Collaborate, Cooperate or Coordinate? The Explorations of a West Australian Jazz Trio

As a style dependent on interaction and improvisation, collaboration is often touted as a hallmark of jazz. Performers transform written music into spontaneous and varied sonic experiences that arc as much unique reflections of those playing as they arc of the original composition. The works that frame the improvisations, and create the initial space for such dynamic interaction to take place, are often conceived in far less collaborative ways. Formed in 2013, Artefact Agency is a Western Australian jazz trio that explores collaborative compositional processes in a practice-led environment. Comprised of three leading West Australian jazz musicians, the group has explored collaborative composition in both traditional concert settings and more unusual, dynamic environments. This paper will explore the possibilities and potential limitations of collaborative processes in the small jazz combo, with reference to the rescoring of Lotte Reiniger's1955 animation Hansel and Gretel undertaken by Artefact Agency in 2014.