Editing Jazz (section)

===Free jazz===
{{Main|Free jazz}}
[[File:John Coltrane 1963.jpg|thumb|upright|John Coltrane, 1963]]
Free jazz, and the related form of [[avant-garde jazz]], broke through into an open space of "free tonality" in which meter, beat, and formal symmetry all disappeared, and a range of [[world music]] from India, Africa, and Arabia were melded into an intense, even religiously ecstatic or orgiastic style of playing.<ref>Joachim Berendt. ''The Jazz Book''. 1981. Page 21.</ref> While loosely inspired by bebop, free jazz tunes gave players much more latitude; the loose harmony and tempo was deemed controversial when this approach was first developed. The bassist [[Charles Mingus]] is also frequently associated with the avant-garde in jazz, although his compositions draw from myriad styles and genres.

The first major stirrings came in the 1950s with the early work of [[Ornette Coleman]] (whose 1960 album ''[[Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation]]'' coined the term) and [[Cecil Taylor]]. In the 1960s, exponents included [[Albert Ayler]], [[Gato Barbieri]], [[Carla Bley]], [[Don Cherry (trumpeter)|Don Cherry]], [[Larry Coryell]], [[John Coltrane]], [[Bill Dixon]], [[Jimmy Giuffre]], [[Steve Lacy (saxophonist)|Steve Lacy]], [[Michael Mantler]], [[Sun Ra]], [[Roswell Rudd]], [[Pharoah Sanders]], and [[John Tchicai]]. In developing his late style, Coltrane was especially influenced by the dissonance of Ayler's trio with bassist [[Gary Peacock]] and drummer [[Sunny Murray]], a rhythm section honed with [[Cecil Taylor]] as leader. In November 1961, Coltrane played a gig at the Village Vanguard, which resulted in the classic ''Chasin' the 'Trane'', which ''DownBeat'' magazine panned as "anti-jazz". On his 1961 tour of France, he was booed, but persevered, signing with the new [[Impulse! Records]] in 1960 and turning it into "the house that Trane built", while championing many younger free jazz musicians, notably [[Archie Shepp]], who often played with trumpeter [[Bill Dixon]], who organized the 4-day "[[October Revolution in Jazz]]" in Manhattan in 1964, the first free jazz festival.

A series of recordings with the Classic Quartet in the first half of 1965 show Coltrane's playing becoming increasingly abstract, with greater incorporation of devices like [[multiphonics]], utilization of overtones, and playing in the [[altissimo]] register, as well as a mutated return to Coltrane's [[sheets of sound]]. In the studio, he all but abandoned his soprano to concentrate on the tenor saxophone. In addition, the quartet responded to the leader by playing with increasing freedom. The group's evolution can be traced through the recordings ''[[The John Coltrane Quartet Plays]]'', ''[[Living Space (album)|Living Space]]'' and ''[[Transition (John Coltrane album)|Transition]]'' (both June 1965), ''[[New Thing at Newport]]'' (July 1965), ''[[Sun Ship]]'' (August 1965), and ''[[First Meditations]]'' (September 1965).

In June 1965, Coltrane and 10 other musicians recorded ''[[Ascension (John Coltrane album)|Ascension]]'', a 40-minute-long piece without breaks that included adventurous solos by young avant-garde musicians as well as Coltrane, and was controversial primarily for the collective improvisation sections that separated the solos. [[Dave Liebman]] later called it "the torch that lit the free jazz thing". After recording with the quartet over the next few months, Coltrane invited Pharoah Sanders to join the band in September 1965. While Coltrane used over-blowing frequently as an emotional exclamation-point, Sanders would opt to overblow his entire solo, resulting in a constant screaming and screeching in the altissimo range of the instrument.

====Free jazz in Europe====
[[File:Peter-broetzmann.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Peter Brötzmann]] is a key figure in European free jazz.]]

Free jazz was played in Europe in part because musicians such as Ayler, Taylor, [[Steve Lacy (saxophonist)|Steve Lacy]], and [[Eric Dolphy]] spent extended periods of time there, and European musicians such as [[Michael Mantler]] and [[John Tchicai]] traveled to the U.S. to experience American music firsthand. European contemporary jazz was shaped by [[Peter Brötzmann]], [[John Surman]], [[Krzysztof Komeda]], [[Zbigniew Namysłowski]], [[Tomasz Stańko]], [[Lars Gullin]], [[Joe Harriott]], [[Albert Mangelsdorff]], [[Kenny Wheeler]], [[Graham Collier]], [[Michael Garrick]] and [[Mike Westbrook]]. They were eager to develop approaches to music that reflected their heritage.

Since the 1960s, creative centers of jazz in Europe have developed, such as the creative jazz scene in Amsterdam. Following the work of drummer [[Han Bennink]] and pianist [[Misha Mengelberg]], musicians started to explore by improvising collectively until a form (melody, rhythm, a famous song) is found Jazz critic [[Kevin Whitehead]] documented the free jazz scene in Amsterdam and some of its main exponents such as the ICP (Instant Composers Pool) orchestra in his book ''New Dutch Swing''. Since the 1990s Keith Jarrett has defended free jazz from criticism. British writer [[Stuart Nicholson (jazz historian)|Stuart Nicholson]] has argued European contemporary jazz has an identity different from American jazz and follows a different trajectory.<ref name="Nicholson">{{cite book |last1=Nicholson |first1=Stuart |title=Is Jazz Dead? Or Has it Moved to a New Address? |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York}}</ref>