Gunther Schuller (1925 - 2015)

Introduction
Gunther Schuller was born November 22nd, 1925, in Queens, New York, and would go on to become a Composer, Performer, and conductor. Being born into a musical family, with his grandfather being a conductor in Germany and his own father a violinist with the New York Philharmonic, Schuller would gain knowledge early about music as he was placed into specialized schools; he would also start to play the French Horn with his father’s group at 15. At 18 Schuller would become the principal hornist at the Ohio Symphony in Cincinnati before joining the Metropolitan Opera 2 years later.

http://www.jazzwax.com/2010/01/interview-gunther-schuller-part-3.html - Photo

Work Analysis
In 1960, Gunther schuller would work with John Lewis that saw them collaborate on a record for the Modern Jazz Quartet. Schuller would write a 3 movement piece written for Jazz quartet and Orchestra. Schuller showcases an idea through this work that he called Third Stream which brings together Jazz and Classical music techniques; the improvisation from jazz with the structured melodies from classical. The first movement, Slow, starts with an obvious Jazz-esque drum kit, piano, and bass textures with a full orchestra behind it. The movement stays in a 5/4 time throughout the entire piece; this was said to be unusually in this period of jazz. Each measure in this piece also indicates the basic chord pattern that it is based off of, allowing freedom for jazz musicians to improvise over it. To fuse the orchestra comfortably into the music, Schuller wrote out these parts in full notation. The fusion of these two brings introduces new ideas in an orchestra that welcomes syncopation, accentuation, and articulation. The addition of a jazz influence to a classical orchestra also allows for the ability to swing the beat that gives traditional jazz music a free feeling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX4pO2_H2nc

Observations
I honestly enjoyed this piece. I’ve always been opposed to jazz because i was never familiar with it; I don’t have a connection with the style like i do with rock bands like the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. The presentation of this movement pulled with me right away and made me interested in what was going to happen next. This work opened me up to these jazz elements by presenting it with the structure of classical music that pushes the material forward in a way I have been exposed to before.