Graham Collier's radical new analysis of the place of the composer in jazz is nothing less than a complete reassessment of the direction in which the music is developing and a powerful argument for fresh thinking. He focuses on Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Gil Evans, among many other composers, and includes musical examples from his own work.
The Jazz Composer, Moving Music Off The Paper
“An insightful, intelligent, creative and artful view... of jazz composition. It is written and developed for all interested listeners, the novice as well as the performer, and shows the way to the deepest artistic level." --Justin DiCioccio, jazz educator
“Composers--take heed!... If you're confident in your compositional devices--take the challenge to have your foundations soundly rattled. If you're searching for a methodology to follow or guide you, it could well lie here." --Mike Gibbs, jazz composer
“Collier... makes music that speaks directly, strongly personal but in no way self-dramatising... It's reassuring to learn that when he turns to prose, the same qualities are in place." --Brian Morton, jazz critic
NEW DOUBLE CD: Directing 14 Jackson Pollocks
From Brian Morton's liner notes:
“Up until [Hoarded Dreams], the formerly bass-playing Collier might have been described as Britain’s Mingus, but not after – Collier went back to the roots of the music and to the principle that jazz is not just about themes and solos, but also about individuals and collectives thinking in a very particular relation one to the other… Few musician’s ‘alternates’ are as revealing as Collier’s’.
About Graham Collier
Graham Collier, born in Tynemouth, England in 1937, is a highly regarded jazz composer, whose music has been compared to that of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Gil Evans. He was the first British graduate of the Berklee School of Music, and the first recipient of an Arts Council jazz bursary. He is the author of several previous books on jazz, and for 12 years was artistic director of the jazz course at the Royal Academy of Music. He currently lives in Greece, where he continues to compose, travelling from there to present concerts and workshops around the world. More on Graham at his website, or jazzcontinuum, his blog and collection of previous writings.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
