From the Cass Corridorto the World

resource guide 2012-2013

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

11 am – 12 Noon

Detroit School of the Arts

school day Performance

uMs YouTh

educaTion PrograM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

03FOrEwOrd: AN INTErvIEw wITh MArk

04ATTENdING ThE PErFOrMANCE05 Being an Audience Member

06 The Details

08ThE ArTISTS09 Artist Bios

12CULTUrAL CONTEXT: dETrOIT13 Map + Basic Facts

14 Timeline

16ThE ArT FOrM: INTrOdUCTION TO JAZZ17 Jazz 101

18 Elements of Jazz

20rESOUrCES21 Online Resources

23 Recommended Reading

24UMS: BE PrESENT25 About UMS

26 Thank You!

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sigal heMY (sh): WhaT Was Your ThoughT behind PuTTing This ProJecT TogeTher?

Mark Jacobson (MJ): The city of Detroit has such a storied history as an incubator for some of

the great music and musicians of the second half of the 20th century. As UMS is celebrating

our 100th season in Hill Auditorium, we really wanted to shine a spotlight on this astounding

period of creativity.

sh: WhaT Made You decide on The forMaT of a house band and roTaTing

Wind PlaYers?

MJ: Pianist and composer Geri Allen was at the very top of our list to lead the artistic direction

of this project – a concert project that is trying to encompass a very broad period of time and

many musical sub-genres. The house band – actually, a piano trio comprised of Geri, Bob

Hurst, and Karriem Riggins – are all native Detroiters who are unquestionably “top-shelf”

soloists and collaborators in their own regard. This format immediately seemed to be the

perfect vehicle to showcase some of the most special instrumental and vocal soloists from

the city. Geri and her trio are an extant group that has already enjoyed performing together

in many of the greatest jazz clubs and venues around the world.

sh: hoW do You Think The Jazz TradiTion in deTroiT is differenT froM The

TradiTion in anY oTher ciTY? WhaT has Made iT ThaT WaY?

MJ: The history of jazz in Detroit certainly can be attributed to three things: 1) the high

standards of music education in the public school system; 2) music in the church; 3) music

in the home. That being said, other cities including New Orleans, Kansas City, St. Louis, and

Chicago have storied histories, as well. African-American families relocated in significant

numbers to Detroit in the ‘40s and ‘50s for jobs and a high-quality life. This migration

contributed to Detroit becoming an important American jazz center, especially in the hard-

bop and post-bop styles prevalent in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. The dedication of musical

mentors (such as Marcus Belgrave) and one of the strongest public school music programs

in the country kept Detroit at the forefront.

sh: WhaT does holding This PerforMance in deTroiT, raTher Than ann arbor,

Mean To You?

MJ: In addition to our School Day Performance in Detroit, UMS is partnering with the 2013

University of Michigan MLK Day Symposium for an evening-length concert at Hill Auditorium

on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. There is no denying the direct link between the freedom

communicated and personified in jazz improvisation with America’s civil rights movement.

Geri and I knew all along that this concert project needed to directly impact today’s youth

living in Detroit and we seized the opportunity to share this incredible music and history with

Detroit Public School students at the Detroit School of Arts Auditorium. Building a figurative

bridge that connects Hill Auditorium to the Cass Corridor was an essential component that

needed to be realized.

Mark Jacobson,

curaTor

FOrEwOrd:INTErvIEw wITh MArk

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ATTENdING ThE PErFOrMANCE

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BEING AN AUdIENCE MEMBEr

aTTending The PerforMance

When preparing students for a live performing arts event, it is important to address the concept of “concert

etiquette.” Aside from helping prevent disruptive behavior, a discussion of concert etiquette can also help

students fully enjoy the unique and exciting live performance experience. The following considerations are

listed to promote an ideal environment for all audience members.

Your surroundings

• Concert halls and performing arts venues are some of the

most grand and beautiful buildings you might ever visit, so be

sure to look around while you follow an usher to your group’s

seats or once you are in your seat.

• UMS Ushers will be stationed throughout the building and

are identifiable by their big name badges. They are there

to help you be as comfortable as possible and if you have

a question (about the performance, about where to go, or

about what something is), please ask them, and don’t feel

shy, embarrassed, or hesitant in doing so.

sharing The PerforMance hall WiTh oTher

audience MeMbers

• Consider whether any talking you do during the performance

will prevent your seat neighbors or other audience members

from hearing. Often in large rock concerts or in movie

theaters, the sound is turned up so loud that you can talk

and not disturb anyone’s listening experience. However,

in other concerts and live theater experiences, the sound

is unamplified (or just quiet), and the smallest noise could

cause your seat neighbor to miss an important line of

dialogue or musical phrase. Movements or lights (from cell

phones) may also distract your audience neighbors’ attention

away from the stage, again, causing them to miss important

action...and there’s no instant replay in live performance!

