All Play and No Work: An Ontology of Jazz

If we consider different Western musical traditions, such as classical, rock, and jazz, we can find the same kinds of entities employed in all three traditions. For instance, there are recognizable, reinstantiable songs in all three traditions. There are also events we would happily call live performances of those songs, as well as recordings of them. Yet it is also true that these kinds of entities are treated differently in each of these traditions. For instance, those who produce and listen to rock recordings take, for the most part, a very different attitude toward what counts as acceptable use of recording technology (for example, note correction) than those who produce and listen to classical recordings. Are classical and rock recordings thereby different kinds of things? There is no absolute answer to this question. In some contexts, it is unproblematic to refer to recordings in general, ignoring the differences between these two types. In other contexts, however, it may be confusing or even misleading to ignore such differences.1 One such context might be where we are trying to understand with some precision the experiences of those who listen with understanding to, say, jazz recordings. If it turns out that we cannot satisfactorily describe the experiences of a knowledgeable jazz listener without making reference to the particular ways in which jazz recordings are made (and known to be made), then that will be a reason to favor a theory that includes such distinctions. Making such distinctions is part of what ontologists of music do. What I have elsewhere called “higher‐level” musical ontology is an attempt to map the nature of and the relations that hold between various musical entities, such as works, performances, and recordings, in different musical traditions. I call such projects “higher level” to distinguish them from “fundamental” musical ontology—the more traditional search for the correct basic ontological category for musical works (Platonic universal, mereological fusion, action type, and so on).2 One kind of project in higher‐level musical ontology is the search for “the work of art” in a given tradition. As with the term ‘recording,’ we use the term ‘work of art’ in different ways. Sometimes we use it quite generally to refer to any artistic entity. Another common usage is the evaluative one, whereby we praise something for being excellent of its kind, even though it may not be art at all (for example, a paella) nor a work of art in some more restricted sense (for example, a single brushstroke). In higher‐level musical ontology, however, the relevant sense of ‘work of art’ is its use in referring to something like the primary focus of appreciation in a given tradition.3 (This gloss will be refined below.) So, for instance, we might say that the work of art in the tradition of painting is the painting. By itself this may not sound particularly edifying, but it is useful to keep in mind if we want to understand the role of studies for paintings in the painting tradition. It might be difficult to argue that many such studies are not art, yet any theory of painting that could not account for the difference between studies and fully fledged paintings would be incomplete. My goal here is to identify the work of art in jazz, if such there be, in the higher‐level sense just adumbrated. A survey of the literature on the ontology of music, together with a little knowledge of jazz, suggests four possibilities for a jazz ontology. I consider these suggestions in turn.4 As will become apparent, the measure of any such theory is coherence with jazz discourse and practice, that is, what people knowledgeable about jazz say and, even more importantly, do. The underlying assumption of this methodology is that art forms, such as jazz, are social practices that depend on understandings that, though shared by most participants in the practice, may not be directly or immediately consciously accessible. Thus, everyone stands to gain from a successful project of this kind—not only those unfamiliar with jazz, but also those deeply involved in it. The former will gain an understanding of an artistic tradition unfamiliar to them; the latter may come to understand something new about experiences that are deeply important to them.5 It is also worth noting, however, that this is a comparative project in musical ontology. That is, I am interested in how jazz is similar to, and different from, other Western musical practices. As a result, I strive to use terms, notably the term ‘work of art,’ univocally across the different traditions I discuss. I return to this point below. I take as my primary target “standard form” jazz, where a paradigmatic performance consists of a number of solo choruses framed by a pair of statements of the head. But what I say should apply to almost all jazz, including free and performances of jazz There are two jazz traditions that my may not apply to, One is the jazz by which I the tradition in which the focus of the performance is a a The that it is a tradition can be in its being given a might say its being in and about not to the such as by of and even the and other of the that part of some jazz The other tradition that may not the ontological I is jazz are not though can only be made sense of I have my is of the same I have for projects in higher‐level musical ontology in It to that people listen to jazz and in different ways from those in which listen to “standard form” jazz, in these traditions are different kinds of part of this difference can be by a higher‐level ontological just as those who of classical music, for instance, the of and classical music from I note my about these below. The I consider is that jazz is like classical as The of is a work of classical music, by and by in a by the so is a work of jazz music, by and by in a by is by and and by and but it to be in many