Connective Trance in Artistic Improvisation: The Case of Miles Davis
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that artistic creation can be understood as a process exceeding the author's rational will, unfolding within states of expanded perception. Proposes the concept of "connective trance" (Medina, 2025), in which the creator enters an intensified relationship with their sensory environment and the artwork emerges as a relational event. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty, contends that in musical improvisation, exemplified by Miles Davis, perception and action are inseparable, operating through operative intentionality. |
Abstract
Contemporary artistic creation can be understood as a process that exceeds the rational will of the author and unfolds within states of expanded perception. Within this framework, the concept of connective trance (Medina, 2025) designates a condition of consciousness in which the creator enters an intensified relationship with their sensory environment, allowing the artwork to emerge as a relational event. From Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of perception (1962), the body is not an object that perceives the world from the outside, but rather the very site where the world manifests itself. This notion is central to understanding connective trance as an embodied experience. In musical improvisation, there is no separation between perception and action: listening and execution occur simultaneously, in what the philosopher describes as operative intentionality. The improvisational practice of Miles Davis exemplifies this state, in which the musician does not reflect upon the music but acts from within it.