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Gunther Schuller

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Gunther Schuller was an American composer, conductor, horn player, writer, historian, teacher, publisher and jazz musician. He was born on 22 November 1925 in Queens, New York, to German parents. His father Arthur was a violinist with the New York Philharmonic. He studied at the Saint Thomas Choir School and became an excellent horn player and flautist. At fifteen he was already playing professionally, with the American Ballet Theatre, and in 1943 he became principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He then played in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra in New York until 1959. He never earned a diploma. He died on 21 June 2015.

Music and breakthrough

Schuller made a career in jazz by recording as a horn player, and released records such as Music for Brass in 1957 and Modern Jazz Concert in 1958. Later he wrote works such as The Red Back Book (1973), Piano Concerto (1986) and Mass in D (1992). His piece Transformation (1957) is an example of the fusion of jazz and modern classical music, a direction he called Third Stream.

Influence

Schuller connected, worldwide, two musical worlds that rarely came together: the improvisation of jazz and the tight compositional techniques of modern classical music. As a teacher and historian he also wrote about jazz. For anyone who listens to pop music he is important as an advocate of the idea that genres can enrich one another.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Transformation and try to hear where the piece sounds like a chamber orchestra and where the improvisation of the jazz musicians takes over. Can you hear the boundary, or do they merge into one another?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsThird stream