Whose Improvisation? Whose Freedom?: Expressions of Freedom by improvising Women of Colour

Abstract

Improvisation, particularly jazz-orientated improvisation and free improvisation has largely been theorized as an appropriate model of egalitarian and democratic social interaction upholding the promise of freedom and emancipation for all participating performers. However, these metaphorical imaginings of improvisation rarely account for the intersectional power hierarchies, particularly concerning issues of gender inequality, amongst improvising performers. Thus, for the most part, these theorizations on improvisative freedom are predicated on frameworks that validate the canonization of masculinity as a key component to musical intelligibility and improvisative virtuosity, further perpetuating the marginalization of women improvisors. What is more, given the inseparable friction of race and gender, the experiences of non-white women performers tend to go further unacknowledged. This thesis aims at platforming the musical explorations and enunciations of freedom for improvising Black, Brown and Other Women of Colour women musicians. Herein, I inquire about their possibilities and opportunities for improvisative freedom, asking to what extent these women negotiate their individual musical expressions of freedom and emancipation whilst improvising, and how they go about doing so. This qualitative study relies on the thematic analysis of 5 barely structured interviews to provide an intersectional feminist reading of improvisative freedom(s) for non-white women improvisors in the Netherlands.

First, I present an overview of the field of improvisation studies and critique the overemphasis of musical improvisation as an inherently democratic, and egalitarian practice as well as the masculinized modalities of those frameworks before presenting contemporary attempts at “feministing” improvisation studies and improvisatory practices. I then present a brief historical account of the early Dutch jazz and improvised music scene to provide further context to the contemporary state of the scene as described by the featured women improvisors. What follows are their narrations of improvisative freedom. Their unique explorations, experiences, and expressions of freedom hinge upon their ability to navigate and resist both musical constraints and sociocultural oppressions, and the numerous components of their music-making and improvisatory practices that I interpret as decolonial practices. Ultimately, their improvisative freedoms form part of a greater journey of self-discovery, self-affirmation and self-love. While their experiences are not wholly generalizable to reflect all non-white women improvisors, they do provide a convincing basis for further research. Furthermore, their expressions of improvisative freedom advocate for the diversification of theorizations on improvisation as freedom, and concepts of freedom and emancipation within improvisation increasing critical invention in the contemporary discourse around race, gender, jazz, and improvisation in the Netherlands.