Edoardo Cimino

2nd assignment Introduction to Philosophy

All the links of the recordings and videos can be found in the Bibliography at the end of the Paper.

Jazz as a “metaphysical miracle” ?

According to Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy the evolution of art is related to the
duality of the Apollonian and Dionysian, in the case of the tragedy the result is,
using Nietzsche’s words, a “marvelous metaphysical act” because these two
di erent Instincts coexist and excite each other.

Jazz music in my opinion is the modern day Attic Tragedy, because in this artistic
movement the Dionysian and Apollonian instincts are always present in three
levels: the composition level, the interplay and interpretation level and in the
improvisation level.

During this short essay I will propose di erent recordings of the tune Body and
Soul , that are going to show the connection of Nietzsche’s thoughts with Jazz. I
will choose as material of study jazz composers and performers active in the
twentieth century, but I will propose also recordings of contemporary musicians .

Composition level

In this paragraph I will deal with the early mention “Body and Soul” composed by
Johnny Green. It is appropriate to de ne the Apollonian and Dionysian in music, to
do so I will use these extracts from The Birth of Tragedy “ The Music of Apollo
was doric architecture expressed in sound ”(Nietzsche, 1872:11) and for the
Dionysian “To the Apollonian Greeks the e ect aroused by the Dionysian also
seemed Titanic and barbaric” (Nietzsche, 1872:14)

Body and Soul is a 32 bars composition, it can be divided in 4 sections of 8 bars.

The form in this case is AABA based on the melodic material, this kind of forms are
very popular in jazz and they are in my opinion the perfect example of doric
architecture in sounds.

I choose to work with an Apollonian composition, but there are also composition
that are constructed in not symmetrical forms or even without a from. These type
of tunes can be associated with the Dionysian instinct.

Ex: The eye of the hurricane ( Herbie Hancock), The Father the Son and the Holy
Ghost (John Coltrane), Blues Connotation ( Ornette Coleman)…

ff
fi
ff
ff
 Interpretation level

As i said before, these two instincts interacts in this music in di erent level, the
interpretation level is extremely important, because it can completely reverse the
nature of a composition. The elements that e ect this level are: sound, timing,
touch, phrasing, and everything connected with harmony and rests.

I choose as example the version of Body and Soul recorded by Thelonius Monk
one of the most famous jazz pianist and composers of the past Century.

I think it is possible to hear that in these recording the “doric architecture” is built
by a “ Dionysian satyr”, all the notes are played in a dramatic, barbaric and brilliant
way, all characteristics that I would associate with Dionysus.

Sara Vaughan recorded also her version of this song.

This version is brilliant too, but in this case we don’t have the evident interaction
between Apollo and Dionysus that we can hear in the Monk’s version.

It doesn’t mean that this is not a good version, it helps me to shows how these two
levels in uence the performance and can completely change the experience of the
listeners.

Improvisation level

Finally we have the last piece of the puzzle, we saw previously how interpretation
can be inspired by the Apollonian and the Dionysian instinct, in my opinion this
same process can’t be found in the improvisational level because this is the result
of the other two levels.

This time all the parameters mentioned in the interpretation paragraph are added
to this knew elements: building of the solo, climax and interplay, but it is not
possible to determinate the nature of the improvisation.

From this point is very di cult to individuate the two instincts, because the
connection between them at this point is so deep that it is impossible to split them.

I will give some some example to prove it:

Keith Jarret, al the version of Body and Soul

John Coltrane, Body and Soul

Joe Henderson, Body and Soul

Freddie Hubbard, Body and Soul

“Both very different drives go hand in hand, for the most part in open con ict
with each other and simultaneously provoking each other all the time to new and
more powerful offspring, in order to perpetuate for themselves the contest of
opposites which the common word Art” ( Nietzsche, 1872:8).
fl
ffi
ff
ff
fl
Conclusion

Is Jazz a “miracle”?, in my opinion it can be seen as a miracle, but music in

general is what Nietzsche called “marvelous metaphysical act”, because in this art
these two instinct lives together. I choose jazz as my main material of study,
because is a genre that is still alive and productive, but I think it can be applied to
all the other genres. Would Nietzsche agree with what I am writing?, he would
probably not agree with all my thoughts about jazz music, but he recognized the
importance of Wagner’s music, and he was probably able to see and feel these
two instincts in that type of music.

Works Cited

Bibliography

Nietzsche, Friedrich.”The Birth of Tragedy”, translated by Ian C. Johnston,

published by Malaspina University College, Nanaimo, December 2000 (Die Geburt
der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik, 1872).

Recordings

Monk, Thelonious. “Body and Soul”, Monk’s dream Thelonious Monk Quartet, 1963.

https://open.spotify.com/track/7IAFc5iQti2tzob7Uo7N1Y?si=d7f95220e8b1473f

Vaughan, Sara. “Body and Soul”, Sara Vaughan and her trio Swingin’ Easy, 1957.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3lqJF5gs2ygPZdYJqdHIlU?si=715553f4439541b2

Jarret, Keith. Haden, Charlie . “Body and Soul”, Jasmine, 2010

https://open.spotify.com/track/6iTDbtRfBCNgiLMabAhpHm?si=14fd406ec97b4388

Coltrane, John. “Body and Soul”, Coltrane’s Sound, 1964.

https://open.spotify.com/track/26bnmztmGcY03sO1uWmoTd?si=a122742e63584a65
Hubbard, Freddie. “Body and Soul”, Here to Stay, 1976.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2i2TpuZtFlr6OZKQKAi8YX?si=73ca1228b3ad4cb9

Henderson, Joe. “Body and Soul”, live Munich Philarmonie, 1993.