• At a performance, you are sharing the physical components

of the performance space with other audience members. So,

consider whether you are sharing the arm rest and the leg

room in such a way that both you and your seat neighbors

are comfortable.

• As an audience member, you are also part of the

performance. Any enthusiasm you might have for the

performance may make the performers perform better. So, if

you like what you are seeing make sure they know it! Maybe

clap, hoot and holler, or stand up and cheer. However, when

expressing your own personal enjoyment of the performance,

consider whether your fellow audience members will be able

to see or hear what’s happening on stage or whether they will

miss something because of the sound and movement you are

making. Given this consideration, it’s often best to wait until a

pause in the performance (a pause of sound, movement, or

energy) or to wait until the performer(s) bow to the audience

to share your enthusiasm with them.

• Out of respect for the performer(s), if you do not like some

part of the performance, please do not boo or shout anything

derogatory. Remember, a lot of hard work went in to creating

the performance you are watching and it takes great courage

for the performer to share his or her art with you.

share Your exPerience WiTh oThers

• An important part of any performing arts experience is

sharing it with others. This can include whispering to your

seat neighbor during the performance, talking to your friends

about what you liked and didn’t like on the bus back to

school, or telling your family about the performance when

you get home.

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Venue

Detroit School of Arts Auditorium, 123 Selden Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201

TickeTs

We do not use paper tickets for School Day Performances. We hold school reservations at the door and

seat groups upon arrival.

arriVal TiMe

Please arrive at the Detroit School of Arts between 10:30-10:50am to allow you time to get seated and

comfortable before the show starts.

seaTing & ushers

When you arrive at the auditorium, tell the Head Usher at the door the name of your school group and he/she

will have ushers escort you to your block of seats. All UMS School Day Performance ushers wear large, blue

laminated badges with their names in white letters.

before The sTarT

Please allow the usher to seat individuals in your group in the order that they arrive in the auditorium. Once

everyone is seated you may then rearrange yourselves and escort students to the bathrooms before the

performance starts. PLEASE spread the adults throughout the group of students.

during The PerforMance

At the start of the performance, the lights wIll dim and an onstage UMS staff member will welcome you to the

performance and provide important logistical information. If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints

(for instance, about your comfort or the behavior of surrounding groups) please IMMEDIATELY report the

situation to an usher or staff member in the lobby.

PerforMance lengTh

One hour with no intermission.

ThEdETAILS

aTTending The PerforMance

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afTer The PerforMance

When the performance ends, remain seated. A UMS staff member will come to the stage and release each

group individually based on the location of your seats.

bus Pick uP

When your group is released, please exit the performance hall through the same door you entered. A UMS

School Day Performance staff member will be outside to direct you to your bus.

losT sTudenTs

A small army of volunteers staff School Day Performances and will be ready to help or direct lost and

wandering students.

losT iTeMs

If someone in your group loses an item at the performance, contact the UMS Youth Education Program

(umsyouth@umich.edu) to attempt to help recover the item.

sending feedback

We LOVE feedback from students, so after the performance please send us any letters, artwork, or academic

papers that your students create in response to the performance: UMS Youth Education Program, 881 N.

University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011.

no food

No food or drink is allowed in the theater.

PaTience

Thank you in advance for your patience; in 20 minutes we aim to get 1,000 people from buses into seats and

will work as efficiently as possible to make that happen.

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ThEArTISTS

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ArTISTBIOS

The arTisTs

geri allen

Geri Allen is an internationally known composer and pianist.

Since 1982, she has recorded, performed, or collaborated

with artists as diverse as Ravi Coltrane, Dianne Reeves, Liz

Wright, and Simone, Howard University’s Afro Blue, Dewey

Redman, Jimmy Cobb, Sandra Turner-Barnes, Marcus Belgrave,

Betty Carter, Paul Motion, Terri Lynn Carrington, Hal Wilner,

Mino Cinelu, Dr. Billy Taylor, Joan Rivers, Mary Wilson and the

Supremes, and many others.

Allen has released a number of recordings and will be

releasing her new work for solo piano in the new year entitled,

Refractions: Flying Toward the Sound, which was composed

during the period of her Guggenheim Fellowship.

Recently, Geri Allen was recently invited by Ms. Jessye Norman

to participate in “Honor, A Celebration of the Legacy of African

Music,” held at Carnegie Hall Spring, 2008. She has received

the key to the city of Cambridge (during “Geri Allen Week”

at Harvard University) and the key to the city of Cleveland.

Howard University has honored her with its Benny Golson

Award, while Spelman College bestowed its African Classical

Music Award on her in 2007. She was the first artist to receive

the “Lady of Soul” Award in Jazz, and was also the youngest

person—and the first woman—to receive the Danish Jazzpar

Prize. She is also a 2008-2009 Guggenheim Fellow for Musical

Composition.

