Numbers

Third Stream Jazz

How It's Used

“Middlebrow adherents, in their attempts at achieving well-roundedness, often spread themselves notably thin, listening to, say, Third Stream Jazz, attending exhibits of Abstract Expressionism, watching enigmatic Bergman movies, sitting through eventless Beckett plays, etc.”

"'For my opinion, jazz is finished, as far as development is concerned. It cannot go any further,' said bassist Miroslav Vitous, in an interview accompanying his recent Live in Vienna DVD. As he sees it, new ideas will arise only when 'jazz will combine with the classical form.'

"His language may be a bit extreme, but there was plenty of evidence over the past year that Vitous is onto something. It's not as if the 1950s dream of Third Stream Jazz – a conservatory-bred fusion of classical orchestration and bebop improvisation – has finally come to pass, but jazz musicians are certainly placing a lot more emphasis on form and composition. Although plenty of combos still adhere to the old bebop formula of playing the melody, improvising over the changes, then restating the melody, much of the year's most interesting music took a far more integrated approach to composition and improvisation."

"While simultaneously working as a tenor saxophonist -- with Mingus, Teddy Charles and the Sandole Brothers, among others -- and composing modern classical music as well as working in the classical-to-jazz idiom then called Third Stream, he joined Columbia Records in 1957. He was first hired as a music editor; in 1959 he became a staff producer.

"At Columbia he worked with artists like J. J. Johnson, Mahalia Jackson, Johnny Mathis, Thelonious Monk and Dave Brubeck, for whom he produced the famous album 'Time Out.'"

"After early experience in jazz bands, Mr. Giuffre took an interest in counterpoint, fugues and other elements of classical music. He became identified with John Lewis, George Russell, Gunther Schuller and other musicians who sought to blend jazz and classical music in a style known as Third Stream."

"Dankworth's intonation occasionally flags, but his musical ideas remain razor-sharp, and the arrangements are spot on. Like his sax style, they blend swing-era sophisticated populism with the edge and aspiration of modern jazz. Ellington's 'Cottontail' came with the original scene-setting intro and third-stream harmonies on the theme, the standard 'It Might as Well be Spring' was given a Latin bounce and 'Stomping at the Savoy' a hint of atonality. The originals followed this pattern, introducing complex ideas in clearly signposted surroundings, their accessibility a reminder of when jazz still had clear links to popular culture."

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