Introduction to Jazz and Its Roots

Introduction to Jazz

• Jazz is an American art, a blend of many cultures, styles, and arts.
• Early jazz blended musical styles from West Africa, America, and Europe.

Jazz Styles (1900-1950)

• Jazz embodies the concept of America as melting pot of different styles and cultures.

Roots of Jazz

• Jazz reflects the American melting pot nature, combining different styles and cultures.
• Early jazz incorporated elements from various musical traditions (West Africa, America, Europe).

American Slavery

• The majority of slaves brought to the Americas originally came from West Africa.
• Areas like Ghana, Nigeria and others in West Africa were significant regions for the slave trade in the Americas.

West African Music

• West African musical traits, such as improvisation, drumming, percussive sounds, and complex rhythms, are prominent in jazz.
• Resources were cited, including YouTube links, showing examples of West African music.

Call and Response

• The "Call and Response" technique, where one musical idea is echoed by another, is crucial in West African music and early jazz.
• Call and response can occur between two performers or two groups, or between vocalists and instruments.
• This technique was further explained by examples.

The Spiritual

• Spirituals were a form of music created by enslaved African Americans in the Americas.
• Spirituals often served as a means of entertainment and diversion or a form of coded communication in extremely difficult working conditions on southern plantations.
• Music was often used to express religious emotions or as a means of coded communication.
• Spirituals were often passed down through oral traditions.
• Spirituals often contained underlying messages, often of freedom or coded escape routes.

Double Entendre

• Spirituals, while outwardly about sacred ideas (like the river Jordan, the Battle of Jericho), often contained coded messages of freedom.
• These messages, speculated to be from enslaved African Americans in the Americas, used coded language to communicate about escape.

Two Spirituals

• Specific titles of spirituals were listed, and links to audio examples were given.

Caucasian Influences

• Early jazz was influenced by music from "white" America, including hymns, popular songs, folk tunes, dances, marches, and piano music.

The American Band Tradition

• Bands, both black and white, played significant roles in American life.
• Bands often performed at various community events, including fairs, picnics, parades, political rallies, dances, and carnivals.
• American bands provided an important foundation for early jazz bands, using tools like trumpets, trombones, clarinets, tubas, and drums.

Examples of early bands:

• Image examples were provided representing early bands including the Olympia Brass Band of New Orleans, and the Philadelphia German Brass Band. (Note: the specific instrumentation or details were not included in images.)

Elements of Jazz

• Jazz is a diverse and complex music form. (Prior to 1950)
• Key elements of Jazz generally include tone color, improvisation, rhythm, melody, and harmony.

Tone Color in Jazz

• Jazz often features small combos (3-8 players) or big bands (10-15 players).
• Jazz emphasizes woodwind and brass instruments over string instruments.
• Jazz music often features distinct sounds, similar to singing, from distinct instrument players.
• Examples of specific musical inflections were listed.

Improvisation in Jazz

• Improvisation, or the process of creating music on the spot, is a fundamental part of jazz.
• Some jazz is improvised, but much alternates between pre-composed and improvised sections.
• Most improvisations are based on a theme and variation, where a theme or melody is presented and then followed by variations.

Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony

• Jazz emphasizes syncopation (accented notes between beats) and rhythmic swing.
• Jazz melodies tend to be flexible in pitch.
• Jazz melodies often use "bent" or "blue" notes (notes lowered or flattened).

Ragtime

• Ragtime is composed piano music, popular from the 1890s to 1915.
• Ragtime emerged largely from African American musicians working in Midwest and Southern Saloons.
• Ragtime popularity rose through sheet music, and arrangements for dance bands.
• Ragtime often features a highly syncopated melody line played on the right hand, in a duple meter, and with a steady "oom-pah" accompaniment on the left hand.

Scott Joplin (1868-1917)

• Scott Joplin, the "King of Ragtime," was a classically trained pianist and composer.
• Joplin also wrote a ballet and operas, besides the thousands of Ragtime compositions.
• Maple Leaf Rag was one of his most famous works.
• Joplin was a successful performer, eventually moving to St. Louis to focus entirely on composing.

Scott Joplin (Life Developments)

• Joplin's health declined, and his efforts to develop and produce his most notable opera, "Treemonisha," were ultimately unsuccessful.
• He later died in a mental institution.

Maple Leaf Rag

• Maple Leaf Rag is representative of the common Ragtime format, which is in the "AA BB A CC DD" structure of musical composition, with each section comprising roughly 16 measures/sections.

New Orleans Style (Dixieland)

• From 1900-1917, jazz developed significantly in New Orleans.
• New Orleans was home to influential jazz musicians such as Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, Joseph "King" Oliver, and Louis Armstrong.
• New Orleans is a major port and trade hub. Therefore, thriving with commercial activity, New Orleans also fostered cultural diversity among the many ethnic groups who resided there. This diversity is mirrored in their musical traditions (i.e., opera).

Storyville

• Storyville's clubs, which were establishments like brothels, saloons, and dance halls, played a large role in developing New Orleans's unique jazz style.
• Because there were no constraints on the music in Storyville, musicians experimented with new types of performance styles and new types of music.
• Storyville was closed down in 1917, and other major cities (like Chicago, Kansas City, and New York) quickly took its place as major centers for developing jazz.

