on the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)
Paul Steinbeck, Sound Experiments: The Music of the AACM (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022).
The first study of the AACM’s music.
• order online: University of Chicago Press
• reviews: Journal of the Society for American Music | Journal of Music Theory | Music Reference Services Quarterly | All About Jazz | Lincoln City Libraries | Valon Kuvia | Musicworks | All About Jazz | No Depression | La Lettura | Bookforum | Booklist | The New York City Jazz Record | The Wire | The Slowdown
Paul Steinbeck, “Nicole Mitchell, Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds,” Point of Departure 81 (December 2022). | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Rise of the Super Musicians,” The Wire 465 (November 2022): 52–53. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Present at the Creation,” Human Ties (November 1, 2021). | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “George Lewis’s Voyager,” The Routledge Companion to Jazz Studies, eds. Nicholas Gebhardt, Nichole Rustin-Paschal, and Tony Whyton (New York: Routledge, 2019): 261–270. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, liner notes for George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell, Voyage and Homecoming (Rogue Art, ROG 0086, 2019). | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Listening to Voyager,” CTM Magazine 5 (2018): 44–48. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Talking Back: Performer-Audience Interaction in Roscoe Mitchell’s ‘Nonaah,’” Music Theory Online 22/3 (September 2016): 1–31. | LINK
on the Art Ensemble of Chicago
Paul Steinbeck, Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017).
The definitive study of the Art Ensemble.
Winner of the Steve Larson Award for Jazz Scholarship from the SMT Jazz Interest Group.
• Italian edition: Grande Musica Nera: Storia dell’Art Ensemble of Chicago (Macerata: Edizioni Quodlibet, 2018).
• French edition: The Art Ensemble of Chicago (Toulouse: Presses universitaires du Midi, 2021).
• order online: University of Chicago Press | Edizioni Quodlibet | Presses universitaires du Midi
• reviews: Debates | Alias | Jazz News | Le Souffle Bleu | Strumenti e Musica | Journal of the Society for American Music |Jazzit | Chorus | Fata Morgana | Valon Kuvia | RSI Cultura | Gazzetta di Parma | Leggere Tutti | L’Indice | Il Sole 24 Ore | Il Manifesto | Blow Up | The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory | Jazz and Culture | Alias | Magazzino Jazz | All About Jazz | Il Diapason | Il Manifesto | Musica Jazz | Giornale della Musica | Giornale del Popolo | Moving the River | Corriere della Sera | Salt Peanuts | Percorsi Musicali | JazzTimes | Orlando Weekly | Fresh Air | South Side Weekly | Down Beat | Jazzwise | The Wire | London Jazz News | Pop Matters | Free Jazz Blog
Paul Steinbeck, liner notes for the Art Ensemble of Chicago, The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art, ROG 0122, 2023). | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Theme for Lester,” The Common Reader (October 11, 2021). | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “‘Like a Cake Made from Five Ingredients’: The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Social and Musical Practices,” in Free Improvisation: History and Perspectives, eds. Alessandro Sbordoni and Antonio Rostagno (Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 2018): 3–13. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s ‘Get in Line’: Politics, Theatre, and Play,” Twentieth-Century Music 10/1 (March 2013): 3–23. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Intermusicality, Humor, and Cultural Critique in the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s ‘A Jackson in Your House,’” Jazz Perspectives 5/2 (August 2011): 135–154. | PDF
Winner of the Steve Larson Award for Jazz Scholarship from the SMT Jazz Interest Group.
Paul Steinbeck, “‘Area by Area the Machine Unfolds’: The Improvisational Performance Practice of the Art Ensemble of Chicago,” Journal of the Society for American Music 2/3 (August 2008): 397–427. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Analyzing the Music of the Art Ensemble of Chicago,” Dutch Journal of Music Theory 13/1 (February 2008): 56–68. | PDF
on Fred Anderson
Paul Steinbeck, liner notes for Fred Anderson Quintessential Birthday Trio, Volume Two (Asian Improv Records, AIR 0087, 2015). | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “‘Patience, Sincerity, and Consistency’: Fred Anderson’s Musical and Social Practices,” Critical Studies in Improvisation 6/2 (December 2010): 1–24. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, Fred Anderson, et al., “Celebrating a Jazz Hero: A Symposium on the Role of Fred Anderson in Chicago’s Jazz Legacy,” Critical Studies in Improvisation 6/2 (December 2010): 1–103. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck and Frank Steiger, “Fred Anderson dans le texte,” Jazz Hot 653 (Autumn 2010): 35–37. | PDF
Fred Anderson with Paul Steinbeck, Exercises for the Creative Musician (Chicago: Many Weathers Music, 2010).
Fred Anderson’s method book for improvisers.
• order online: Square
on Anthony Braxton
Paul Steinbeck, “Anthony Braxton, Composition No. 76,” in “5 Minutes that Will Make You Love the A.A.C.M.,” ed. Marcus J. Moore, New York Times (December 3, 2025). | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “A Creative Orchestra in Darmstadt,” Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik 27 (2025): 10–13. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Braxton the Theorist,” Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik 27 (2025): 40–54, 184. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, James Fei, et al., “Anthony Braxton’s Legacy as a Composer, Thinker, and Teacher,” Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik 27 (2025): 162–177. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Improvisation and Collaboration in Anthony Braxton’s Composition 76,” Journal of Music Theory 62/2 (Fall 2018): 249–278. | PDF
on visual art
Paul Steinbeck, “The Inner Sleeve: The Third Decade,” The Wire 404 (October 2017): 74. | PDF
on improvisation
Paul Steinbeck, “Improvisation, Identity, Analysis, Performance,” American Music Review 44/1 (Fall 2014): 16–19. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck, “Improvisational Fictions,” Music Theory Online 19/2 (June 2013): 1–12. | PDF
Paul Steinbeck and August Sheehy, “Introduction: Theorizing Improvisation (Musically),” Music Theory Online 19/2 (June 2013): 1–9. | PDF