other of jazz, or the One for the who that jazz is like classical music is to argue for a to which sound out of a of is the For example, in to the work in a particular performance of and should attempt to produce with the of this to a knowledgeable listener from those of this as an of this particular a performance with the same or or A common is that the work in jazz is quite a something like the a or at a and call this the But point out with of the For a in some performances of a no to the is performance of of is But if we that of the for what the work is, and on the we are with a there are many different with the same The here is the of is shared by many different such as and and and also consider performances of free on or to the work would in free jazz not being of works, or in being of works that are in only I am not that the latter is even The of a musical work that and are with is that of a work for performance of the kind common in classical But these are works and is a part of the of classical But this is not what is on in free It is not just a that free jazz as not is the that it would be difficult to such a making the attempt would be and is to the of free and consider two other for the work in free jazz, of which are also by a of musical works as of what is and in the of a then out that there are such free jazz For instance, not and and a free jazz One is that or free jazz performances may be performances of and the same as a of the and say that this not If these of musical works, then all classical performances can be performances of the same as can all performances with the same and so There is more to a work than being a common of But the other by and by and is to the and that the work in free jazz performances might be something like a of nor this two for might be two performances of the same well with and that there is no single kind of work in cannot just of kind of to as the at which to for jazz works are by of for performances can these and be to the same jazz account can be given of these which from and of jazz to might sound like for with to classical that there is in the of classical are than that is, of the of a fully performance are by the So, like and that there is no single ontological at which we should for works in classical The in with what the the of the But this between the of classical and on the and and on the an important that classical works are in that context the for by that the of works For instance, where the is to a like many out for of as for those who to By the of the such no in for various have this by the of toward who would by as we consider the of the of the as an and as musical the the of the musical for a of and to be But this not that the out for of those as a art to most classical more but the work for some in the of The in jazz performances that and point to are not like the in classical works that that and that performances can and be to the same jazz and that account can be given of these which from and of jazz to If the at which the jazz work is from work to work and from to as it in classical music, then the in which a particular is the ontology of that for an as there is of a of jazz If with a particular in mind in of number and kind of and context such to be then on the any performance of that work will that same just as any performance of a But the jazz not the classical performance of is just as as instance, its very different no of the and all the One to this is to that I have it is than it in all the of the theory that jazz works are very But the more for the ontological and is that the in performance and of jazz to is not that would how to a from a performance or say, as the relevant in classical Thus, it is not in the ontology of various the in jazz is in the performance about how to any given in a very different from which is different from If this is in ontology, then and are that is a different work from this is not Thus, of a ontology of jazz not the of the of the I have about two of how we should jazz works if the ontology of jazz is like that of classical the that all works in the tradition are and the that there is an ontological of works in the tradition. suggests it would be ontological But it might also to with a about jazz the that jazz and identify jazz performances as say, not to any of and so the that there is on these not that there is some all of that the are to and like this is on a of the But it is important to that this of jazz could be for various ontological For instance, I have elsewhere that a rock not to the it with its in the same that a classical performance stands to the work it is the that two jazz performances have something in common not immediately that the in is a work of which these are performances the sense of these in classical though more I would argue that these of are of little to jazz and with the of a classical in what work is being I return to this point at the of the A different that might be the that jazz is a tradition are given performances is that jazz is an If is to a jazz then the performance cannot be of a of classical music that the of in a performance is not a that there is no work being The that such a work or more the is to a understanding of the work and not being works of art in the relevant consider only the and are The of the which those are at the of the and a well in this tradition is to such on the In these works, as in jazz is of the are works the other it is to find works in the classical tradition that are as or as jazz works be if are like classical works There will be of from the but these are the tradition than jazz works are in classical performances where there is an of similar to that in a jazz we are not so to call the performance of a the of of a on a by of It would be to call performance a performance of What something like a for Thus, if we are to with the to classical music, we that jazz are not performances of