Doutoramento em Música e Musicologia
The Twentieth Century Jazz Piano Trio - The rise of an iconic jazz paradigm
Susan Muscarella

Orientação: Eduardo Lopes

Designating Bud Powell’s 1947 recording, The Bud Powell Trio , as the modern jazz piano trio benchmark, here, this thesis traces the emergence and evolution of the pianistled, piano-bass-drums-comprised modern jazz piano trio. Beginning with a general overview of pre-Powell jazz piano styles and techniques, this thesis investigates the earliest, most salient pre-Powell jazz piano trios, and examines three seminal modern jazz pianists and leaders of legendary modern jazz piano trios, Bud Powell, Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.

This thesis also brings to the fore the paradox inherent in a democratic system – individual self-expression juxtaposed with responsibility to the whole – and its unequivocal analogy to the modern jazz piano trio gestalt. From the earliest recording of a primarily piano-dominated piano-bass-drums-comprised jazz piano trio in 1935, the modern jazz piano trio has evolved to become a paragon of democracy – an egalitarian playing field in which rhythmic, harmonic and melodic roles are evenly distributed among all three instrumentalists who have come to serve as both soloists and accompanists.

This thesis serves to corroborate the efficacy of the modern jazz piano trio – how it came to be, and why it will last – based on its inherent strength and beauty.