1. JAZZ
A Historical Outline

2. What is Jazz? “Man, man, if you gotta ask, you’ll never know.”
Louis Armstrong

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

4. “Imitate, then innovate.”
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington

5. Roots of JAZZ
West Africa contributed drumming improvisation and complex rhythms (negro spirituals)
Europe contributed folk tunes and hymns
America contributed a breeding ground for these things to mix.

6. 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.
(originally called jass)
Jazz=American Musical Art Form!

7. Roots of JAZZ Early records are categorized as “race records.”
Jazz helped breech the race barrier
First integrated ensembles: 1930’s
AUDIENCES TOO!!!

8. Timeline of JAZZ 1890’s-1910’s Jazz is born; Ragtime
1910’s-1920’s Blues
1920’s-1930’s Dixieland
1930’s-1940’s Swing/Big Band
1940’s Bebop
1940’s-1950’s Cool
1960’s Free Jazz
1960’s-1980’s Fusion (Jazz/Rock)
1980’s-Current Rock, R&B, Funk, Modern Jazz

9. 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

10. JAZZ Ragtime (late 1890’s-early 1900’s)
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.

11. JAZZ Blues (1910’s-1920’s)
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 Blues…3, 4-bar phrases.

12. JAZZ Blues (1910’s-1920’s)
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)

13. JAZZ Dixieland (1920’s-1930’s)
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)

14. JAZZ Dixieland (1920’s-1930’s)
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 style…story says he was recording and dropped his music, could not remember the lyrics, so he ‘improvised’ by scatting.

15. JAZZ Dixieland (1920’s-1930’s)
Artists: Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong (vocals, trumpet), Joe “King” Oliver, Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton, Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke, James Fletcher Henderson, Preservation Hall Ensemble.

16. JAZZ Swing (Late 1930’s-1940’s)
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)

17. JAZZ Swing (Late 1930’s-1940’s)
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

18. JAZZ Swing (Late 1930’s-1940’s)
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

19. JAZZ Bebop (1940’s) 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

20. JAZZ Bebop (1940’s)
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

21. JAZZ Cool (Late 1940’s-1950’s) 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

22. 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)

23. JAZZ Fusion (late 1960’s-1980’s)
Jazz Notes--Unit 7
JAZZ Fusion (late 1960’s-1980’s)
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
Music History