Rhizomes and plateaus: Rethinking jazz historiography and the jazz-'classical' relationship

Problems of jazz historiography are identified and discussed. The model of historiography offered by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari based on the concept of the non-hierarchical, anti-genealogical rhizome is proposed as an alternative to existing approaches. Applied to an examination of the jazz-'classical' relationship, the model highlights a number of nodes and plateaus of musical identity. Particular reference is made to Bill Evans, Messiaen, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton and post-war avant-garde 'classical' music.