Forces
in Motion: Anthony Braxton and the Meta-Reality of Creative Music
by Graham Lock (Music 781.65 Bra)
by Graham Lock (Music 781.65 Bra)
Anthony Braxton is a musician and
composer whose work might not be incredibly well-known to the general public,
but his work looms large over the fields of contemporary creative music and
music education. Braxton is often included in the pantheon of jazz artists, and
particularly the free jazz movement of the 1960s. Indeed, his early work as an
improvising saxophone player was a major influence on free jazz. But in the
ensuing years, his compositions often fall into what seems more like
contemporary classical works, and Braxton himself often refers to his work
simply as “creative music.” As Professor of Music at Wesleyan University from
the 90s to 2013, he inspired and educated new generations of creative
musicians, often filling his own ensembles with young East Coast musicians.
We have a recently reprinted book
about Anthony Braxton here in Polley that I would highly recommend. It’s called
Forces
in Motion: Anthony Braxton and the Meta-Reality of Creative Music
by Graham Lock. Originally published in 1988, the book follows Braxton on a
tour of England in 1985, featuring a series of casual on-the-road interviews in
which Braxton and Lock cover a wide range of topics. Some allusions are made to
Braxton’s own “Tri-axium writings,” a body of writing in which Braxton
elaborates on his on philosophies at length, though these have unfortunately
remained out of print for decades. Through these conversations, one can get a
good feeling for how Braxton’s music works, his musical interests, and
influences on his work as a black musician straddling the line between composed
and improvised worlds. After the main touring section of the book, we get three
lengthy postscript sections that further explain Braxton’s thoughts on how
music and societies are related, an overview of the Tri-axium writings, and
some lecture notes that delve into the kinds of structural models used in his
compositions. Finally, there is a catalog of Braxton’s works covering the time
period between 1966 and 1986.
While the time period from 1986 to
the present isn’t covered in the book–hopefully someone is working on a new
book to cover his fascinating work since then–you’ll be sure to get a sense of
the pure magic of Braxton’s music through these pages.
[If
you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Message
to our folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago by Paul Steinbeck, The
Free Musics by Jack Wright or Improvisation:
Its Nature and Practice in Music by Derek Bailey.]
[
page for Forces in Motion on jazzstudiesonline.org
]
Recommended
by Scott S.
Polley Music Library
Polley Music Library
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