Jazzed up blues (and) roots : a musical exploration of space, genre, and hybridity

Abstract

Jazz, blues, folk and roots hybrids are an increasingly popular and prominent feature of popular music around the world. In this context, a small number of scholars have identified and described the emergence of a pastoral strain of hybridity in jazz which is characterised as evoking a more rural, spacious and relaxed sound in contrast to the more urbane and strident sounds of bebop derivations. This research focusses on relationships between jazz, genre hybridity and the use and evocation of space, explored in the context of the musical characteristics of pastoral expression. The study is constructed as a practice-led research project and addresses the research questions through the development and production of a CD of new musical works and through a written component. Research outcomes are documented in the creative practice component, the CD Chincogan, and are examined and discussed in the accompanying exegesis. The exegesis is constructed in two parts. The first outlines the research questions and musical and scholarly contexts, and the second provides an analysis of the recorded works. The seven pieces of music created for this project were composed, arranged, recorded and produced by me in collaboration with other musicians, and have been inspired by the hybrid and spatially infused works of a number of significant artists in the field. The study explores hybrid jazz, roots, blues and folk forms through the lens of the pastoral and interrogates the role of musical space in the mediation of hybridity. The research aims to contribute to greater understanding of the musical mechanisms which underpin these sounds.

Date of Award	2017
Original language	English