''Jazz Abstractions'' (subtitled ''John Lewis Presents Contemporary Music: Compositions by Gunther Schuller and Jim Hall'') is a

third stream Third stream is a music genre that is a fusion of jazz and classical music. The term was coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller in a lecture at Brandeis University. Improvisation is generally seen as a vital component of third stream. Schu ...

album combining elements of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and classical music recorded in late 1960 for the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

label.Gunther Schuller discography
accessed September 11, 2015

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

awarded the album 4 stars stating: "One of the most successful third stream efforts ...This is very interesting music".

Track listing

''All compositions by Gunther Schuller except as indicated'' # "Abstraction" - 4:06 # "Piece for Guitar & Strings" (Jim Hall) - 6:22 # "Variants on a Theme of John Lewis ( Django)" - 10:15 ## "Variant I" - 5:27 ## "Variant II" - 1:38 ## "Variant III" - 3:10 # "Variants on a Theme of Thelonious Monk (Criss-Cross)" - 15:23 ## "Variant I" - 6:22 ## "Variant II" - 1:49 ## "Variant III" - 4:12 ## "Variant IV" - 3:00

Personnel

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

- arranger, conductor * Jim Hall -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

* Ornette Coleman - alto saxophone (tracks 1 & 4) * Eric Dolphy - alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute (tracks 3 & 4) *Robert DiDomenica - flute (tracks 3 & 4) * Bill Evans -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(tracks 3 & 4) *

Eddie Costa Edwin James Costa (August 14, 1930 – July 28, 1962) was an American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, composer and arranger. In 1957, he was chosen as ''DownBeat'' jazz critics' new star on piano and vibes – the first time that one artist won two ...

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...

(tracks 3 & 4) *Charles Libove, Roland Vamos -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

*Alfred Brown (track 2), Harry Zaratzian -

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

*Joseph Tekula -

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

*Alvin Brehm (track 1), George Duvivier (tracks 3 & 4),

Scott LaFaro Rocco Scott LaFaro (April 3, 1936 – July 6, 1961) was an American jazz double bassist known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. LaFaro broke new ground on the instrument, developing a countermelodic style of accompaniment rather than playing ...

- bass * Sticks Evans - drums (tracks 1, 3 & 4)

References

{{Authority control 1961 albums John Lewis (pianist) albums Jim Hall (musician) albums Albums conducted by Gunther Schuller Albums produced by Nesuhi Ertegun Atlantic Records albums