Dixieland Characteristics

• Dixieland jazz is commonly performed by small groups (5-8 performers).
• Key melodic instruments ("Front Line") include (often contrasting in melody) the trumpet, clarinet, and trombone.
• The rhythm section is a supporting group that provides a constant beat and background chords (drums, rhythm instruments (banjo, guitar, piano), and a low instrument (bass or tuba).

Dippermouth Blues

• The song Dippermouth Blues, from the King Oliver band of 1923, is not written in the Blues style, but borrows common Blues features on the musical structures.
• The performance features notable examples of Collective Improvisation (where many performers simultaneously play different instruments in unison) as well as solo instrumental improvisation

Louis Armstrong ("Satchmo")

• Louis Armstrong, a significant trumpet player and vocalist, made many contributions significant to the early development of jazz (1901-1971).
• Armstrong was born in the poor African American section of New Orleans.
• During his time in a reformatory he developed remarkable abilities on the trumpet.
• Musicians such as King Oliver found talent in Armstrong and eventually added him to his band.

Armstrong's Impact

• Armstrong was one of the jazz's most notable improvisers, known for his inventive solos and transforming simple tunes into complex melodies.
• Armstrong transformed the way jazz performed the trumpet and demonstrated that high notes could be performed by musicians.
• Armstrong's innovative way of performing the instrument is exemplified through "scat singing." (Vocalization of a melody with nonsense syllables.)

Swing

• Swing emerged in the 1930s and 1940s as a form of jazz that became highly popular from radio performances, live music, and dance performances.
• It was popularized by relatively large groups or bands with music played by powerful instruments and drums that could fill a large dance hall or ballroom.
• With the repeal of Prohibition in the USA, clubs and saloons were revived, providing another hotbed for performances and the emergence of swing as a distinct music style.
• Swing bands included numerous instrumentalists and singers. These bands were commonly named after their leader, such as Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Glenn Miller

Swing Music Characteristics:

• Swing band musicians employed techniques such as arranging, where pre-arranged performances were common.
• Musical improvisation, however, was still common, with solo musicians performing distinct songs in between pre-arranged pieces.

Swing-era Saxophones

• The saxophone became a highly prominent instrument to solo during the swing era.

New Style of Percussion in Swing

• Percussionists, such as Gene Krupa, moved from a supporting role in the music to the forefront as talented, solo musicians.
• Percussionists used instruments such as high-hats to create unique sounds, emphasizing rhythm, and beat in their Jazz songs.

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington

• Ellington was a notable pianist and worldwide famous swing band leader.

Benny Goodman

• Goodman was a key leader and clarinetist in numerous swing bands

Glenn Miller

• Miller was a key trombonist and swing band leader

Bebop

• Bebop developed in the early 1940s and was a style of jazz aimed towards and appreciated by audiences that sought to listen and feel music deeply.
• Musicians who performed bebop were often those who were trained in and appreciated classical music as well. (Ex., Dave Brubek and his quartet)
• Musicians (such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie) developed bebop music as a reaction against the commercial success of swing music. They sought to create a music style that was more complex, challenging, and less reliant on pre-written arrangements.
• Bebop emerged in Harlem, New York.

Charlie Parker

• Parker was an alto saxophonist, a leading figure in bebop music from Kansas City, Missouri
• Parker's career, initially marked by intense musical success, was later negatively affected by problems including, but not limited to, drug addiction and emotional illness.

Cool Jazz

• In the 1940s and 1950s, a calmer style emerged, called cool jazz.
• Cool jazz was in some ways related to, but also distinct from bebop, and often used instruments (like French horn, cello, and flute) not commonly associated with jazz.
• Musicians sought to produce longer, more complex pieces of music (using newer audio technologies). Key figure: Miles Davis, who began his career in bebop, but evolved into Cool Jazz.

Miles Davis

• Davis was a well-known bebop and later cool jazz musician who significantly affected the jazz musical genre.
• Davis transitioned from bebop to cool jazz and eventually to jazz fusion.
• Examples of cool jazz pieces include "Boplicity."

Dave Brubeck Quartet

• Dave Brubeck and the Dave Brubeck quartet produced unique jazz through techniques in their performances and the introduction of unusual time signatures (such as 5/4) into their music.

Jazz Rock (Fusion)

• In the 1960s and 1970s, rock music became highly popular, and rock musicians began influencing various musical styles, including jazz.
• Musicians such as Miles Davis, Chick Correa, and Chuck Mangione began to create jazz rock fusion performances, integrating rock music elements (like amplified instruments and rock rhythms) with jazz music elements.
• Jazz fusion expanded to include elements from various other music cultures including (but not limited to) African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Indian sounds.

Specific Works of Miles Davis

• "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" (from the album Bitches Brew) displays jazz rock musical characteristics. The piece features multiple instrumentalists, including three saxophones and numerous other instruments.

Specific Works from other Musicians

• "Gonna Fly Now" (by Maynard Ferguson) is a highly successful example of jazz fusion music demonstrating elements of rock music and swing band traditions.

Post 1950 Developments

• After 1950, jazz continued to evolve with countless new innovations and styles.
• Newer methods of recording (such as LP records) broadened the potential for jazz.

Explore the fascinating world of jazz, an American art form born from a melting pot of cultures and styles. This quiz covers the major influences on jazz, including West African music and the impact of slavery. Delve into how these elements shaped the music we know today.