1. The First American Art form
20th Century & Jazz Music
The First American Art form

2. Development of Jazz in America
Blues: The origins of Jazz
Born in the South in the 1800’s, the blues is an African American-derived music form that recognized the pain of lost love and injustice and gave expression to the victory of outlasting a broken heart and facing down adversity.

3. Blues
The blues evolved from hymns, work songs, and field hollers — music used to accompany spiritual, work and social functions.
Blues is the foundation of jazz as well as the prime source of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, and country music. The blues is still evolving and is still widely played today.
BB King Performing “Blues Boys Tune”

4. New Orleans: The Melting Pot
“New Orleans had a great tradition of celebration. Opera, military marching bands, folk music, the blues, different types of church music, ragtime, echoes of traditional African drumming, and all of the dance styles that went with this music could be heard and seen throughout the city. When all of these kinds of music blended into one, jazz was born." — Wynton Marsalis
Photo of New Orleans Mardi Gras
Early 1900’s

5. Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential artists in the history of music.
He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901, and began playing the cornet at the age of 13.
Louis Armstrong perfected the improvised jazz solo as we know it

6. Louis Armstrong
Before Armstrong, Dixieland was the style of jazz that everyone was playing. This was a style that featured collective improvisation where everyone soloed at once.
A very popular Dixieland Style piece was “When the Saints Go Marching In”
Armstrong developed the idea of musicians playing during breaks that expanded into musicians playing individual solos. This became the norm.

7. Louis Armstrong
Affectionately known as "Pops" and "Satchmo," Louis was loved and admired throughout the world.
He died in New York City on July 6, 1971.
He was just as famous for his trumpet
Playing as he was for his distinctive voice
“What a Wonderful World” was a very
Famous piece recorded by Armstrong

8. Improvisation
Improvisation is the most defining feature of jazz. Improvisation is creating, or making up, music as you go along.
Jazz musicians play from printed music but they also improvise solos.
From the collective improvisation of early jazz to the solo improvisation of Louis Armstrong to the free jazz of John Coltrane, improvisation is central to jazz.
Listen to John Coltrane improvise solos on the tenor sax

9. 1930’s and 40’s - Swing Swing is the basic rhythm of jazz.
Swing as a jazz style first appeared during the Great Depression.
The optimistic feeling of swing lifted the spirits of everyone in America.
This is an example of a “Big Band” Swing style titled “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Aint Got That Swing”

10. Swing Era By the mid-1930s, a period known as the "swing" era
Swing dancing had become our national dance and big bands were playing this style of music.
Orchestra leaders such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman led some of the greatest bands of the era.
An example of very advanced swing dancing from the movie “Hellzapoppin’ ”

11. Duke Ellington
One of the most significant figures in music history, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. He began studying the piano at the age of seven. He started playing jazz as a teenager, and moved to New York City to become a bandleader.

12. Duke Ellington
As a pianist, composer, and bandleader, Ellington was one of the creators of the big band sound, which fueled the "swing" era.
He continued leading and composing for his jazz orchestra until his death in 1974.
He composed approximately 985 songs

13. Duke Ellington It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Aint Got That Swing
Some of his most popular songs are:
It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Aint Got That Swing
Take the A Train
Caravan
Satin Doll

14. 1940’s Bebop
In the early 1940s, jazz musicians were looking for new directions to explore.
A new style of jazz was born, called bebop, had fast tempos, intricate melodies, and complex harmonies.
Bebop was considered jazz for intellectuals. No longer were there huge big bands, but smaller groups that did not play for dancing audiences but for listening audiences.
Here is an example of John Coltrane and a small ensemble playing “Giant Steps”

15. 1950’s – Latin and Afro-Cuban
The combination of African, Spanish, and native cultures in Latin America created a unique body of music and dance. Jazz musicians from Jelly Roll Morton to Duke Ellington to Dizzy Gillespie combined their music with this Latin sound to create a powerful blend.
Here is an example from “Machito and Charlie Parker”

16. 1950’s
In the 1940s and 50s, when musicians from Cuba began to play with jazz musicians in New York, the circle was complete. By combining the musical traditions of North, South, and Central America, Latin jazz was created and united the sounds of several cultures
Here is an example of a live performance of Latin Jazz style

17. 1960’s and beyond: Fusion
Jazz Fusion was created by mixing funk and R&B styles with jazz elements such as improvisation and complex time signatures and rhythms
In the 1970’s, Rock bands had begun to experiment with jazz creating a jazz-rock fusion

18. Jazz Fusion Miles Davis “Chocolate Chip”
Jazz Musician Miles Davis combined several popular music forms from rock to rap genres with jazz to create new forms of Jazz Fusion
Two Examples
Sample from 1970’s – Miles Davis “Fusion”
Sample from 90’s –
Miles Davis “Chocolate Chip”

19. Importance of Jazz