Music and the Creative Spirit

Music and the Creative Spirit is a book of interviews with today's innovators in Jazz, Improvisation, and the Avant Garde, including Pat Metheny, Regina Carter, Fred Anderson, John Zorn, Joshua Redman, and others.

Like most ground-breaking art forms, contemporary creative music is rarely understood or accepted in its own time, and for those reasons, can largely go unheard.Music and the Creative Spirit: Innovators in Jazz, Improvisation, and the Avant Garde aims to give today's brightest music innovators due recognition and respect, celebrating their work and creativity. Through personal interviews, artists such as Pat Metheny, Regina Carter, Joshua Redman, Fred Anderson, Dave Holland, Bill Frisell, David Murray, and John Zorn—to name just a few—offer clear, frank discussions about music, creativity, work, society, culture, current events, and more.

Author Lloyd Peterson has hand picked these artists specifically for their ability to express themselves through their own creative voices and transcend their art form through the strength of their own ingenious spirit. Their music eschews categorization, genre, or style, and the book necessarily takes a broader view of jazz, tapping into the inventive aspect that is difficult to describe or teach, and is rarely discussed. By allowing the innovators an opportunity to speak for themselves, readers are afforded a clearer sense of their attitudes and approaches, their ways of working, and their views of contemporary music and society.

Part 1 Editor's Foreword
Part 2 Preface
Part 3 Acknowledgments
Part 4 Introduction
Chapter 5 1. Fred Anderson
Chapter 6 2. Derek Bailey
Chapter 7 3. Joey Baron
Chapter 8 4. Tim Berne
Chapter 9 5. Peter Brotzmann
Chapter 10 6. Regina Carter
Chapter 11 7. Chicago Roundtable
Chapter 12 8. Marilyn Crispell
Chapter 13 9. Jack DeJohnette
Chapter 14 10. Dave Douglas
Chapter 15 11. Hamid Drake
Chapter 16 12. Bill Frisell
Chapter 17 13. Fred Frith
Chapter 18 14. Annie Gosfield
Chapter 19 15. Mats Gustafsson
Chapter 20 16. Barry Guy
Chapter 21 17. Dave Holland
Chapter 22 18. Susie Ibarra
Chapter 23 19. Eyvind Kang
Chapter 24 20. Steve Lacy
Chapter 25 21. George Lewis
Chapter 26 22. Pat Martino
Chapter 27 23. Christian McBride
Chapter 28 24. Brad Mehldau
Chapter 29 25. Myra Melford
Chapter 30 26. Pat Metheny
Chapter 31 27. Jason Moran
Chapter 32 28. Ikue Mori
Chapter 33 29. David Murray
Chapter 34 30. Paal Nilssen-Love
Chapter 35 31. Greg Osby
Chapter 36 32. Evan Parker
Chapter 37 33. William Parker
Chapter 38 34. Joshua Redman
Chapter 39 35. Maria Schneider
Chapter 40 36. Wadada Leo Smith
Chapter 41 37. Ken Vandermark
Chapter 42 38. Cuong Vu
Chapter 43 39. David S. Ware
Chapter 44 40. Otomo Yoshihide
Chapter 45 41. John Zorn
Chapter 46 42. Pat Metheny
Part 47 Index
Part 48 About the Author