Listen

A purely American art form.

What’s in this PowerPoint?

• A brief history of jazz.– You will make a timeline of this history.

• List and Examples of important artists and their music.

• Jazz music vocabulary.• Online resources.

What is jazz?

A. is musical conversation

•Jazz is musical conversation: a partly planned and partly spontaneous musical dialogue among the musicians who are performing it.

B. is a music of the present moment

• While performing (or practicing), jazz musicians utilize the inspiration of the moment, their knowledge of music theory, life experience, social, political, and economic surroundings, technical savvy on their instruments, and, especially, all the music (particularly jazz and blues) they have ever heard that has influenced them (even the most avant-garde jazz artists reflect, in some way, the music of their musical forefathers). Jazz is a music of the present moment, anchored lovingly and respectfully in the past.

C. is a newcomer

• Jazz is a newcomer to music -- unlike symphonic music, folk music, opera, Eastern music, etc., jazz is only a century old.

D. was born out of the Black experience in America

• Jazz was born out of the Black experience in America, basically fusing African and European musical traditions. Evolving from slave work songs, spirituals (religious Black American folk songs), blues, brass band music, and ragtime (a rhythmically sophisticated piano style), jazz first appeared in the culturally diverse city of New Orleans in the early 1900s.

E. is embraced worldwide• African Americans devised

the major elements of jazz in its formative years and were the primary pioneers of stylistic changes in later decades. Today, jazz is performed, innovated, and listened to by people all over the world from virtually every ethnicity, religion, and culture.

F. is its own unique art form• Jazz has influenced and been

influenced by other musics: rock, rap, country, funk, Latin, classical, blues, gospel, African, Eastern, pop, folk, hip-hop, etc., etc7. Jazz, while extremely diverse and all encompassing, is, however, its own unique art form. It is more about the waythe music is played rather than what is played (more on this later).

G. is relatively complex• As far as musics go, jazz is relatively

complex; there are many musical, technical, intellectual, and emotional elements happening simultaneously (more on this later). Jazz makes far more demands on the listener than do most popular styles which are fundamentally simpler than jazz, requiring less from the listener. The more one knows about jazz (i.e., how to listen, its history, evolution of its styles, key players, forms, relationship to American history and culture, etc.), the more one can appreciate and enjoy it, even possibly gaining insight into his/her humanity via aesthetic experience -- jazz’s ultimate goal.

H. is about feeling

• Although complicated, the core of jazz is about feeling, not intellectual definition.

Jazz Timeline

Ragtime - (1896-1917)•Ragtime was the direct precursor to jazz.•Primarily a solo piano style - incorporated military march like steady time in the left hand and syncopated (i.e., “ragged”) melodies in the right .•Ragtime reflected both African and European musical traditions

1. African1. complex right-hand syncopation derived

from polyrhythms (several different rhythms played simultaneously)

2. ragtime was developed and first played primarily by African Americans and was a source of pride to African American composers, musicians, and listeners

3. the most prominent ragtime composer in history was Scott Joplin

2. European1. the piano itself was of European origin2. written musical notation3. left-hand march beat4. standard European chord progressions

Listen

Early Jazz/ Classic Jazz (Dixieland) 1• New Orleans - considered the birthplace

of jazz – why there?– New Orleans was a seaport city – New Orleans had a liberal atmosphere– long-standing tradition of music and

entertainment – Storyville (a district of New Orleans)

provided places for pre-jazz and early jazz groups to perform: houses of prostitution, cabarets, saloons, dance halls, etc. (1897-1917)

– reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to justify segregation - The 14th amendment was originally written to abolish segregation, however lawmakers found ways around the rules which forced Creoles and African American groups to live in the same areas, therefore in a way further forcing African and European ideas together.

Early Jazz/ Classic Jazz (Dixieland) 2• The music

– typical instrumentation: trumpet or cornet, clarinet, trombone, piano, tuba or string bass, banjo, drums

– each instrument has an assigned role (carry-over from the brass bands)

–everybody plays all the time except for the solos which occur in during the break

– collective improvisation, i.e., everyone is improvising at the same time (very little, if any, written music)

– simple harmonies (simple chords)– improvisation based on embellishing the melody – usually learned by ear (not by reading music)– dramatic effects proliferate: slides, trills, vibrato, mutes (e.g.,

bathroom plunger mute for wah-wah effect); influenced by vocal tradition

• Most important musicians of this style…– King Oliver– Louis Armstrong– Jelly Roll Morton– Bix BeiderbeckeListen, Listen, Listen

Swing/Big Band 1• In the 1930’s, jazz reached new levels of

sophistication in the Swing Era, reflecting America’s need for self-esteem following the Great Depression.

