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Introduction

This paper and accompanying original composition are the products of a rigorous study of Taoism, early 1960's avant-garde jazz and modern advances in mathematics and science, specifically chaos theory. Emphasis will be placed primarily on the latter two as vehicles for jazz composition and improvisation. Of a class of nonlinear chaotic systems called strange attractors, one of the first discovered - the ``Lorenz attractor'' is considered in parallel with the music of Ornette Coleman. In the end, both the underlying philosophical ramifications generated by chaos theory as well as particular graphical cues from the chaotic Lorenz attractor formed the base of an original composition in the style of early 1960's avant-garde jazz.

It is my hope that this paper should serve as justification for my composition as well as documentation of my thoughts on all of the topics considered. I also hope that it raises more questions than it answers.





Mike Andrews
Wed Oct 23 01:18:29 EDT 1996