In his book Jazz Cultures, David Ake speaks on how Jazz has evolved from its original sense of expressive freedom, to a point where it “went to college” and became institutionalized, “marginalizing some of the musics played as jazz in the outside world”, referring to the music community outside of academic classrooms (112). Jazz really took a turn in this direction after World War II. Although it remained a popular music, it started to delve into a genre that was restricting musicians to sheet music that did not integrate improvisation, a foundational aspect of jazz as Kathy J. Ogren mentions in her book,The Jazz Revolution: Twenties America and the Meaning of Jazz (7). There was also a sense of appropriation during the evolution of Jazz, which provided a groundwork for the strict nature of Jazz in academic settings that is seen later in the century.

“Some white Americans tried to appropriate the music to their own history or language by stressing a European precedent for Jazz or the desirability of using symphonic arrangements to refine Jazz.” (Ogren, 139)

Ake builds off this same idea in the context of academia. There reached a certain point in which music departments at institutions of higher education could not embrace Jazz as a field of musical study unless it was seen as “good” or “serious” music (119). Where did this “seriousness” come from? The answer lies within the composed, unified nature of European-influenced conservatory music.

“Players win and keep orchestra jobs by realizing as cleanly and consistently as possible the notes set down on the printed page in a manner dictated by the conductor.” (Ake, 120)

 Fred Wei-han Ho published a journal article speaking about the ways in which Jazz was being limited in mentioning that the amplified use of sheet music in which parts were written out in their entirety took away from the spontaneity that made Jazz what it is. He mentions Duke Ellington, actually, in saying that his band could play the same music on a nightly basis and still retain the freshness of their spontaneous playing in a way that even strict notation and structured sets could not hold back (288).

This aspect of Ellington’s style of play can be seen as a staple of Jazz that had been developing since its birth. The “call and response” practice in certain Jazz pieces emphasizes the importance and vitality of improvisation. Stemming from Afro-American tradition (, this practice developed into greater forms of improvisation such as full solos feeding off of each other, and the technique of “trading fours”. These examples are constantly used in order to exchange musical ideas amongst sections or instruments in Jazz performance (Orgen, 13).