A Detroit native, Geri Allen graduated from Cass Technical High

School, Detroit’s magnet school for music. She has a bachelor’s

degree from Howard University, where she later served as

Assistant Professor of Music and was honored with the

university’s Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Professor

Awards. Her master’s degree in ethnomusicology is from the

University of Pittsburgh and she is currently on faculty at the

University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Professor Allen has participated in many artistic collaborations,

most recently with Trio 3, which includes Oliver Lake, Andrew

Cyrille, and Reggie Workman, and they produced a CD entitled

At This Time released by Intakt Records. As a composer, Geri

Allen has been honored by SESAC, and her skills have won

her commissions from Jazz at Lincoln Center, Music Theatre

Group, American Music Theatre Festival, Stanford University,

and, most recently, from The Walt Whitman Arts Center and

Meet the Composer who commissioned For the Healing of

the Nations, a Sacred Jazz Work, composed in tribute to the

victims and survivors of the 9/11 tragedy. Currently, Professor

Allen has been commissioned to compose an Opera for

Trilogy: An Opera Company.

GErI ALLEN music director and piano

rOBErT hUrST bass

kArrIEM rIGGINS drums

MArCUS BELGrAvE trumpet

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ArTISTBIOS

The arTisTs

roberT hursT

Robert Hurst, also known as Bob Hurst, is a highly respected and

well recognized composer, bassist, educator, recording artist,

and business man. A native Detroiter, Hurst burst into national

repute as a teenager in the late 1970s. He was only 15 when he

started playing gigs around Detroit with

his mentor, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave.

He recorded with Out of the Blue in

1985 and worked with Wynton Marsalis

from 1986 to 1991. He then switched to

Branford Marsalis, joining his band on

the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Over

more than eight years, Hurst performed,

directed, composed, and arranged

music for the television program and has

scored original music for three films. His

cultivation into a membership of talented

musicians from around the world was

fostered by lengthy tours and Grammy

Award winning recordings featuring:

Charles Lloyd, Dave Brubeck, Harry

Connick Jr., Terrence Blanchard, Tony Williams, Nicholas Payton,

Sting, Carl Allen, the legendary Pharaoh Sanders, Chris Botti

and Diana Krall. In 1993 he released his first album as a leader to

critical acclaim, and has gone on to establish his own recording

company, Bebob Music Inc. After decades based in Los Angeles,

he has returned to Metro Detroit.

Unrehurst Vol.1, which was truly unrehearsed and Family Album

Vol. 1 (Bebob Records) a sophisticated jazz and multi-cultural

vocal and instrumental collection of childhood melodies, are

recent releases of Robert Hurst’s catalog.

Over the years, Robert Hurst has won four Emmy Awards, five

Grammy Awards, performed on several RIAA Gold recordings,

and has received Top 10 and Five Star recognition around the

globe. Hurst has scored original music for several films: The

Wood- MTV/ Paramount Productions, Brown Sugar- Fox

Films, has performed music for: Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s

Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen, and Good Night, and Good Luck the

soundtrack, featuring Dianne Reeves, on Concord Records (A

2006 Grammy Awardee Jazz Vocal). His recent recordings with

Kenny Garrett and Diana Krall were each nominated for a 2007

Grammy.

Professor Hurst has been involved with the education of jazz

and jazz history from a very young age. During the 1980’s, Robert

Hurst was awarded a Presidential Scholarship from President

Ronald Reagan. He has taught master classes at the Thelonious

Monk Institute of Music at the University of Southern California

as well as at other educational settings. Hurst will continue

to mold the future with his recent appointment as Associate

Professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Music,

Theatre & Dance (Ann Arbor), and exercise his artistic influence

as a member of the Board of Directors for the John

Coltrane Foundation.

karrieM riggins

Born in Detroit, Mich., Karriem Riggins’ parents realized their

son was gifted when he began digging through their records.

He joined his father Emmanuel, a Motown Records session

musician who performed with jazz guitarist Grant Green, in the

studio to play with instruments in the likeness of a musical great.

Riggins continued his ongoing affair with music in his education

and made hip-hop music in his spare time. Perhaps best

known as a jazz drummer and hip-hop producer for artists like

Common, Slum Village, Talib Kweli, and The Roots, he doesn’t

categorize himself as anything but an artist. “You don’t have to

put yourself in a box…there’s so many different ways to go.”

