence of theirgenealogy)surrounded ywholeneighborhoodsof ndistinctness,fnothing ut ndividual rains.

At anyrate,they re not thepatterns f signifi-cance and inheritancend development f nher-itancethat ne expectsfrom n artformmeetingsomechallengeor addressing ome aspectof themedium hat hehistoryf the rtform equeathsto it. "Whenyousolo,tella story,"he old adviceof the azz musiciangoes. But storieshave end-ings, amiliarwaysoftying hings ogether; o itcan surprise s to noticethattheexemplaryazzsoloisthas not devised uchways, hathe does notsee theend as having pecial mportance.Surprising, erhaps,but I assert that this isnonetheless n uncontroversiallaim aboutwhatone hears from hebest players n jazz. That iswhymytask herewill not be to catalogsome ofthepatterns fapproachesthat ne could discernto ending jazz solo, as if n thatwayone couldexhaust them nd in so doingsatisfy ne's inter-est nthem. nstead, am led bytheabsence of asense of an ending n thepractice f azz soloingtosome further aysofthinkingboutthe moralstructuref theexemplaryazz improvisation.III. THE UNGIVENNESS OF EXPERIENCEIn an essaythat ppearedin thisournal, identi-fied hat tructuresmoralperfectionist,doptingCavell's preferred amefor a tradition f think-ing"whose distinctiveeatures re a commitmentto speaking nd acting rue to oneself, ombinedwith thoroughgoingissatisfaction ith neselfas one now stands."6There I characterized hebest mproviserss exemplifyingntheir olos themoral perfectionistttitudeof "checkingone'sexperience"- hat s,of revealing o the listener,throughheirnegotiations f momentsnthe m-provisationhat hreaten heirmplicitlaimto beactingmindfully,he humancapacity o stepoutof the ruts n one's thinkingnd heed theself.7Late in that ssay, spoke inpassingof the m-proviser s contestingn his or herplaying thefalsepresumptionf thegivenness.. ofexperi-ence,"and I want now to bring ut howthe azzimproviser'sversion othinkingbout the solo'sendas anending, s a concluding tterance,s ike-wise to be thought f as exhibitinghisattitude,part of jazz improvisation'smoral perfectioniststructure.8 hat I am callingthefalsepresump-tion ofthegivenness fexperience s revealed nRen Descartes' characteristic ovein the Med-itations o framethe problemof his identityn



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294 TheJournalfAestheticsndArtCriticismoppositiono his xperience,hich etakes,ikethe ood keptichat e s, s n ome ense iven.9(CompareMeditationsI, 24-25: "But I havealready enied hat haveanysenses nd anybody. till hesitate;orwhat ollows rom his?Am I so tied o a body nd to the enses hatcannot xistwithouthem?")He therebyimul-taneouslyimplifiesnd falsifiesheproblemfidentity:yopposinghe I" to its fixed) xpe-rience,escartes an raisehis uestionbout heveracityfthis xperience hile ettingside, rbeing lindedo, uestionsbout he haracterfhis xperiencecallthis ts esthetics)ndques-tions bouthisresponsivenesso hisexperience(callthis ts thics).FindingnDescartes bad modelfor heat-titude f theexemplarymproviser,turn oWittgenstein.s alluded o n hat arlierrticle,Wittgensteinakes ote f urCartesianendencytoview urexperiences givenwhenhespeaksofourbeingnclinedosay, The teps rereallyalreadyaken"-swhenwe maginehat ur actofmeaninghe rderfor xample,he rderadd2'] had n ts wnway lreadyraversedll thosesteps.. as f hey ere n ome niqueway rede-termined,nticipated-sonly he ctofmeaningcananticipateeality."10t is some uchpictureofmeaning-magininghatmeanings indepen-dent four cts f peaking,nd so independentofanythingxperience ightfurther)eachusabout he ttunementsnd mplicationsf whatwesay- hat roduceshedrama fconfusionnPhilosophicalnvestigations185,when he hildwho has beentaughto continue mathemati-cal series hows hatwhat omesnatural o usis not yet)natural o her.While he ection fPhilosophicalnvestigationsn which his ramaplays ut s referredocanonicallys the follow-ing rule" ection,nd so is read as concernedprimarilyith uestionsfepistemologicalus-tification,eowe to CavelltherecognitionhatWittgensteins concerned o less and possiblyfarmore)with he uestionf ur esponse,s tit-ular eacher,o this scene f nstruction,"nd nparticularith hether ewill iew t s an nvita-tion o licit r o uppressur riteriaorwhatwedo.11Thepassagehat erves s the limactic omentinWittgenstein'scene f nstructionsPhilosoph-ical nvestigations217,which eads npart: Ifhaveexhaustedheustificationshave reachedbedrock,ndmy pade s turned. hen am n-

