Roland Guillon (born 1942) is a French sociologist, known both for his work on the problems of employment and capital, and particularly, for his innovative approach to jazz.
He is a research engineer at the centre of economics and ethics of environment and development of the Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University. Employment and training specialist, he undertook several missions in West Africa.
He is at the origin of the definition "New Wave" in jazz. Inspired by the so-called "New Thing" in the late 1950s, he believes that the term is inappropriate and replace "thing" by "wave", a word which says movement, perhaps to signify the permanence of the swing. More than movement, this wave is a strength, power expressed by a whole new wave musicians.
This currently now wants synthesis of two main styles of jazz, hard bop and free jazz. This is actually less than an addition. Thus, composers or performers are new wave of artists who are involved in the two streams, but not only.
In The New Wave, jazz in between, Roland Guillon established a chronology of style analysis and multiple key disks to understanding the movement. Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Don Cherry are illustrious members, as well as lesser-known musicians such as Prince Lasha.
Les Syndicats dans les mutations et la crise de l'emploi (Unions in mutations and employment crisis), Paris, L'Harmattan, 1997
Environnement et emploi : quelles approches syndicales ? (Environment and employment: what approaches a union?), Paris, L'Harmattan, 1998
Recherches sur l'emploi, éléments de sociologie de l'activité économique (Research on employment, elements of sociology of economic activity), Paris, L'Harmattan, 1999
Syndicats et mondialisation, une stratification de l'union syndical (Unions and globalization, stratification of the labor union), Paris, L'Harmattan, 2000
Formation continue et mutation de l'emploi (Training and employment change), Paris, L'Harmattan, 2002
Regards croisés sur le capital social (Perspectives on social capital), Paris, L'Harmatt