Riggins studied music in high school in Southfield, Michigan and

at Cass Tech in Detroit before moving to New York City in 1994

at the age of 19. He played drums in Betty Carter’s band “Jazz

Ahead.” While Riggins strengthened and developed his forte,

the jazz world became enraptured with such an exceptional

performer. He followed Gregory Hutchinson into Carter’s band

and they had also shared sideman roles with Hargrove, Reed,

and Whitaker. Next, he followed his fellow drummer into Ray

Brown’s trio, another high profile engagement. With Brown, he

backed numerous artists and went on several tours. Along with

the gigs with Brown was a 1998 appearance with Oscar Peterson

and Milt Jackson, fortunately recorded, at which he was by no

means outshone. Riggins went on to perform with and appear

on recordings with other various jazz greats such as Hank Jones,

Donald Byrd, Cedar Walton, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell,

Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller, Ron Carter, Gary Bartz, and Diana

Krall. He even collaborated with former Beatle Paul McCartney

in concert and on Kisses on the Bottom in 2011, McCartney’s first

studio release in five years.

he Was onlY 15 When he sTarTed PlaYing gigs around deTroiT WiTh his MenTor, TruMPeTer Marcus belgraVe.

Not one to abide musical boundaries, Karriem has made major

accomplishments within the hip-hop world as a musician

and producer. He has produced album tracks for Common,

Slum Village, The Roots, and Erykah Badu. He’s toured with

Common three times, and produced his “Play Your Cards Right”

for Paramount Picture’s feature film Smoking Aces. He helped

Kanye West demo some theme songs for Mission Impossible

III featuring Twista and Keyshia Cole. One of Karriem’s most

personal and esteemed projects was finishing and producing

J Dilla’s last project, The Shining. Karriem released his first self-

titled album, Music Kaleidoscope showcasing his unique range

as a hip hop producer and established jazz musician. More

recently, Karriem has played drums and collaborated with Mad-

Lib for his High Jazz album. Set for an October 23 release on

Stones Throw Records, Riggins solo CD Alone Together plants

him firmly as a hip-hop producer, with a 34-track instrumental

odyssey through nearly every influence on his career thus far. The

project was inspired by much of the music he was creating while

living in Los Angeles, and also by the love of his son and family.

He is a drummer with great technical ability and a considerable

measure of taste and finesse and brings vibrancy and

exhilaration to his playing. Karriem Riggins continues to embark

on a musical voyage, developing and creating music that will

captivate audiences and entice the musical senses.

Marcus belgraVe

Marcus Belgrave is Detroit’s internationally recognized jazz

trumpet great. He came to prominence in the late 50’s, touring

and recording with the late great Ray Charles’ Orchestra, at the

height of Ray’s hit-making era. Marcus is heard as a trumpet

soloist on some of Ray’s most famous hits, both albums and

singles. He always pays tribute to Ray, who mentored him from

the young age of 19. He is the only living member of Ray Charles’

small band horn section. He was also mentored by the Great

Clifford Brown. Clifford’s early influence on the young Belgrave

can still be heard in his tone. Belgrave then spent the early 60’s

spearheading the modern jazz movement in New York working

and recording in the bands of such major innovators as Charles

Mingus, Eric Dolphy, and Max Roach. Many of these classic

recordings (on Atlantic, Columbia, and other major labels) have

now been re-issued on CD. Belgrave moved to Detroit in the

early 1960s to join Motown Records as staff trumpeter, playing

on most of the Motown hits. Marcus has established himself

as Detroit’s foremost jazz musician. He was recently awarded

the singular title of the official “Jazz Master Laureate for the

City of Detroit,” as well as a fifty thousand dollar Kresge 2010

Eminent Artist award for his 46 years of service to the young

musicians of Detroit. His performances encompass the history

of jazz musical styles from early New Orleans, to Swing, Bebop,

and on to the latest contemporary sounds. Marcus continues

to tour and record in the world’s major jazz centers. He was an

original member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Marcus

has performed the music of Louis Armstrong to ovations with

Symphonies across America. He was a featured soloist as part

of the Detroit Jazz Master’s concerts with the Lincoln Center

Jazz Orchestra at Frederick Rose Hall in New York, a concert that

included other Detroit Jazz Master’s Yusef Lateef, Ron Carter,

Curtis Fuller, Charles McPherson, and his protégé’ Geri Allen.

Always the teacher, Marcus continues to mentor the next

generation of jazz musicians. His protégés include the who’s

who of young jazz musicians: violinist, Regina Carter, bassist,

Robert Hurst, saxophonist, Kenny Garrett, pianist Geri Allen,

saxophonist James Carter, guitarist, Ray Parker Jr., drummer Ali

Jackson, the list goes on and on.

ArTISTBIOS

The arTisTs

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CULTUrAL CONTEXT: dETrOIT

Can place create identity? Think about where you grew up – how has it defined you? Has Detroit

defined its group of jazz musicians in the same way?

