Jazz and its Sources: Searching for the Creative Process

Elsdon, Peter

Abstract

This chapter discusses the kinds of sources that jazz scholars have used when interrogating the creative process. It examines the uses of recordings and notational sources, and considers the different forms and functions they take and the possibilities they offer. It suggests that understandings of the creative process in jazz can be limited if a traditional end-directed philological model is employed. Instead, it explores the implications of thinking about the creative process in terms of mediation and distributed creativity, drawing particularly on the work of Georgina Born and Tim Ingold. An extended case study examines “In a Silent Way,” composed by Joe Zawinul, as an example that brings these different issues to the forefront.

Citation

Elsdon, P. (2020). Jazz and its Sources: Searching for the Creative Process. In The Oxford Handbook of the Creative Process in Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190636197.001.0001

• Acceptance Date: Sep 5, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jul 10, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Jul 10, 2020
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Series Title: Oxford Handbooks
• Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of the Creative Process in Music
• ISBN: 9780190636197
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190636197.001.0001
• Keywords: Music; Joe Zawinul, jazz; creative process; recordings; improvisation; Miles Davis
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1816082
• Additional Information: Chapter is published online before print publication.