clined o ay,This s imply hat do.'"12 avell'sreadingf his assages n tark ontrasto SaulKripke's, ho eems o view hewords I am n-clined osay,This ssimply hat do'" as a (sup-posedly ustified)hreat o discontinuenstruc-tion-as fone were osay, My nclinationsremy skeptical)ustificationorwhat do."13 uchan attitudexpresses,s with escartes,he alsepresumptionf thegivennessfexperience:heself s marriedo,or fated o,one's nclinations,impaled pon hem.Cavell cknowledgeshat hesewords xpressthe nset f crisis: he eacher ndpupil reat acrossroadss towhetherheyangoontogether.But atherhan eadinghe ositionf he eacher(saymy osition)nKripke's uasi-Cartesianay,Cavell eesWittgensteinroposingnotheros-sibilityor whofindmy ustificationsxhaustedandmy padeturned. heteacher'subsequentexpressionI am nclinedosay: This s simplywhat do") is not the assertion f a presump-tion ut hemark hat havebeen truckymyown resumption.hemoralwe are odraw romthosewordss to ee them ot spresumingusti-ficationut srefusingKripke-likeastword- nending-nmy esponseo he upil.nstead,willwait, will ee how else)wemight oon.14 dothis ot utof onfidencehat ou nd will indagreementn, orxample, hat ountss"adding2." Rather, do itbecausemynterestn whatcall adding" s nogreaterhanmynterest,ereandnow,nfindinghe xtent o which ou ndI share world. ne could aythat heoriginalmeaningf alkingsrediscoverednthe cene finstruction,nd thatmy nterestn it s tofindoutwhatyou nd have osayto eachother,ofind utwhatwe cansay.Cavell eads his oliti-cally-thoughemightay quallyhat ereads tmorally,r evenmaritally-s "a certainpeningof he dea, rdirection,f onsent."15iv. "birdfeathers"Now tosay, s I wish osay, hat he azz impro-viser's version o treatinghe solo's end as anendings akin oCavell's ndWittgenstein'sn-terlocutor'sversionotreatinghe xhaustionfjustificationss anendingmaywell trike ne asfancifult best.Andonemay lready avegrownimpatientn termsxpressed longthe follow-ing ines: There's very implyeasonwhyazz



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Day The Ends of mprovisation 295

3Figure1. BirdFeathers yCharlieParker, Copyright961Duchess MusicCorporation, SA. Universal/MCA usicLimited.All RightsReserved. nternationalopyrightecured.Copyright 1961SongsofUniversal,nc. CopyrightRenewed.AllRights eserved. sedbyPermission.eprinted ithermissionfHal LeonardCorporationimprovisers ave not devisedparticularwaysforending he solo. The reason s: They're mprovis-ing.Theycan'tknowwhat the endwill be beforetheygetto the end."And that s true as far s itgoes.Butas voicedhere, t eemsto rest n,and soaffirm,ne or theother f twoequallyfalse deas:(1) the mproviserannot qua improviser) aveworked ut anending or he olobeforehand;2)the improviser,houghnot prohibited qua im-proviser)fromworking ut an ending,does notdo so for nfelicitouseasons-because he simplydoes notget aroundto it, s not in the habit ofdoing o, s lazy, nd so on. Thefalsityf the firstideaisdemonstratedy he xistence fthose oloendings hat re worked ut, uch as inthe afore-mentioned olo endingto "Bye Bye Blackbird"byMiles Davis. I have characterizedhepracticeof azz improvisation,espitesuch instances, saversetotreatingheendof the olo as an ending,and myaim has been to proposean explanatoryalternativeo the econd dea (that he mproviserjustdoes notgetaroundtoit, s lazy, ndso on).To that end, I conclude with some remarksabout the issued take of Charlie Parker'sorigi-nal blues"BirdFeathers," ecorded nNovember4, 1947,and featuring,n additionto Parkeronaltosaxophone,Miles Davis ontrumpetnd DukeJordan n piano.16Here at theend of each oftheprinciple olos,we find, gain,an aversion o thesoundof a conclusion, n end. Each of the firsttwo oloists,nfact, uns he ast measureof his or

her olo into henext horus, orcinghefollowingsoloist to starthis or her solo on measuretwo oftherepeatedtwelve-bar lues form.But tosaythat hese olos do notaim at an end-ing s not tosaythatwhathappenswhenthey ndis without nterest. o see thefirst f twopoints finteresthat wish ohighlight, e must onsiderthemelodyof "Bird Feathers." t beginswithaunisonnote on beat one of thefirstmeasure, ndthenproceedsthrough seriesof two-bar hrases,each ofwhich nds (or seemsinitiallyo end) onthe first eat of the nextbar (see figure ). Thisrhythmictructure f the tune s its most salientcharacteristic: he listener s hit witha regularTHUMP on the first eat of the odd-numberedmeasures. n light f thisrhythmictructure,herun-overndings f thefirst wosolos,with heirconcludingrhythmicccent on the first eat ofmeasure1,can now be heard as anunplanned utcoherent hythmiccho of themelody.The secondpointof nterests thatMiles Davisand Duke Jordan,he econd and thirdoloists, e-spectively,akepart nthenotuncommon racticeofbeginning heir olo with delightfullyubtlereworkingfthe astnotesof theprecedingolo-Davis of Parker'sendingand Jordan f Davis'sending see figures and 3). We might maginethat the effect f thisgestureat the start of asolo, echoingthe previoussolo's concluding ifnotending) dea, is togivea kindofthematic o-herenceto theperformances a whole,as iftoFigure2.

ENDOf PAKEB'SOLO STflT f DflVIS'SOLO TC


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the ends of improvisation

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