Jazz means many things to different people depending on who is talking or writing about this popular form of music. There is no one definition of the word jazz that is universally accepted.
The word jazz first appeared in print in 1917. The origin of the word is obscure at best, however Webster defines jazz as: American music characterized by improvisation, syncopated rhythms and contrapuntal ensemble playing.
The United States Congress passed a bill in 1987 stating: “Jazz is hereby designated as a rare and valuable National American Treasure to which we should devote our attention, support and resources to make certain it is preserved, understood and promulgated.” This is a powerful statement coming from a government body about an art form. It speaks volumes to the importance of jazz in American culture.
Origins
Jazz morphed out of early American music from minstrel shows. The early brass bands were made up of fiddle, guitar, banjo or mandolin and string bass.
Ragtime
Ragtime was notated (written down). Early jazz was rarely written. Instrumental parts were composed spontaneously by the performer who, more often than not, could not read music.
Scott Joplin, (1868-1917) pianist and composer from Sedalia, Missouri, was one of the leading composers of ragtime music. One of his most famous pieces is The Maple Leaf Rag, composed in 1899.
Ragtime is characterized by persistent syncopation compared to the incidental syncopation found in classical music. For over two decades ragtime was the main music of Broadway musicals and Vaudeville.
Blues
In the early 20th Century a precursor and rich element in jazz was the unwritten folk blues. The first published blues music were written by Jelly Roll Morton, Jelly Roll Blues in 1905 and then, W.C. Handy’s, Memphis Blues in 1912 and the famous St. Louis Blues in 1919.
The blues was characterized by the lowering or flatting the third and the seventh degree of the major scale. The pentatonic or five tone scale contributed to the development of the blue notes. When the ragtime bands began to use this style they learned from playing blues, jazz was born.
Jazz is generally identified as having been born around 1900, some say it originated in New Orleans. However, many music historians and musicologists say it happened simultaneously in Kanas City, Chicago, Memphis and New York.
Early jazz was highly improvisational and it depended on the skill, intuition and experience of the performer rather than the written notes. After World War I the development of radio, recorded music and the popularity of dancing ushered in the “Jazz Age” of the 1920s. Trained conservatory musicians who were already equipped with instrumental techniques eagerly joined the jazz movement.
In 1918 Joe “King” Oliver, started his famous Creole Jazz Band in Chicago. The band consisted of a cornet, trombone, clarinet, drums, bass and piano. Eventually this morphed into a big jazz band with other instruments. Around 1930 additional instruments including, another cornet or trumpet, a trombone and saxophones were added. These instruments gave the big band its traditional sound.
In the early forms of jazz the whole band played a refrain based on the melody. In turn each soloists played a refrain. In the concluding “out chorus” the whole band played on the harmonic framework of the composition. By contrast, the big dance band presented the more ridged composition. Many times solo passages were written out and were always played the same way. This was the era when the important position of the band arranger came into being.
The traditional jazz band gave way to the big band era. During this transitional time some of the greatest jazz musicians emerged, among them was Paul Whiteman (1890-1967). Known as the “King of Jazz” he had a large orchestra with expert musicians and great arrangements of jazz music. Whiteman called his music symphonic jazz. He taught his audience to listen rather than dance to the music.
In 1924 Whiteman introduced Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. This was a monumental concert! It put symphonic jazz on the musical map.
Styles of Jazz
New Orleans jazz, often referred to as Traditional or Dixieland Jazz, had some of its roots in African-American communities, where a mixture of both European and Afro chants and songs were mixed with slave or work songs.
The precursor of later styles of jazz dates back to the late 19th and early 20th Century. It was characterized by improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and swing notes.
Chicago style jazz utilized a small group of four to seven musicians. Louis Armstrong (1900-1971), a trumpet player and scat singer, was one of the leaders of this style of jazz. Armstrong was from New Orleans and moved to Chicago in 1922.
In the late 20’s and early 30’s Duke Ellington (1899-1974), created a new style of jazz music. Ellington had a unique ability to blend instruments into a beautiful sound. He was a great stylist and his music was very danceable unlike some bands that came later. A new dance music “swing” had made its appearance.
Some of the great names of swing are: Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and Harry James, among others. Swing dance music was broadcast live, nightly, across America from Chicago, by Earl Hines and his orchestra.
By this time ‘Crooners’ began their careers singing with jazz bands. Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Rudy Vallee were some well-known singers that got their start with jazz bands.
Kansas City Jazz was known for hard swinging, bluesy and improvisational style. One of its biggest exponents was Count Basie (1904-1984). This also saw a transition from big bands to the bee-bop influence of the 1940’s.
In 1938 there was a revival of New Orleans style jazz. This was eclipsed by another revolution in the 1940s with Charlie “Bird” Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Art Tatum as leading proponents. Small groups began to replace big bands. Melodies became more complex with strong dissonant harmonies. The tempos were very fast. This was the era of Bop.
Bop eventually developed into progressive jazz. The musical and expressive elements of this form are quite demanding of the players and have made membership in this “club” very exclusive. Some of the principals in this group are: Thelonious Monk, Stan Kenton, Dave Brubeck, Jerry Mulligan, John Lewis and Gil Evans. Progressive jazz turned completely away from dancing and developed its own character.
The ongoing revolution of jazz saw some additional permutations in contemporary styles of jazz. Among the most notable was cool jazz in the late 1940s. This style was a calmer, smoother sound with long linear melodic lines.
The 1950s saw the advent of free jazz that sometimes used different scales for the basis of its structure and improvisation. This movement saw the addition of new instruments to the percussion battery. These included gongs, bells, rattles and instruments from African origins.
Fusion, a product of the late 60s, used electronic keyboards and the electric bass. Elements from jazz and rock were used as the basis of fusion music. The jazz oriented rock groups in the 1970s were exemplified by the groups, Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears.
Jazz, through the decades, has had an ever-changing and developing style and form. It is continuing today and probably will continue as long as there are inventive musicians to champion their cause,
Don’t miss the Danville Community Band’s Annual Spring Concert, Sunday, June 14, 2015, 3 p.m. at Community Presbyterian Church, 222 West El Pintado Rd, Danville. Free concert and parking
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