FREEDOM AND CONSTRUCTION: NEW CONCEPTS OF FORM IN THE IMPROVISATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS OF KING CRIMSON

Abstract

This thesis constructs a coherent system of analysis for the improvised and non-improvised music of the progressive rock band King Crimson, with the intention that the methodologies presented here for discussing collective improvisation should be applied to the music of other rock, jazz, and avant-garde groups. Borrowing methodology from the study of free and postmodern jazz, the thesis develops an analytical system that combines the use of intensity graphs (as developed by John Litweiler and Ingrid Monson) with traditional transcriptions and prose explanations. The intensity graphs are more complex than those created by Monson and Litweiler, as they chart the intensity of multiple instruments that are improvising simultaneously. The thesis compares the results of the intensity-graph analyses of King Crimson's improvisations with more conventional study of their pre-composed material dating from the years 1969-1974. Over the course of these five years, King Crimson's recordings reveal a growing understanding of the relationship between improvisation and composition, a significant emphasis on rhythm as a unifying factor in both composed and improvised music, and the development of several identifiable post-tonal harmonic styles (associated, respectively, with different members of the band). The recordings also expose the contributions of the band's various short-term members, most notably pianist Keith Tippett and percussionist Jamie Muir. The analyses in chapters VI and VII clearly link the harmonic language of King Crimson's compositions and that of their improvisations. They also reveal the presence of a leading instrument in most of the band's improvised pieces; as well as demonstrating that most such pieces can be analyzed as a struggle or negotiation between the players, beginning in apparent discord and ending with agreement upon a particular key and tempo. The final chapter then establishes the broad viability of the analytical method by applying it to the music of Sonic Youth, a more recent group from a considerably different musical tradition than King Crimson.