ABSTRACT
Agency is the capacity to act in a way that has an intended effect but that having the capacity to do something does not mean that it is an automatic or reflexive response: it involves a choice. In this chapter, we highlight that the capacity to act and to respond in the moment is central to improvisation in jazz. Agency allows intensely personal elements of artistry and expertise to create avenues of expression in a sonic environment where the embracing of indeterminacy creates potential and possibility and affords the individual musician agency in the process. While agency is mostly considered as the capacity to make individual choices, it is also inherent in the responsibility to the other members of the group, whose choices are also made in real time. Through two different conceptual and methodological frameworks we analyse actual musical interactions to show how different perspectives will yield different interpretations. Finally, we discuss the potential impacts of distributed agency on musical experimentation as a multi-disciplinary activity.
