Theory of the Lilt
The phenomenon of "swing" has received a lot of attention.  Does it swing or doesn't it?  Today I'd like to consider another quality, which I am going to call the "lilt," a rapid up-and-down motion seen in stride piano and in later forms of jazz as well.  (I'll get to my related consideration of "swing" in a subsequent post.)
Improvisation
What does "improvisation" mean?  In the first place, every performance takes place in time, and will vary from any other performance.  Someone playing the melody of "Stardust" pretty much "as written" will still be improvising the phrasing, tempo, etc...
Four Movements in Jazz
I never had a good relationship to fusion when fusion was most popular—a period that coincided with my own teenage years. Now I can appreciate certain aspects of it more because I no longer feel resentful that it watered down jazz just at the moment when I was coming of age as a jazz fan.
Introductions
For my first post on Arcade I thought I would introduce myself and my recent and current projects.  I graduated with a PhD in Comparative Literature from Stanford in 1988 and am Professor of Spanish at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.  I blog at Bemsha Swing, mostly about jazz and contemporary Spanish poetry.