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MAP + BASIC FACTS

culTural conTexT: deTroiT

PoPulaTion:

713,777 (2010 Census)

sTaTe:

Michigan

geograPhY:

Detroit is located in southeastern

Michigan. The city was originally named

Ville d’Etroit, “city of the straight,”

because of its location on the narrowest

portion of the Detroit River, the natural

border between the United States and

Canada. Its current downtown areas,

the Woodward and Cass Corridors, run

perpendicular to the river.

cliMaTe:

Designated a humid continental climate,

Detroit’s weather changes dramatically

with the seasons. It features cold winters,

with regular snow (averaging about 48

inches a season) and temperatures

dropping below freezing nightly, and hot

summers.

deMograPhics:

Detroit is mainly populated by African

Americans, who make up 82.7% of

its population. The remainder of the

population is 10.6% White and 6.8%

Hispanic/Latino.

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T IMELINE

culTural conTexT: deTroiT

1697

1805-1847

1701

1896

While Detroit is no longer a French territory, we can still see its French heritage in the names of many city streets.

Below is a small sampling. How are they pronounced in both French and English?

graTioT dequindre charleVoix JosePh caMPeau

French missionary Louis Hennepin

sails up the Detroit River and claims

the north side of the narrowest

portion for New France.

Detroit serves as the capital of

Michigan.

Henry Ford builds his first automobile

in a rented workshop in what is today

downtown Detroit.

French officer Antoine de La Mothe

Cadillac, along with fifty-one of his men,

builds Fort Ponchartrain, named for the

Marine Minister under Louis XIV. In an

effort to develop the area, the French

government offers French settlers free

land in the surrounding areas.

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1760

1960

1796

Motown Records is founded in Detroit.

The company records artists such as

Diana Ross & The Supremes, Jackson 5,

Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye.

During the French and Indian

War, British officers capture Fort

Ponchartrain and shorten the

surrounding area’s name to Detroit.

Britain cedes the Northwest Territory,

including all of present-day Ohio,

Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, to the

recently-founded United States.

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ThE ArT FOrM:INTrOdUCTION TO JAZZ

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JAZZ 101

The arT forM: inTroducTion To Jazz

The enTrY for Jazz in groVe Music online

The term ‘jazz’ conveys different though related meanings: 1) a musical tradition rooted in performing

conventions that were introduced and developed early in the 20th century by African Americans; 2) a set

of attitudes and assumptions brought to music-making, chief among them the notion of performance as

a fluid creative process involving improvisation; and 3) a style characterized by syncopation, melodic and

harmonic elements derived from the blues, cyclical formal structures and a supple rhythmic approach to

phrasing known as swing.

Writers have often portrayed the history of jazz as a narrative of

progress. Their accounts show jazz evolving from a boisterous

type of dance music into forms of increasing complexity,

gradually rising in prestige to become an artistic tradition

revered around the world. Certainly, attitudes towards the

music have changed dramatically. In 1924 an editorial writer

for The New York Times called jazz ‘a return to the humming,

hand-clapping, or tomtom beating of savages’; in 1987 the

United States Congress passed a resolution designating jazz

‘an outstanding model of individual expression’ and ‘a rare and

valuable national American treasure’. In keeping with this general

theme of progress, historians have emphasized innovation as a

primary force driving jazz forward, identifying new techniques,

concepts and structures that presumably helped push the

music to ever higher stages of development.

But tracing lines of evolution and innovation in jazz reveals

only part of a story much broader in scope and more complex

in structure. For if some musicians have sought to make a

mark as adventurous innovators, many others have viewed

themselves as stalwart bearers of tradition. If some have

struggled as uncompromising creative artists whose work

reaches only a small, select audience, others have flourished

providing entertainment for the masses. And if jazz has

undeniably accrued status and respect over the years, it has

also consistently provoked controversy. The term itself has often

carried negative associations, which is partly why Duke Ellington

and other musicians spurned the label, and why Max Roach

once told an interviewer, ‘I resent the word unequivocally’.

Several factors account for the volatility of jazz as an object of

study. First, its musical identity cannot be isolated or delimited.

Although often used to designate a single musical idiom, ‘jazz’

(like the signifier ‘classical’) refers to an extended family of

genres, with all members sharing at least some traits in common

yet none capable of representing the whole. Second, the varying

functions of jazz have made it difficult to perceive as a unified

entity. Jazz can be background sounds for social recreation,

lively accompaniment for dancing or music that invites close

listening and deep concentration – and the same performance

might operate on these different levels simultaneously. Third,

the subject of race has generated heated debate over jazz

and shaped its reception. While jazz is a product of black

American expressive culture, it has always been open to musical

influences from other traditions and since the 1920s has been

performed by musicians of varying backgrounds throughout the

world. In different eras, for example, commercially successful

white musicians such as the bandleader Paul Whiteman and the

saxophonist Kenny G have been identified by large segments of

the public as major exponents of jazz. Many others, however,

view these two as standing outside the tradition altogether

and consider jazz to be a form of ‘black music’ in which

black Americans have been the leading innovators and most

authoritative practitioners.

