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Book: Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers

Chapter: The Best Things in Life Are Free

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.20723

Blurb:

“Freedom” as a desirable state to be sought in life and in music was the feature that linked American and British jazz. However, what separated British from American jazz is considered more important: a desire to produce a music influenced by but no longer dependent upon African-American forms. Notions of freedom began to influence the social practices of certain sectors of society. Ideas such as communitarianism, sexual libertarianism and the replacement of “work” with “play” came to the fore. Musicians, mainly but not entirely from the world of jazz, began to explore a music without predetermined form or structure, in which spontaneity and responsiveness were its crucial elements.

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