Jazz in New Orleans

1. Jazz in New Orleans American Studies Music Integration

2. Transition from Blues to Jazz Blues • Direct, unadorned • Slower, more drawn out tempos • All about intensity of feeling • Stayed true to traditional form and vision Jazz • Ornamentation, elaboration • Faster tempos, more dance-based • Based more on performance technique • Always changing and developing new forms

3. Ragtime • Style of piano playing and a style of music • Pounding foundation played in the left hand and melody with harmony “acrobatics” in the right hand – it was called “ragged” • Form is 16 measures – AABBACCDD • The center of this style of music was Missouri, particularly because this was where Scott Joplin lived

4. Scott Joplin • Born in Texas in 1868 – his father was a former slave • Moved to St. Louis is the mid-1880s and made his living as a pianist in saloons and with bands • He wrote Maple Leaf Rag in 1897 – it was the most famous ragtime piece of its day • Player piano – Maple Leaf Rag • Wanted to be a “serious” composer and wrote an opera that was a considered a disaster • He was committed to the state mental hospital after the opera disaster and died there in 1917

5. New Orleans • Center of music and nightlife was Storyville – the “red light district” • It was closed by the US Navy in 1917, forcing musicians and performers to find work elsewhere • Many of them moved north, bringing jazz with them • This migration brought music to Chicago and New York

6. New Orleans Musicians Jelly Roll Morton – piano • Left New Orleans in 1908 Sidney Bechet– saxophone & clarinet • Left New Orleans in 1916 Joe “King” Oliver - trumpet • Left New Orleans in 1918 Louis Armstrong – trumpet • Left New Orleans in 1922

7. Louis Armstrong Born August 4, 1901 and died July 6, 1971 • Brought about the shift in jazz from group improvisation to solo improvisation • Louis Armstrong video