Jazz Articles about Esa Pietil

Esa Pietil: Direct

by Matthew Wuethrich
May 11, 2003

When John Cage distilled sound into four elements-pitch, duration, timbre and loudness-he succinctly summed up many 20th century musicians’ attitudes towards music: sound itself matters more than the structure in which it resides. Cage’s approach was expressed in jazz by the '60s avant-garde. They rejected conventions like swing, bar lines and rigid solo formats in favor of expressiveness, texture, and free-flowing interaction. They explored the essence of sound, and in doing so made a massive noise.

Like its ...