JAZZ

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JAZZ

• A Historical Outline

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What is Jazz?

• Man, man, if you gotta ask, youll never know.
• Louis Armstrong

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• When they study our civilization two thousand
  years from now, there will only be three things
  that American will be known for the
  Constitution, baseball and jazz music.
• Gerald Early

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Roots of JAZZ

• West Africa contributed drumming improvisation
  and complex rhythms
• Europe contributed folk tunes and hymns
• America contributed a breeding ground for these
  things to mix.

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Roots of JAZZ

• Jazz is the first genre of music to solely
  culminate in the United States.
• All other forms prior to jazz came from (Western)
  Europe, or were formed somewhere else.
• JazzAmerican Musical Art Form!

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Roots of JAZZ

• Early records are categorized as race records.
• Jazz helped breech the race barrier
• First integrated ensembles 1930s
• AUDIENCES TOO!!!

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Timeline of JAZZ

• 1890s-1910s Jazz is born Ragtime
• 1910s-1920s Blues
• 1920s-1930s Dixieland
• 1930s-1940s Sing/Big Band
• 1940s Bebop
• 1940s-1950s Cool
• 1960s Free Jazz
• 1960s-1980s Fusion (Jazz/Rock)
• 1980s-Current Rock, RB, Funk, Modern Jazz

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Characteristics of JAZZ

• Born in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Performed in brothels, clubs, streets, river
  boats, speak easys
• Syncopated (off-beat) rhythms and swing (lilting)
  subdivision.
• Encompassed the aleatoric or improvisational
  nature of negro spirituals.
• Three different components make this genre
  distinct
• Harmony
• Rhythm
• Improvisation

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JAZZ Ragtime (late 1890s-early 1900s)

• Grew out of African American dance styles
• Formal structure
• Generally performed on piano
• Artist Scott Joplin (Maple Leaf Rag, The
  Entertainer)
• Maple Leaf Rag was an instant hit. It sold
  75,000 copies.

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JAZZ Blues (1910s-1920s)

• Blues, by definition a lament, bemoaning
  poverty, social injustice, fatigue, or the loss
  of something (L-U-V).
• Originated in South among enslaved African
  Americans and spirituals and carried through in
  oral tradition to their descendants.
• Standard form 12-Bar Blues3, 4-bar phrases.

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JAZZ Blues (1910s-1920s)

• Lyric Topics include sexual references,
  betrayal, desertion and love.
• Artists Bessie Smith, B.B. King, Muddy Waters
  (McKinley Morganfield), Gertrude Ma Rainey,
  Howlin Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett)

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JAZZ Dixieland (1920s-1930s)

• Began in New Orleans
• Typical (small) groups included clarinet,
  trumpet, trombone, tuba (bass), piano, banjo and
  drums
• Variations were typical
• Characteristic sound derived from
• Combination of instruments (timbre)
• Melody instruments improvising at the same time
  (polyphony)

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JAZZ Dixieland (1920s-1930s)

• Marches, Church Hymns, Negro Spirituals, ragtime,
  12-bar blues, Boogie Woogie, all part of the
  play-list
• Scat singing-vocal style of improvisation using
  nonsense syllables.
• Louis Armstrong known for starting and using this
  stylestory says he was recording and dropped his
  music, could not remember the lyrics, so he
  improvised by scatting.

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JAZZ Dixieland (1920s-1930s)

• Artists Louis Satchmo Armstrong (vocals,
  trumpet), Joe King Oliver, Ferdinand Jelly
  Roll Morton, Leon Bix Beiderbecke, James
  Fletcher Henderson, Preservation Hall Ensemble.

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JAZZ Swing (Late 1930s-1940s)

• AKA Big Band or Dance Band
• Largest group so far, c. 15 members (hence big
  band)
• Considered POPULAR MUSIC.
• Sections now instead of individual instruments
• Saxophone Section (clarinet often included)
• Trumpet Section
• Trombone Section
• Rhythm Section (Piano, Bass, Guitar, Drums)

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JAZZ Swing (Late 1930s-1940s)

• Saxophone fairly new invention (from the
  sarussaphone)
• More people playing now, composers/arrangers
  wrote solos and relied less on improvisation
• Unison playing normal (rhythms and/or pitches)
• Most charts were based on 12-bar blues
• Many groups entertained during WWII

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JAZZ Swing (Late 1930s-1940s)

• Artists Edward Kennedy DUKE Ellington, Ella
  Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Tommy
  Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Louis Prima, Cab Calloway,
  Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman, Stan
  Kenton, The Commodores, The Airmen of Note, NC
  Jazz Repertory Orchestra, Lincoln Center Jazz
  Orchestra (Wynton Marsalis), Harry Connick, Jr.,
  Bob Mintzer

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JAZZ Bebop (1940s)

• More complex music for smaller groups
• Basic instruments and format same as big band
• Back to improvisation, less unison
• Meant for listening, not dancing (more irregular
  time/style changes).
• More sophisticated harmonies

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JAZZ Bebop (1940s)

• Rhythm section responsible for keeping time AND
  as melody instruments
• Artists Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie,
  Thelonius Monk (Rocky Mount, NC), Charles Mingus,
  Bud Powell, Miles Davis (early), Thad Jones,
  Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper, Erroll
  Garner, Oscar Peterson, Max Roach

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JAZZ Cool (Late 1940s-1950s)

• AKA West Coast Jazz
• More calm and relaxed than bebop, hence cool
• Longer compositions than bebop
• More written arrangements, less improvisation
• Flute, cello and horn often included
• Very experimental
• Artists Lester Young, Miles Davis (middle), Chet
  Baker, Gerry Mulligan

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JAZZ Free (1960s)

• Break from traditional jazz forms, melodies,
  harmonies and chords
• Very reflective of times
• Very irregular in form
• Coincides with chance/aleatoric music of John
  Cage
• Very much a recording music, rather than a
  sit-and-listen.
• Artists Miles Davis (late), Ornette Coleman,
  John Coltrane (High Point, NC)

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JAZZ Fusion (late 1960s-1980s)

• Became Funk
• Combines jazz and the evolving Rock and Roll
  style (which came from jazz)took over as
  popular music
• Traditional instruments and synthesizers,
  electric piano, guitar
• Afro-Cuban and Latin Percussion
• Artists Miles Davis (late), Earth, Wind Fire,
  Weather Report, Chicago, Tower of Power