page_title: European free jazz
section_title: European development of free jazz
hierarchical_section_title: European free jazz / European development of free jazz
caption_attribution_description: English: Theo Jörgensmann at "Kulturknastfenster" in Brüel, Germany 2009
context_page_description: European free jazz is a part of the global free jazz scene with its own development and characteristics. It is hard to establish who are the founders of European free jazz because of the different developments in different European countries. One can, however, be certain that European free jazz took its development from American free jazz, where musicians such as Ornette Coleman revolutionised the way of playing.
context_section_description: The introduction of this new, avant-garde style influenced many European jazz musicians like the German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, who is known as one of the first European free jazz musicians. The founders of European free jazz usually came from a classic jazz background and then went over bebop and hard bop into free jazz. Brötzmann began playing free jazz in 1964, and he formed a quintet with "Peter Kowald and Sven-Åke Johansson. The following year he toured Europe in a quintet led by Mike Mantler and Carla Bley, and they began an association with the Globe Unity Orchestra that lasted until 1981".
  Brötzmann is renowned for his high-strung, fast playing, although the harmonies in his playing are often overlooked. His collaborator Peter Kowald interpreted free jazz on double bass. Kowald helped in creating such organizations as "FMP (1969), which sponsors performances and issues recordings of free jazz, the Wuppertal Free Jazz Workshop, and 360° Spielraum für Ideen, an art gallery and performance space in Wuppertal". 
  Trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, although coming from a more classic background, also had great influence. He toured Asia, the United States, and South America and was one "finest trombonists in modern jazz".
  Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra created a scandal at its debut in Berlin. In Germany some of the second generation free jazz players came from a more European music background, like Georg Gräwe, Theo Jörgensmann, or Hannes Bauer. In East Germany, trombonist Conny Bauer and drummer Günter Sommer spread free jazz in the Socialist bloc. Bauer "formed Doppelmoppel, a quartet of two trombones and two guitars"  in 1982 and participated in the European Jazz Ensemble which celebrated its 20th Anniversary tour in 1996. In the UK saxophonist Evan Parker, who was highly influenced by John Coltrane, took on the role of Brötzmann for Britain. Guitarist Derek Bailey and trombonist Paul Rutherford also developed the British scene. Both Paul Rutherford and Evan Parker experimented with solo improvisation for extended periods of their careers. Slava/Viacheslav/Ganelin, from Soviet Lithuania, came out with a bang in the late 70's, playing with Vladimir Chekasin and percussionist Vladimir Tarasov. Leo Feigin of Leo Records produced dozens of their albums, as well of other musicians from the Eastern Bloc.
  In addition to the rise of free jazz musicians in Europe, during the 1960s there was a "sudden surge in critical interest...the emergence of a new cohort of critics – young intellectuals such as Yves Buin, Michel Le Bris, Guy Kopelowicz and Jean-Louis Comolli – who took up the cause of experimental jazz". During this time, free jazz was based less on its American origin and became more European. Through the use of "spontaneous improvisation theoretically free of the diatonic/chromatic and metric systems governing harmony, melody, and rhythm of both pre-free jazz and other Western music", European free jazz musicians created interpretations based on their experience in western Europe. In Europe, this style of music achieved the relative level of success that "'bop,' 'early jazz,' and 'swing' enjoy[ed] in America,"  during their respective musical periods. According to Oxford Music Online, "In Europe (especially England) free jazz is also known simply as 'improvised music,' particularly in performances which emphasize stylistic connections to avant-garde art music rather than to sounds of African-American origin".
caption: Theo Jörgensmann, 2009
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D50", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2009:10:30 22:16:13", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "25344", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10800", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:10:30 22:16:13", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:10:30 22:16:13", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "22/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "85", "EXIF SubSecTime": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "40", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1444", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1416", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "25204", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "127", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}