An introduction to complex systems in jazz
Pretty incredible right? And yet there’s no central authority organising this activity. They are behaving with a kind of freedom as well as a synchronicity which results in, at times, the appearance of a unified organism. What follows is an introduction to complex systems in jazz.
Systems Theory
Complexity theory emerged from systems theory and systems theory is the idea that as well as analysing the individual parts of a system, we can also understand something about a system by understanding how the parts interact with each other to form the properties of the whole system. With the starlings in the above video for example we can try to work out what the relationship is between the birds which allows them to move freely but in a seemingly coordinated way. Other examples might be the cells that make up tissues in the human body or staff members which make up a business. What are the relationships between the parts which give the tissue or business the characteristics they have and are there emergent properties of the system which are more than just the sum of the parts.
Complexity Theory
Complexity theory is the idea that we can also try to learn something about how different systems interact with each other to form emergent patterns or expressions. For example, the systems in the human body such as the cardiovascular system, digestive system or muscular system and how they interact with each other as well as with other systems inside the human body such as the gut microbiome or systems outside the body such as a family, a business, a society, a community, an economy, nation or group of nations. What can we say about the relationships between groups of interacting systems and what can we learn about the properties and expressions which emerge.
Here’s Joe Simkins giving an explanation of how we might map out and understand this phenomenon from a talk here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htmntSoCasg
Introduction to complex systems in jazz: Convergence and Emergence
Jazz combines both elements which are very structured and elements which are very free and open. But there are various ways of organising this relationship or playing with it. So let’s take a look at some of the different ways that structure and freedom are used in jazz.
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson is a highly regarded jazz pianist known for his virtuosity and for inspiring many jazz musicians since. But while there is more improvisation going on here than in classical music, there is a degree of limitation to the improvisation.
Although this is a simplification, one way that we could perhaps characterise this music is to say that it is a highly virtuosic soloist i.e. Oscar Peterson, who is more or less accompanied by his two band mates. The bandmates have the responsibility to ensure that the fast piano lines shine over the top of their supporting roles. They have to make sure the music grooves, follows the chord changes and that there is space for the soloist. Nonetheless there is still a degree of improvising within these roles.
The above graphic is very much a simplification but it hopefully helps to represent some of what is going on. (This and the following graphics are very(!) vague approximations at representing some of what is happening.) The bass and drums are in sync with each other pretty much constantly whereas the soloist has much more freedom. (In fact, in this and in the first few following examples, the soloist is also in sync rhythmically pretty much at all times but over broader stretches of time or in ways that are less obvious or with a large use of what we call syncopation.)
Bill Evans
Another approach we might take in playing with structure and freedom is to allow the bass player to have more of a free creative role interplaying with the soloist while the drummer has more of an accompanying and supportive role. This can be a common technique where two out of three musicians have more freedom while one glues everything together. A good example of this might be the Bill Evans Trio.
Here there is freedom for each member to carve out their own role, still with reference to the song. But with this freedom we start to see the emergence of a more fluid and dynamic whole. The pianist and bass player now have the freedom to play competing melodies or cut in between each other. But actually they are not really competing, they are working together to explore new and less homogenous musical territory. What emerges is a more contrapuntal texture which actually has a connection to older musical styles, in particular the Baroque Period, though it also becomes very different and transmuted from such a style.
Herbie Hancock
Another approach is to let every member of the band have more freedom adding to the contrapuntal texture. Or they might react to the main soloist in a role of challenging each other and responding to what emerges.
There’s a particularly interesting moment in the above video where Herbie seems to play one part of the song’s melody in a different tempo. A cheeky smile appears across his face as if to say, “let’s play, let’s have fun, I dare you”. (About 24 seconds in). By disrupting the expectations and the usual routine of the song just as they’re settling in, something new emerges. The bandmates have to react to Herbie’s suggestion and figure out what will serve the music best at that moment.
Brad Mehldau
In this case the bass player is playing a role of gluing everything together interspersed with detours along the way. The pianist and drummer are thereby free to play around with everything on top of that. This allows them to really stretch out the tension. There is still a pulse (or at least a deep sense of one) but the convergent moments are stretched dramatically.
Free Jazz (Time, No Changes): An introduction to complex systems in jazz
Ornette Coleman
Now things start to get very interesting. Up till now I haven’t attempted to represent the chord progressions and melodies of the song during the improvisations. Usually in jazz music the songs have a melody and an accompanying chord progression. The chord progression usually repeats from beginning to end and functions as an anchor point that can be referred to. The melody similarly has the same role throughout and is perhaps even more important and fundamental to the improvisation process. These elements might be represented in the following ways.
Towards the end of the 1950s, Ornette Coleman started experimenting with another layer of freedom by removing the chord changes. There is still a synchronised pulse, a reference to melodic material and a tradition of melodic improvising but the rest is left to more of an emergent process. The bass player might relate to the soloist in conventional ways or the band might create more divergent and dissonant sounds. Often there is still a reference to the broad sense of the chord progression or what we call the key of the song but what emerges is more of an impression of the key. Such an idea as demonstrated in the short clip above might be represented in the following way. (The melody might be referenced sporadically but not in a repeating cyclic way.)
Notice at about 1.37, Ornette plays a phrase which the bass player copies rhythmically. This could be seen as coming from jazz tradition (call and response) which they nonetheless employ in this context.
Free Jazz (No Time, No Changes): An introduction to complex systems in jazz
Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink
Alongside Ornette Coleman there was concurrent and further experimentation with free jazz. Where Ornette used rhythmic propulsion and melodic improvising, there has also been experimentation with improvisation as sound and texture. In the above video they are allowing whatever flows naturally to express itself and accepting everything that emerges as music. Sometimes they might react/respond to each other, other times they play divergent material which creates its own shapes/features. Equally what might emerge is more familiar patterns and musical concepts. For example they strike moments of trad jazz or chords on the piano to a pulse at certain points.
Mixed Approaches: An introduction to complex systems in jazz
Miles Davis
In the above example, Miles Davis’s band recombines some of the familiar elements of jazz with some of the more explorative and experimental elements of free improvisation. The music is underpinned by a familiar song form of a minor blues with a melody and chord changes. But there are also various elements of antagonistic cooperation. In some moments the bandmates play a supportive role accompanying the soloist and laying down the groove and chord progression. But at others they might be really challenging each other and the routine of the song by adding jarring rhythms, changing tempos, playing different tempos related to the original tempo or playing chords which are further and further away from the original song but which will nevertheless resolve at some point keeping a relation to the song.
There is also use of shared soloing where the soloist drops back while another bandmate takes a more prominent role. There is a constant evolving of the music which requires listening and heightened awareness, willingness to take risks, reactions and re-interpretations and an openness to what all of this allows to emerge. Nonetheless they tend to remain anchored by the chord progression and the bass player and usually keep a cyclic relation to the original song. It might be represented in the following way.
Conclusion
This is only an introduction to complex systems in jazz but hopefully it starts to give you an idea of different way that we could think about the organising principles of jazz, improvisation and organisational structures.