“Comprovisation or Imposition?”: An Improvised Composition on a Life of Improvisation

Abstract

In this essay, originally delivered as the opening keynote address at the 2012 edition of the Guelph Jazz Festival, improvising percussionist and improviser Jesse Stewart reflects on his own experiences as both a student and teacher of improvised music, using those experiences as a way of opening discussion about the ways in which improvisation pedagogy might intersect with the ideas of social justice and social responsibility.