A great performance by Odean Pope and his Trio followed by an hour of discussion about the creative process and improvisation. Odean makes some special comments about inspiration and the role that plays in his improvisations and compositions.
Philoctetes
"The Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of the Imagination was established to promote an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of creativity and the imaginative process."
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At 1:34:00, Shoenberg and Pope talking about the composition process.
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Listening to Pope's band, I'm reminded of my experiences teaching at summer jazz camps and/or beginning improvisation classes. Over the years, I noticed time and time again young students of improvisation become paralyzed and unable to play because of their fear of chord changes. Some of the most successful ensembles I've had were started by playing "free." I might have the bass player play a pedal note or ask the drummer to start playing some kind of a groove. It's always amazing to see/hear how creative these young people are. I want them to get a taste of creating, to get the experience (without limitations) of improvising. It's possible later to slowly introduce songs that incorporate chord changes/scales and more complex harmonic language.
That being said, I often play with musicians who've been playing for years and dislike or feel uncomfortable with "free" improvised music or "free jazz." I think that is part of the reason that young players are afraid to enter the world of improvisation. The "educational system" in the world of improvisation seems to throw a lot of rules and complex ideas at young people that don't have a clue. The result: fear.
Recently, taught an ensemble of young players. They are a few years into the "indoctrination process of chords/scales and learning the bebop language. I happened to have a book of some of M.C. Escher's works in my horn case. We spent a few minutes looking at some of Escher's work and I asked them to improvise one of his designs. They seemed a little apprehensive. So, I asked them to imagine that we are in the studio and doing a soundtrack for a documentary on Escher's life and work. We have been handed a copy of this design and the producers want us to come up with some music to put behind this scene....NOW. It was amazing how creative this ensemble became. I was in shock. In that class we played some standard jazz and funk tunes but, when they created this free improvisation of a design by Escher, it was by far the most beautiful and sensitive playing they had done in weeks!
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