www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/subscriber/

article/grove/music/45011

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ELEMENTS OF JAZZ

The arT forM: inTroducTion To Jazz

iMProVisaTion

Perhaps jazz’s most essential ingredient, improvisation is spontaneous

composition; that is, each musician “makes up” what he is playing as

he is playing it (easier said than done). This is very similar to regular

conversation. In order to improvise, a musician needs to:

• be able to technically play her instrument well

• have an understanding of the way notes and chords go together

• be able to “play by ear” (i.e., the ability to play the music one “hears” inhis/her head without reading music)

• be able to play a wide variety of styles, for example jazz, blues, rock,pop, classical, etc.

rhYThM

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, rhythm is “a regular

pattern formed by a series of notes of differing duration and stress.”

Rhythm is also...

• that part of the music which concerns how long or short each noteis played

• the beat of the music

• that part of the music that makes the listener want to tap his/her foot

• the “feel” of a tune (song); a tune’s “groove” (i.e., rock, funk, swing,salsa, etc.)

Jazz rhythms can range from simple to extremely complex; however,

underlying even the most complex rhythms performed by each

individual musician in a jazz group is an underlying pulse (the beat), that

which makes the listener able to tap his/her foot with the music. While

most jazz utilizes a steady pulse (beat), certain styles of jazz are played

“freely” with no steady beat.

Below are a few other terms that relate to rhythm:

Tempo is the speed of the pulse (beat), and in jazz tempos range from

very slow (ballads) to extremely fast (tunes that are “burning”)

Syncopation is the accenting of beats that are normally not accented,

for example, stressing the notes that are on the up beat (i.e., when one’s

foot is in the air - or up position . when tapping normally with the beat

of the music).

Swing is a difficult-to-define rhythmic concept. For the musician, swing

is a manner of playing a steady stream of notes in a long-short-long-

short pattern. For the listener, swing feels like the music has buoyancy,

rhythmic lilt, and liveliness.

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sounds and insTruMenTs

Jazz musicians play their instruments utilizing the complete gamut of tone/sound colors that their instruments will allow. Jazz musicians will bend pitches, “growl,” “whine,” play “raunchy,” “dark,” “light,” “airy,” “raspy,” “bluesy,” “throaty,” “nasally” (anything the human voice can do to express emotion and then some) in addition to also playing with clear, focused, or pure tone. The most common instruments associated with jazz are as follows in order of the strength of their association:

Each instrument has its own general tone color and each musician has her own particular sound on that instrument. Although, for example, a saxophone sounds like a saxophone no matter who’s playing it, most jazz musicians and aficionados can distinguish one saxophonist from another by her tone alone...in the same way that we can distinguish one human voice from another. Even if we hear someone speak whom we haven’t talked to in months, we usually can distinguish who it is even after just one “hello” on the phone: that’s how distinctive one particular voice can be; that’s how distinctive one saxophonist’s sound can be! And many jazz musicians strive for that kind of distinction.

harMonY

Two or more notes played at the same time constitutes harmony; also known as a chord (also known as a “change” among jazz musicians). Each chord and each chord voicing (the way the notes are arranged) can depict a different emotion, e.g., happy, sad, angry, hopeful, etc. Most can’t be labeled as conveying a specific emotion because the feeling is different for every listener; “music is in the ears of the beholder”! A series of chords, known as a chord progression or simply the “changes,” accompanies the composed or improvised melodies tunes.

forM

Form can be considered a tune’s “musical blueprint,” allowing each musician -- and educated listener -- to keep his place in the structure. Each different section of a chord progression is assigned a different letter. For example: if a tune is 24 measures long and is divided into three eight-measure sections with the first two sections containing a set of identical chords and the last section containing a set of different chords, the form is AAB. In a jazz performance, the form of a tune, i.e., all the chords of the tune in a predetermined sequence (such as AAB, AABA, ABAC, etc.) will be repeated over and over; each time through is called a chorus.

ELEMENTS OF JAZZ

The arT forM: inTroducTion To Jazz

1 5

2 6

3 7

4 8

saxoPhone clarineT

TruMPeT TroMbone

guiTar all oTher insTruMenTs!

Piano, bass, and druMs (knoWn as The rhYThM secTion)

fluTe

*The Voice is also a Jazz insTruMenT, Though one builT inTo The huMan bodY.

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rESOUrCES

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ONLINErESOUrCES

resources

kennedY cenTer arTsedgewww.artsedge.org

spotlight: celebrating Jazz

www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3944/

rhythm & improv, Jazz & Poetry

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3654/

The musicality of words is an important element of poetry,

and many poets carefully consider the sound of the words

on the page. Students will listen to and analyze jazz music,

specifically considering sound, rhythm, and improvisation.

