Automatic Jazz Accompaniment Computation: An Open Advice-Based Approach

Music systems are based on always partial, sometimes default, knowledge. In order to meet this essentia] character, we need open systems that can constantly adapt their music assumptions. Ideally, the system should provide the naive end-user with the ability to manipulate the music knowledge on a user-understandable level. This paper presents a computer tool, entitled JOINME, that composes a jazz accompaniment consisting of drums, bass and piano lines. JOINME is an advice propagation systern, that separates the music knowledge from the actual accompaniment computation. The system supports changes/revisions of its musical knowledge on the user interface level. Its open architecture enables a close, smooth collaboration with jazz experts.