#9 in Ethnic & international music books
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Reddit mentions of Thinking in Jazz : The Infinite Art of Improvisation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology Series)
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Reddit mentions: 1
We found 1 Reddit mentions of Thinking in Jazz : The Infinite Art of Improvisation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology Series). Here are the top ones.
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>I know that you can't improvise improvisation.
You're playing with words. Of course you can. Just as you can speak speech, ;-)
Equally obviously, improvisation in any genre follows rules. In any jazz text on improvisation, for example, they will talk about scales, chord tones, melody, rhythm. Those are all the "rules" that improvisers know and follow, and there are principles associated with each one: linking scales with specific chords, targeting chord tones, and so on.
If you want a book with a more broad or philosophical approach (less about technical detail), I recommend this. There are also lots of youtubes on the topic - of course - and I'd recommend masterclasses by Hal Galper and Mulgrew Miller, who go beyond the nuts and bolts into attitude and thinking.
Having said that, there is "free jazz" which was/is an attempt to improvise from scratch with no rules at all. I guess you could call that "improvised improvisation". That is, there would be two rules: (1) respond to previous sounds in some way, either to follow their lead or contrast with them - i.e., it's a choice to follow or to ignore; (2) avoid any hint of normal musical content. (Dont play obvious arpeggios or scales.)
Given your broader field of study, you might be interested in an old TV documentary series by Derek Bailey, godfather of UK free improvisation. Episode 1 here.
As for silence, all good jazz players understand the importance of silence in breaking up phrases, allowing thought between them. The longer the silence, the greater the anticipation in an audience of what might come next. Long silences build tension almost as well as melodies or harmonies designed for that purpose.
Miles Davis knew that probably better than anyone, and titled an album "In A Silent Way". A friend of mine who is a (much less famous) professional jazz musician titled one of his albums, slightly less cryptically "The Silence Between Waves". The waves are, of course, audio waves.