JOHN CAGE
Genres: Jazz Related Improv, Composition • United States

Editor's note: John Cage may seem like an unlikely addition to a jazz website, even a jazz site with an expansive 'jazz related' section, but his influence on avant-garde jazz cannot be ignored, plus his 'prepared piano' innovation has found a permanent home in the world of modern jazz piano. He also, along with a few other composers, helped introduce the idea of improvisation to the world of Western concert hall music. Finally, Cage's interest in African, Asian and other non-Western musical approaches have had a lasting influence on all modern music. John Cage, in full John Milton Cage, Jr. (born September 5, 1912, Los Angeles, California, U.S.—died August 12, 1992, New York, New York), American avant-garde composer whose inventive compositions and unorthodox ideas profoundly influenced mid-20th-century music. The son of an inventor, Cage briefly attended Pomona College and then traveled in Europe for a time. Returning to the United States in read more...