its in the literature on jazz, there the of and its relations to performances, works, and there is no here to with all the literature on the nature of I a gloss of the term that I many will find and it with a I take the to be quite general, but to it in musical terms, an is a performance by about that made by the the should be so as to the of in the account for free and for in the performance of a It also that cannot just from to a performance it is or which of it there is an to If a classical of a and but the performance for a and a where not at that to that is not the other a classical may each The from such as those of and of and in not that the be about a It also from and in I take of these to be of my account these My account also from and in important and argue that performance is in which the of a performance are not by made to the of where and as to like the use of and so I this of the of I no reason to that a could say, the in and an for this that “the between and be if we are to the that musical performance But it to the that is to this we that a who a not if the or the or is not or is the of the is a if there A the is what the of the of a the of the have not out in have the But to and such cannot be is that the of the for the of the But this an on the of and are to that a performance can be without being from One can work a of out various ways and so As we have even jazz are not without But I for than and do. the of the I would a performance of a classical work where the to the or or of a part of the There will be no for the to that the is so nor would the be even if well such would be well the of a performance say, a In a jazz of we a not to have which will a given But across the we can say that the more made the the more it It is worth that I have the of what a given performance is an to a given performance is in discourse about music at we to more about than events or I that there is no between and a performance with many suggests that there may be no answer to the of what a performance an return to the point of this of the nature of and its role in we have that is across the classical and jazz traditions, this not by itself answer any ontological about jazz, even given an ontology of classical what is in the jazz tradition nor the that there is in a jazz performance that there are not works in the jazz tradition that are in the of in a jazz performance and the of to the tradition to that the for the work in jazz, the is more an to the like for than a work to be in performances, like The of As a of the who that jazz and classical music an ontology might point to the most for that works for performance that performances and have very little for some of this as a in the of jazz to be of for to be a work like a classical fully for a particular kind of and, making use of a particular no more for than a work for One might argue that many of for are like classical works and are with little for I that in the of various of a given such as in and in jazz more what we have is not of that and performances of each but more a of performances to be with on as it than as performances of some other the that of almost all suggests that of new ways to produce performances, than an entity. classical works, but even in the most there are the number of common in jazz, even with such a as Another that is on the performance than some reinstantiable work is that made for particular as on particular classical with particular in but cannot the performance of works to particular As “the can not to who is to this attitude is out of the for the true jazz It would be for an to have a by it for the very where not a but to as with for are not to the ontology of the tradition. the of in A number of are very to for not an art of of that with for it it the that in this particular we have such an ontology. work is a work of and its ontology with the other works in that of for are jazz performances and not performances of works with the ontology of classical music A of these is that no sound that any jazz performances is a primary focus of in the jazz tradition. The on the of the jazz if the nature and role of in jazz, and the relations between various jazz performances with the same that jazz is not like classical it is not a tradition of performances of to the would be to that though jazz performances are not works in the classical sense of being for are of action for appreciation something and are just as as or That is, the than the sound it is a work of is by and by and of the as the of a sound also that should not be as of works and that musical to the of a than to a is, musical for the of jazz as a of the in the But I that without assumption that works of art in jazz be sound might be by the that jazz performances are works of I have no to the basic this that performances in to those performances as performances of are the primary focus of in I that there are to the of this as the that jazz performances are works of art, that this is a project in comparative musical ontology. Thus, we to use if at all term in any is What we we say that a particular of is “the work of art” in some I that at the very we to that it is a primary focus of appreciation in the tradition. But we more than of classical works are a primary focus of yet we not call them works of art in in an What classical musical works from performances, I is that works are entities more is at we for being a work of this is a in higher‐level ontology. I am not a here on the between and as I am that the we between and events between what might be a work of art and what could not I should note that it is not the we use but the for that I am most interested in I at the three different ways in which we use the term ‘work of could use the term to refer to that are a primary focus of appreciation in the of are or But if we we would term to the of these that we that are the we use these however, I no reason to this