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Whack jazz is music that does not follow conventional song construction, tonality, and/or motifs. It's usually considered "jazz" due to the highly improvisational nature typically associated with this type of music and at being at least partially rooted in more traditional jazz forms, but not necessarily so. More formal definitions of the form might include "avant garde," "free jazz," "experimental," "modern creative" or "noise music." A less formal term is "room-clearing music." Noted practitioners of whack jazz include John Zorn, Peter Brötzmann, Merbow, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Fred Frith, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Marc Ribot, Cecil Taylor and David Torn, just to name a few. At its finest, whack jazz is art music with a punk disposition.
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