Forbidden triads and creative success in jazz: the Miles Davis factor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

This article argues for the importance of forbidden triads – open triads with high-weight edges – in predicting success in creative fields. Forbidden triads had been treated as a residual category beyond closed and open triads, yet I argue that these structures provide opportunities to combine socially evolved styles in new ways. Using data on the entire history of recorded jazz from 1896 to 2010, I show that observed collaborations have tolerated the openness of high weight triads more than expected, observed jazz sessions had more forbidden triads than expected, and the density of forbidden triads contributed to the success of recording sessions, measured by the number of record releases of session material. The article also shows that the sessions of Miles Davis had received an especially high boost from forbidden triads.

Original languageEnglish
Article number31
JournalApplied Network Science
Volume2
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2017

Keywords

  • Creativity
  • Jazz
  • Social networks
  • Success
  • Weighted networks

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