Students will identify jazz characteristics in poems by Yusef

Komunyakaa, Sonia Sanchez, and Langston Hughes, and will

incorporate these elements in their own original poetry.

You keep Making stuff up!

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3811/

Improvisation exists in many musical genres, from jazz to

Salsa to Afro-Cuban music. It is a concept and skill that often

seems daunting to the novice and music-lover alike, but it

doesn’t take an expert to learn to improvise. In this lesson,

student will explore the basics of improvisation, listening to

jazz and other genre excerpts and identifying elements of

improvisation in these genres. Students will learn to play and

sing the accompaniment and melody for an original song

about improvisation. Finally, students will perform the song as

an ensemble, taking turns to improvise on the music.

Jazz in Time

www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3949/

Developed for middle and high school audiences, this

interactive timeline follows the development of this great

American art form. Divided by decade, the timeline highlights

events that helped shape jazz and illustrates the styles of each

period through music and images.

nPr Jazz www.nprjazz.org

Jazzset with dee dee bridge Water

www.npr.org/programs/jazzset/index.html

Jazz Profiles hosted by nancy Wilson

www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles

This compelling documentary series chronicles the people,

places, and events in jazz history. By combining archival

recordings, interviews, and narration, each program in the

series tells an informative story that celebrates the music and

the musicians of this uniquely American art form.

Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz

www.npr.org/programs/pianojazz/

This Peabody-award winning show produced by South

Carolina Educational Radio features Marian McPartland and

her guests reminiscing, improvising, and swapping stories,

songs, and techniques about jazz each week.

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resources

Jazz aT lincoln cenTerhttp://jalc.org/jazzED

The Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) mission is to engage listeners,

performers, and educators of every age with a continuum of

experiences in appreciation and performance that reflect the

virtuosity, creativity, and inclusive spirit of jazz. Their Nesuhi

Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame Online chronicles the life and art

of each of the Hall’s inductees through dynamic interactive

timelines, extensive musical selections, rare photographs and

archival footage. (www.jalc.org/halloffame)

Jazz for Young People™ online

www.jazzforyoungpeople.org

Intended primarily for 4th-9th graders, the multimedia kit is

designed for both musicians and non-musicians and provides

flexible lessons that can be taught in one semester-long unit

or in shorter, individual units.

Jazz in the schools

www.neajazzintheschools.org

NEA Jazz in the Schools is a web-based curriculum and

dvd tool kit that explores jazz as an indigenous American

art form and as a means to understand American history.

In partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts

(NEA), Jazz at Lincoln Center has produced a free educational

resource for high school teachers of social studies, history, and

music. NEA Jazz in the Schools explores jazz as an indigenous

American art form and as a means to understand American

history. This web-based curriculum and DVD toolkit includes a

teacher’s guide of five curricular units with teacher tips, cross-

curricular activities, and assessment methods. Each kit also

includes student materials, a timeline poster, and audio and

video resources.

oTher

The Thelonious Monk institute of Jazz

www.jazzinamerica.org/

The mission of The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is

to offer public school-based jazz education programs for

young people around the world, helping students develop

imaginative thinking, creativity, curiosity, a positive self image,

and a respect for their own and others’ cultural heritage.

The National Jazz Curriculum: Located on the Web at

www.jazzinamerica.org, his Internet-based jazz curriculum is

available to every 5th, 8th, and 11th grade public school social

studies and American history classroom in the United States.

smithsonian Jazz class

www.smithsonianjazz.org

Visit “Jazz Classes” to hear the elegant Duke Ellington, the

scat singer extraordinaire Ella Fitzgerald, Louis “Satchmo”

Armstrong, and swingin’ Benny Carter. There is also a cool

Duke Ellington Interactive lesson. For those of you who want

to find out more about jazz, click on “What is Jazz” to answer

your questions.

Pbs Jazz

www.pbs.org/jazz/classroom/

The resources offered here are designed to help you use the

PBS JAZZ video series and companion Web site in music,

social studies, math, and language arts classes. The lesson

plans may also be adapted for use as stand-alone resources.

This site includes Lessons and Activities for Grades K-5,

Lessons and Activities for Grades 6-12, and General Motors

Music Study Guide for Grades 5-8. PBS has produced several

programs that touch on the music and the people of jazz.

