 M.Socrative.com – Room #  Questions: 1. What do all styles of Jazz feature? 2. Who was the “Empress of the Blues?”

Jazz Part 2 (Plus what’s happening on the classical end)

 Prohibition ( ) banned the sale of alcoholic drinks  Jazz was commonly performed in speakeasies, and thus was associated with being immoral and threatening to older cultural values

 Some people saw jazz as a very bad thing  The New York times took stories and altered headlines to pick at jazz For example: villagers used pots and pans in Siberia to scare off bears, and the newspaper stated that JAZZ scared the bears away. Another story claimed that JAZZ killed a conductor (when really he died of a heart attack)

 The 1920s are known as the “Jazz Age” Ended with the Great Depression  Jazz music and dance became popular  The spread of jazz was encouraged by the large-scale radio broadcasts in 1922  Radio made it possible for Americans to experience jazz without having to attend a club or speakeasy

 Some radio stations would NOT give black artists much airplay – they preferred to play the music of white jazz performers (there weren’t that many, so eventually this changes.)  Jazz was on the radio in urban areas (like Chicago and New York) more than the suburbs

 Louis Armstrong ( )  Also known as “Satchmo” or “Pops”  An American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans  Came to fame in the 20s (and stayed famous well beyond)

 Born into a poor family in New Orleans  Grew up in a rough neighborhood known as “Back of the Town”  His father abandoned his family when Louis was an infant for another woman.  His mother left shortly after, and Louis was left with his younger sister (stayed with his grandparents)

 His mother moved back in when he was 5. She prostituted herself to feed her children  Louis would hang out in dance halls and brothels and listen to the bands  He dropped out of school at 11 and joined a quartet of boys that sang on the streets for money

 He learned the trumpet as a member of the band in the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs (he was sent there multiple times for general delinquency)  Music lessons were given to teach discipline

 Once released, he played in the jazz bands on riverboats in New Orleans (up and down the Mississippi River)  Eventually wound up working as a performer in Chicago has a member of Joe “King” Oliver’s band

 Eventually he forms his own bands Hot Five Hot Seven  Performed in Chicago, New York, and even Los Angeles

 He was one of the first musicians to “cross over” – his skin color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided  African-Americans wanted him to speak for them, but he stayed out of politics At one point he did take a well-publicized stand for desegregation in Little Rock

 He shifted the genre from group improvisation to solo improvisation  Armstrong’s improvisations were daring and sophisticated for the time, yet subtle and melodic  Louis Armstrong - My Sweet - New York, YouTube Louis Armstrong - My Sweet - New York, YouTube

 He was also known for his singing  His “gravelly voice” is instantly recognizable You’ve heard it and don’t even know it!!

 He was not the first to record “scat singing” but he helped popularize the style, and was very good at it Scat: singing with nonsense syllables as opposed to words  He had a hit with “Heebies Jeebies” when, according to some, the sheet music fell on the floor and he simply just started singing nonsense  Heebie Jeebies / Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five – YouTube Heebie Jeebies / Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five – YouTube 1:20

 What a wonderful world - LOUIS ARMSTRONG. - YouTube What a wonderful world - LOUIS ARMSTRONG. - YouTube

 The 1930s belonged to popular swing big bands Needed something peppy to make people feel good  Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, etc. etc. (your project next week will involve exploring these and other famous jazz musicians)  Swing was dance music  It was broadcast “live” nightly across America

 Swing was a collective sound, but offered individual musicians a chance to ‘solo’ and improvise  Duke Ellington - It don't mean a thing (1943) – YouTube Duke Ellington - It don't mean a thing (1943) – YouTube  COUNT BASIE Swingin' the Blues, 1941 HOT big band swing jazz - YouTube COUNT BASIE Swingin' the Blues, 1941 HOT big band swing jazz - YouTube

 Over time, racial segregation began to relax a bit: white bandleaders began to recruit black musicians and black bandleaders could recruit white ones

 Europe’s jazz roots are in American artists – James Reese Europe, Paul Whiteman, and Lonnie Johnson – who visited Europe during and after World War 1  Their live performances inspired European audiences’ interest in jazz  The beginnings of a distinct European style of jazz began to emerge in the interwar period

 A style of swing known as “gypsy jazz” entered France in 1934  Has a little more of a “seductive” sound  Uses guitar, violin, and double bass 

3 different classical directions...

 Charles Ives ( ) was so experimental that many of his compositions were considered “unplayable”  He did not receive public performances until justafter WWII  His melodies spring from folk and popular songs, but he treated them in unfamiliar, complex ways

 His rhythms are very irregular and are often written with no indication of accent  His music is so dissonant that frequently it is impossible to distinguish one melodic line from another

 Some of the tone clusters in his piano music are unplayable without using a block of wood to depress all the keys at once  Some of his pieces require odd placement of ensemble parts to create stereophonic effects  His work reflects his idea that all music relates to life’s experiences and ideas – some are consonant and some dissonant

  Try to pick out the “American tunes” (Yankee Doodle, Military March, Star Spangled Banner and others)  I’ve played this (and several Ives pieces) – its HARD

 Aaron Copland ( ) integrated American idioms – jazz, dissonance, hymns – into his compositions  His most significant work: Appalachian Spring (1944)  The theme and variations comprising the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts” reflect the Shaker text: “Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free, tis the gift to come down where we ought to be.”

 He often used all the tones of the diatonic scale simultaneously, as he does in the opening chord of Appalachian Spring His style is traditionally tonal, and his unique use of rhythms and chords has been highly influential in 20 th century music

Hymn + Appalachian Spring  Goes back to a more classical sound, but still natural and relaxing like Debussy and his impressionist counterparts  Utilizes jazz chords

 George Gershwin ( ) Died of a brain tumor  American composer and pianist – born in New York  Compositions spanned both popular and classical genres

 His first piece was published when he was 17 years old, and it earned him $5!  He did not perform, only compose Occasionally he was accompany famous singers  Wrote several classical pieces and operas with a jazz twist

 Rhapsody in Blue –  Summertime from Porgy & Bess –  I’ve Got Rhythm from An American in Paris – (1:00)