new If all this is then jazz performances cannot be works of art, at in the sense in which is a work of performances are a primary focus of appreciation in the jazz but are not If and to with my about works of art, could be the ontology of jazz I not about the nature of jazz, I but about the nature of Thus, I will focus here not on but on the that the of work and performance in and musical practice, in an attempt to the that musical works be that if jazz performances are works of art in then so classical performances be, classical performances are with an to being of and are a primary focus of appreciation in the classical tradition. in classical music, performances are from the works are an of this might this to classical to the but of the work performance in and But we can with this without to of a work of The sense of ‘work of art’ that we are with is not an evaluative one, it would not be a on jazz to that there no jazz works in this A more important however, to with the of works of art, with the nature of jazz is where of jazz performances with of art are not just to be of but on so that or artistic can be to the that it is is not of like these of work note that this is of the which jazz music its with other musical traditions have jazz of being and of of in of for this musical and for example, of is the to and how are we to account for such in the performances of who is of the most important in the of The many toward and to the of that there are important in the of musical and that jazz some of these have the of of traditions (for instance, the it from some and its of possibilities to such as and But of it I from a of jazz performances as or to be classical out in to knowledgeable about jazz, on the other have in the that jazz performance also that if this is a of then classical performances are more like works of art than jazz performances in the classical tradition is to the and work out it. something to this in for jazz various a of cannot work out of it would no be an for the Thus, if is with the traditional of classical music works and performances of can only hold that jazz performances are works of art on of It that the work of art in rock music is the that these are the entities that are the primary focus of appreciation in the rock theory might be by the jazz as a For recordings a to a performance an As as I no this as a theory of jazz ontology. that may have an different from that of the it may have a different also that of jazz to in for being the works of art of rock music, to the of in the than live performances, are what people about in rock, and people how to by to and could be made about and about to by and the recording other on the of For instance, and only in the recording in part not want to recording it is not could have so an on as I have For all the there are important differences between rock and jazz to here jazz to be a to classical music than it is to as classical to more and more musical works, recordings the of works with all the of a sound like classical this of recording technology to the that rock not rock recordings to be to live performance classical and jazz on the other the performance on a recording to be to the performance of the in the may be and but should be to the recording to a sound that the would be of As live performance traditions, classical and jazz music have recording to in the but traditions a between recording and In traditions, is to listen the recording to the than to the recording as a It is also worth an to given in the if that jazz recordings are works of art in classical recordings be by of though some might this note that recordings be works in a different sense from that a recording of in some sense the songs, and as in the of live performances, classical recordings have more to being works of art than jazz recordings, the can be on with a jazz are to be if Another of this point is to about the of jazz practices on live jazz just as is the with classical music, in to rock, as I have and classical music are in being live performance traditions. But are in that classical performances are performances of works, jazz performances are I have also that jazz performances, like all performances, cannot be works of What for the jazz to A the I is that in jazz there are no is in an by It is more in of that even though a as a is not itself a musical with that this In particular such a performance is not in that jazz performances are not performances of works, but not so as to say that there are no works in that in jazz the performance is the as My may sound and It if of the of as the goal of any artistic But there is no reason this should be I have my with that performances should not be given to works in of classical should an art with only performances and no works be to with only works as or with works and performances as classical My may sound could all that I have and yet find musical in the jazz tradition. But this is to ignore the between and other kinds of art for to and them to to what just as a classical to what thereby a sound But where from the classical is that not nor even and what on this is with the that performances that are the same not as of some as rock are directly with not as performances of the same so jazz performances on the same directly with not as performances of the same such as are of but in jazz such are more for performances than can be in a of jazz from the of and of the the of the performance and of the to the with which many though to become are In jazz, like classical music and rock, is a tradition. the of to jazz and the of performances with than as of some that, classical music, jazz is not a tradition. performances are different kinds of from works of art, yet are the primary focus of in jazz, I that jazz is a tradition without should not be as an evaluative The of of jazz in this is a understanding of what is about what jazz and with and in other musical