Introduction to Jazz and Its Instruments

What is Jazz?

• Jazz involves improvisation and swing feeling
  • Improvisation is creating a spontaneous melody usually within a set of guidelines.
  • Although most jazz groups use arrangements, a substantial portion of their performances is improvised.
  • Swing feeling is achieved by spirited performances of many different kinds of music that employ a steady tempo.
  • Swing feeling in jazz has an abundance of syncopated rhythms, swing 8th notes (longer on 1's, 2's, 3's and 4's) and continuous rise and fall of tension.

Jazz Instruments

• Bass: Plays walking bass style, keeping time and outlining the chord progression for the improvisers.
• Drums: Keeps time with the snare drum, bass drum, ride cymbal, and high hat cymbals. Contributes kicks and prods to communicate with the improvising soloist.
• Piano: Uses comping accompaniment style, feeding chords to the improvising soloist in a flexible and syncopated way.
• Soloist: Considers chord progressions, logical and original construction of their solos, and communication with accompanists while performing.

Jazz Timeline

• Pre 1890s: Afro Roots, Worksongs, Gospel
• 1890: Ragtime
• 1900: Blues Early Jazz
• 1930: Swing
• 1945: Bebop
• 1949: Cool Jazz
• 1950: Latin Jazz
• 1960: Free Jazz/ Freeform
• 1969: Fusion
• 1980: Contemporary

Origins of Jazz

• Jazz originated in the 1800s, blending brass band and ragtime piano styles to satisfy social dancers.
• It became a recognizable style in the 1890s.
• Jazz was fully formed and recorded in the 1920s.

Three Trends Leading to Jazz

• Taking liberties with melody and accompaniments, leading to improvisation.
• Taking liberties with tone qualities, mixing raspy rough sound with smooth tone quality.
• African Americans created new music, such as Ragtime and Blues, blended with European dance and church music.

Early Jazz

• Early jazz differed from its ragtime, blues, and brass band roots in several ways.
  • Much of each performance was improvised.
  • Rhythmic feel was looser and more relaxed.
  • Early jazz generated its compositions.
  • Collective improvisation created a more complex musical product than previous styles.
• Early Jazz bands used the same instruments as brass bands: trumpet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, drums and saxophone.
• We infer early jazz sounds through New Orleans players’ recordings after moving to Chicago in the 1920s.

Early Jazz Bands and Key Figures

• The Original Dixieland Jazz Band: The first jazz group to record in 1917 with the track "Dixieland Jazz Band One-Step."
• King Oliver and his Creole Jazz group: The first African American group to make records containing a substantial amount of improvisation, including "Alligator Hop."
• Louis Armstrong: A jazz innovator, known for his incredible improvisation skills. Nicknames include: Father of Jazz, Pops, and Satchmo.

Swing

• Swing differed from Early Jazz in several ways:
  • Greater use of written arrangements.
  • Less emphasis on ragtime-like pieces.
  • Rejection of collective improvisation in favor of solo improvisation.
  • String bass was used instead of tuba.
  • Greater swing feeling.
  • Increased use of high-hat cymbals.
  • Emphasis on big band over small group instrumentation.
  • Saxophone became the prominent instrument.

Important Swing Big Bands

• Count Basie: Known for his light, precise touch, impeccable sense of tempo, and comping style which made silence as important as notes played.
• Duke Ellington: The most creative and prolific composer-arranger in jazz history, leading one of the most stable and longest-lived big bands (1923-1974).
• Benny Goodman: The "King of Swing," leading the most well-known jazz-oriented big band in the 1930s and 1940s. Known for his technically impressive clarinet playing and popular tracks like "Don't Be That Way."

Bebop

• Bebop differed from Swing in several ways:
  • Smaller bands.
  • Richer chords.
  • More chord changes.
  • Drier, more biting tone qualities.
  • Faster playing with more surprises.
  • Less reliance on written arrangements.
  • More complicated solos and accompaniments.
  • Less predictability in the music.

Bebop Key Figures

• Charlie Parker: A significant saxophonist of the 20th century, considered by many to be the most important saxophonist and even the most brilliant musical figure in the 20th century.
• John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie: The first and most important bop trumpeter, known for his virtuoso skills and startling horn skills.

Cool Jazz

• Cool Jazz was a more subdued style, emerging as a response to bebop.
• Glenny Tristano, Lee Konitz, and Miles Davis were among the first to pioneer cool jazz. - The nine-piece band that Miles Davis recorded with in 1949 is known as the "Birth of the Cool" band, also featuring Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan. - The "Birth of the Cool" album features tracks like "Move," "Jeru," and "Boplicity."

Hard Bop

• Hard Bop emerged from bebop in the 1950s, largely by East Coast and Midwest musicians.
• Hard Bop differed from bebop:
  • Darker, weightier, and rougher tone colors.
  • Hard-driving feeling with an emphasis on swinging.
  • Less start-and-stop quality, leaving the listener off-balance.
  • More variety in rhythms and chord voicings in piano comping.
  • More activity in drumming.
  • Fewer pop tune chord progressions.
• Funky Jazz is a subcategory of hard bop, featuring bluesy inflections of pitch and gospel-type harmonies.
  • Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderley were popular for their funky qualities, with catchy tracks like "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy."

Prominent Figures in Hard Bop

• Art Blakey: Drummer/Bandleader. Key recording: "Moaning The Egyptian."
• Horace Silver: Pianist/Composer. Key recording: "Gregory is here."
• Prominent Trumpet Players: Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard
• Prominent Saxophone Players: Cannonball Adderley and Sonny Rollins
• Prominent Guitar Players: Wes Montgomery and Miles Davis

Miles Davis

• Miles Davis was a pivotal bandleader in bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz, and jazz-rock fusion.
• He started the “Cool Jazz” movement.
• His trumpet style was distinctive, characterized by:
  • Playing with pitch and tone qualities at the beginning and end of notes.
  • Use of a Harmon mute.
  • Using space in solos.
  • Sometimes playing outside a strict tempo.

John Coltrane

• The most influential saxophonist in jazz after Charlie Parker.
• His concepts were widely used by other musicians.
• He innovated by combining unusual chords and improvising over them.
• Some people hated his music, while others were deeply impressed. Some believe jazz history ended with Coltrane, while others feel it actually began with him.

Avant Garde

• Refers to the advance group of creators in any field of art and music.

Free Jazz

• Free jazz doesn't use preset progressions of chords.
• Some forms dispense with preset melody and timekeeping.
• Drummers often generate an unpredictable, ever-changing undercurrent of activity.
• There's wider variation in pitch and tone quality than previous styles.
• Some free jazz involves lengthy collective improvisation that is loud and frenzied.

Prominent Free Jazz Musicians

• Ornette Coleman: Saxophonist
• Cecil Taylor: Pianist

Fusion Jazz

• Fusion jazz emerged in the late 1960s, achieving widespread popularity – the first jazz style to do so since the swing era.
• It blends elements of jazz, rock, and funk music.
• Jazz, rock, and funk music all share similar roots in Gospel music, work songs, and blues.
• Jazz differs from rock and funk in its:
  • Smaller amount of repetition.
  • Larger amount of improv.
  • Greater complexity.
  • Higher level of musicianship.

John McLaughlin

• Important guitarist, bandleader, and composer in fusion jazz history.
• He was born in England and active in British rock groups since the late 1950s.
• He became known to American musicians during a period of collaboration with Miles Davis from 1969 to 1971.