• Swing uses a strong rhythm section of double bass and drums as the anchor for a lead section of brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones, woodwinds including saxophones and clarinets, and sometimes stringed instruments such as violin and guitar, medium to fast tempos, and a "lilting" swing time rhythm. The name swing came from the phrase ‘swing feel’ where the emphasis is on the off–beat or weaker pulse in the music.

• The World War II era witnessed rapid changes in American tastes as well as logistics of making music (e.g., the decline of large ensembles in favor of the jazz combo was, in part, due to economic and social reasons).

Swing/Big Band 2Size The typical big band had (has) four sections 1.sax section: generally five saxophones (two altos, two

tenors, and one baritone); saxophonists usually also played clarinet

2.trumpet section: generally four trumpets 3.trombone section: generally four trombones10 4.rhythm section: generally four pieces: piano, bass, guitar,

drums

Look Up More

Swing differs from Dixieland 1.more use of written arrangements 2.wider range of compositional styles; fewer ragtime-like tunes 3.more solo improvisation, less collective improvisation 4.more use of string bass, less use of tuba 5.more use of guitar, no banjo 6.saxophone is the predominant instrument (replacing trumpet

and clarinet)

Swing/Big Band 3

• Big names in Swing1. Benny Goodman – first interracial-band

leader- Listen, Listen2. Duke Ellington – Listen, Listen3. Count Basie - Listen4. Art Tatum - Listen5. Coleman Hawkins6. Lester Young

The Demise of Swing 1• World War II

– the draft – bands raided each other – transportation was difficult– midnight curfews– 20% amusement tax for clubs that included dancing

• Restrictive musical formats– extremely restricted solo opportunities in big band swing (solos had to be short)– overworked harmonic formulae (i.e., the same basic chord progressions were used

over and over) – lack of creativity - stereotyped rhythms and rhythm sections – general lack of surprise in any given musical circumstance; jazz had fallen into a rut – by the early 40’s, with the exception of a few, most big bands sounded stylistically

alike

The Demise of Swing 2• Recording ban

– July, 1942 - November, 1943– in response to increased use of recorded music on the radio and in jukeboxes and the

threat this posed to live working musicians, the American Federation of Musicians (i.e., the musicians union) ordered a ban on all instrumental recording by union members

• Racism– African American musicians were usually paid less than their European American

counterparts – African Americans had to contend with the most oppressive manifestations of racial

prejudice and segregation; even the black jazz stars featured with name white bands were subjected to the most demeaning indignities

– in general, most African American jazz musicians became increasingly disenchanted with swing music the more they watched their innovations capitalized on by European Americans; they wanted to create their “own” music, a music that was too difficult, too virtuosic, and too hip for their white counterparts (a music that was not for dancing but for listening--a true African American ART form)

Bebop – Art Music 1• Music for listening – not

entertainment. Musicians considered themselves artists.

• primarily a small group music, usually a quintet: trumpet, saxophone, piano, bass, and drums

• designed for improvisation, not elaborate arrangements

• virtuosic music; very difficult to play

• trimmed down” arrangements - rarely written, mostly just discussed – few introductions,

endings, interludes, backgrounds, etc.

– instead of complex arrangements, bebop utilized complex heads (melodies)

Bebop 2• Basic Structure

– first chorus: head played in unison – middle choruses: improvised solos;

each player in turn improvises for as many choruses as desired

– trading fours or eights (optional): keeping the form, each musician improvises for four bars in alternation with the drums (e.g., saxophone for four bars, drums for four bars, trumpet for four bars, drums for four bars, piano for four bars, drums for four bars, etc.) Basically, swapping four bar phrases.

– last chorus: head in unison

Charlie ParkerListen, Listen, Listen

Bebop 3• the music is instrumental in

nature – big range (very low to very high

notes) – rhythmically complex – extremely difficult to sing– when sung, singers would “scat

sing” (i.e., sing as if they were a jazz instrumentalist using nonsense syllables instead of lyrics for their improvisations; play "How High the Moon," Ella Fitzgerald

Bebop Musicians

• Dizzy Gillespie• Charlie Parker• Thelonius Monk• Bud Powell• Wes Montgomery• Max Roach• Art Blakey• Charles Mingus• So many more…

Thelonious Monk