Third Stream
A historically grounded cross-genre label coined by Gunther Schuller in 1957, Third Stream names music that tries to hold jazz improvisation and classical craft together in one frame.
Origins and context
Gunther Schuller introduced the term in the United States in 1957 to name music that brought jazz and classical traditions together.
The sound
Instrument palette
The voices and tools most associated with this sound.
- Jazz ensemble
- Classical ensemble
- Orchestra
- Chamber ensemble
- Piano
- French horn
History
The term Third Stream was coined by Gunther Schuller in 1957, after he began describing a respectful merging of jazz and classical music rather than a simple decoration of one style with the other. Schuller later explained that improvisation had to remain central if the music was truly to belong to this new “third” current. (arts.gov) In practice, the style took shape through composers and ensembles working across formal composition and jazz language, especially around the Modern Jazz Quartet and related projects. The idea never settled into a single sound; instead, it became a broad umbrella for works that try to keep the discipline of the concert hall and the living pulse of jazz in the same frame.
Notable artists
- GSGunther Schuller
- TMThe Modern Jazz Quartet
- JLJohn Lewis
Essential listening
- 1
- 2
- 3
Explore connected genres
Sources and further reading
- The Third Stream (chapter on Schuller and the idea behind the term)
- Gunther Schuller oral history on Third Stream
- Apple Music
The Modern Jazz Quartet’s Atlantic-era work is identified with Third Stream music.
- Charles Mingus and the Third Stream