NuPwr319 said:

Wellll I'm not sure you can say it's an official sub-genre of jazz (it has it's own itunes playlist though ) but the way I'd define mystic jazz is thus: Mystic jazz is essentially jazz that aims to create a feeling of Transcendence, or to put it another way to be evocative/transportative like psychdelic music, only not drug-oriented and with much more sparing (if any) use of electronics or amplification. Usually this means infusing elements of various "world" music (which is why "world jazz" and "mystic jazz" can be interchangeable or at least overlap) such as indian raga, indonesian gamelan, various types of african or middle eastern music etc. vis a vis use of exotic modes, or densely layered instrumentation (especially percussion or various chiming or droning instruments). A Love Supreme is often considered the first mystic/spiritually oriented jazz album, and it was just recorded with John Coltrane's "normal" quartet, though, so all these "Trappings" aren't prerequisites.

I'd say the best place to go for "mystic" jazz are two of Coltrane's own former sidemen Pharoah Sanders and his widow Alice Coltrane. Karma by pharoah Sanders is perhasps the quintessential and best. "Brown Rice" by Don Cherry is also very interesting as it has elements of mystic jazz as well as the eerie "voodoo funk" of Bitches Brew and Miles' other early 70s fusion albums (fyi the funky "guitar" sounds on that album are actually an upright bass plugged into a wah wah pedal
[Edited 4/14/07 20:20pm]
[Edited 4/14/07 20:22pm]

This is an interesting thread!

I think one problem with 'free jazz' is its name. I don't have a decent alternative, other than 'free improvisation in a jazz idiom', which amounts to 'free jazz' really, but the name just bugs me.

I do wonder whether, as 'free jazz' was often pioneered by politically radical black musicians like Archie Shepp among others, whether 'free' in practice actually originally meant 'whites can't play/ take this' as much as free from the 'constrictions' of familiar chords, rhythms and harmonies. Not my opinion, just an observation/ speculation in the light of those days.

I also think that some artists like Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra and Anthony Braxton are unfairly labelled 'Free Jazz'. All have done far more different styles of music. For a start, Ornette has his 'harmelodic' system (which only he and James 'Blood' can understand, it seems), so how can Ornette's music be 'free' when he always uses a system, however personalised to himself? Sun Ra started out with Fletcher Henderson back in the '30s, and was profoundly influenced by Duke Ellington, especially harmonically imo (Of course, Ellington flirted with 'the free' in his '60s piano playing, as we hear on the classic 'Money Jungle'). I'm not familiar enough with Braxton enough to say, but he was influenced as much by John Cage as by Eric Dolphy or Coltrane, and I'm sure he has his own musical 'systems'.

I'm glad people have mentioned Sonny Sharrock and James Blood Ulmer, both of whom I like, especially Sonny, who doesn't get enough respect imo. Sonny may have come from a music theory background, but he always said he wanted to play guitar like Coltrane played the sax. Sharrock described himself as a saxophone player who happens to use a guitar . He claimed to know and play no chords. Whatever, he had his own great sound and that's what counts. I'd recommend Sonny's classic '90s album 'Ask the Ages', where he plays with Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones, both in full 'Trane effect. Beautiful stuff. One of the true 'classic' jazz albums of the '90s imo. And also his album 'Guitar', which is guitar-only overdub heaven, and picks up where Hendrix's studio version of 'The Star Spangled Banner' left off.

On the other hand, to show how things were going wrong in the '60s at times, take Bunk Gardner, general crazy in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. According to Mothers keyboard player Don Preston, Zappa made Gardner play the sax onstage and on some of his records. Gardner had absolutely no idea how to play the instrument, other than 'blow and twiddle the buttons'. And yet, his tuneless skronks earned him a number 3 placing on a 'Downbeat' magazine 'Best Sax Players' Poll ...

So, in the words of the highly quotable Frank Zappa, again in the context of the late '60s culture, 'If we cannot be free, at least we can be cheap.'

And if it's a toss-up between 'free' jazz and 'cheap' jazz (imo Kenny G, Michael Buble' and their legions of hell, all of whom stand for nothing but corporatism imo), I'll take my jazz 'free' everytime.
[Edited 5/7/07 13:02pm]