transmutations of classical guitar in jazz through guitar improvisation experiments

by Olaf Tarenskeen

A cross-domain experiment into the classical guitar in contemporary Jazz music investigating the possibility of a cohesive style. The research will include an exploration of a brief historical perspective, playing techniques and technology, the first representative of this style in the US and live performances. (Resulting in a new perspective for the guitar in jazz and improvised music).

Tarenskeen wants to integrate sound and style, which are outside contemporary art music and jazz, and present them in an improvisational context. Questions are whether this 1. can possibly be an addition to the canon of 20th-century solo guitar works 2. can be an alternative for creative limitations resulting from cultural expectations/prejudices connected with the electric guitar in Jazz 3. can the cohesive style bridge genre boundaries as in e.g. commercially successful music

Artists: Olaf Tarenskeen (classical guitarist, CumLaude KC, Wessel Ilcken Prize as jazz guitarist), Tineke Postma (saxophone, Codarts, 2009 Antibes Award, Edison 2011, Boy Edgar Prize 2015), Yvonne Smeets (jazz singer, teacher + cum laude KC)+young jazz talents Cas Jiskoot (double bass), Gijs Idema (el. guitar)

LOOS Den Haag collaborates in this research with EGTA - European Guitar Teachers Association, Codarts Rotterdam, Royal Conservatory (KC) The Hague. Collective improvisations are presented in co-creation with singer Yvonne Smeets (KC), laureates on sax, guitar and bass. Here the development from communicative to experimental characteristics and the conceptual relationship between the electric jazz guitar and classical guitar solo compositions are shown.