Explore some of the best of PBS cultural programming.

www.pbs.org/jazz/links/

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rECOMMENdEdrEAdING

resources

eleMenTarY grades

• Hip Cat by Jonathan London, Woodleigh Hubbard (Illustrator)

• Mysterious Thelonius by Chris Raschka

• The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub, Karen Hanke (Illustrator)

• Ella Fitzgerald: A Young Vocal Virtuoso by Andrea Davis Pinkney

• Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and his Orchestra by Andrea Davis Pinkney

• The Sound That Jazz Makes by Carole Boston Weatherford

• John Coltrane’s Giant Steps by Chris Raschka and John Coltrane

• Charlie Parker Played Bebop by Chris Raschka

• DJ and the Jazz Fest by Denise Walker McConduit

• The Jazzy Alphabet by Sherry Shahan

• Who Bop? by Johnathon London

• Bring on That Beat by Rachel Isadora

secondarY grades

• Jazz Makers: Vanguards of Sound by Alyn Shipton

• American Jazz Musicians (A Collective Biography) by Stanley Mour

• Jazz and Its History (Masters of Music) by Giuseppe Vigna

• The Golden Age of Jazz by William Gottleib

• Louis Armstrong - A Self Portrait by Richard Meryman

• The Art of Jazz by Martin Williams

• Sweet Sing Blues on the Road by Wynton Marsalis and Frank Stewart

• The Music of Black Americans by Eileen Southern

• The Duke Ellington Reader by Mark Tucker

BEPrESENT

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ABOUTUMS

be PresenT

One of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country, UMS is committed to connecting audiences with

performing artists from around the world in uncommon and engaging experiences. With a program steeped in

music, dance, and theater, UMS contributes to a vibrant cultural community by presenting approximately 60-75

performances and over 100 free educational activities each season. UMS also commissions new work, sponsors

artist residencies, and organizes collaborative projects with local, national, and international partners.

Learning is core to UMS’s mission, and it is our joy to provide creative learning experiences for our entire

community. Every season, we offer a spectrum of Education and Community Engagement activities focusing on

K-12 students, teachers, teens, university students, families, adults, and cultural and ethnic communities. We

exist to create a spark in each person, young and old alike, exposing them to things they haven’t before seen,

and leaving them with an ongoing and lifelong passion for creativity and the performing arts.

Mailing address

100 Burton Memorial Tower

881 North University Ave

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011

interns

Emily Barkakati

Indira Bhattacharjee

Sigal Hemy

Charlie Reischl

uMs educaTion and coMMuniTY engageMenT deParTMenT

staff

ken fischer

UMS President

Jim leija

Director

Mary roeder

Associate Manager of Community Engagement

omari rush

Education Manager

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ThANkYOU!

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Thank you for your interest in learning about or attending one of our UMS School Day Performances.

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Bernard and Raquel Agranoff

Barbara A. Anderson and John H. Romani

Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation

Anonymous

Arts at Michigan

Arts Midwest Touring Fund

Association of Performing Arts Presenters

John and Linda Axe

Bank of Ann Arbor

Rachel Bendit and Mark Bernstein

Kathy Benton and Robert Brown

Richard S. Berger

Mary Ellen Brademas

David and Valerie Canter

Center for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Charles Reinhart Company, Realtors,

Nancy Bishop, Associate Broker

Clark Hill PLC

Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan

Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan

Dallas and Sharon Dort

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund

DTE Energy Foundation

Kenneth and Frances Eisenberg

David and Jo-Anna Featherman

Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation

Anne and Paul Glendon

Fred and Barbara Goldberg

Kathy and Tom Goldberg

Drs. Patricia and Stephen Green

Robert and Ann Greenstone

Debbie and Norman Herbert

David and Phyllis Herzig Endowment Fund

Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP

Hooper Hathaway, P.C., Charles W. Borgsdorf

& William Stapleton, attorneys

JazzNet Endowment

Mark and Janice Kielb

Jean and Arnold Kluge

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Leo and Kathy Legatski

Mardi Gras Fund

Masco Corporation Foundation

Ernest and Adele McCarus

Merrill Lynch

Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs

Michigan Humanities Council

Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C.

THE MOSAIC FOUNDATION [of R. & P. Heydon]

National Endowment for the Arts

NEA Jazz Masters Live

Quincy and Rob Northrup

Lisa A. Payne

PNC Foundation

The Power Foundation

Prudence and Amnon Rosenthal K-12 Education

Endowment Fund

Ren and Susan Snyder

John W. and Gail Ferguson Stout

Stout Systems

Karen and David Stutz

Robert S. and Julia Reyes Taubman

Toyota

UMS Advisory Committee

University of Michigan (U-M) Center for Chinese Studies

U-M Credit Union

U-M Health System

U-M Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

U-M Office of the Vice President for Research

Wallace Endowment Fund

Max Wicha and Sheila Crowley

The Andrew w. Mellon Foundation University of Michigan

This Teacher resource guide is The ProducT of The uMs YouTh educaTion PrograM.

researched and WriTTen bY

sigal hemy

ediTed bY

omari rush

additionally, we appreciate Mark Jacobson for his contribution to this guide and guidance in its development.

These performances are made possible through the generous support of individuals, corporations, and

foundations, including the following UMS Education and Community Engagement Supporters:

W W W. u M s . o r g