The Birth and Evolution of Jazz: From New Orleans to Fusion

1. Chapter 9 Jazz

2. The birth of jazz • Shortly after the War of 1812 • From New Orleans, LA • Instruments included trumpets, trombones, clarinets, saxophones, and drums • A mixture of traditional ethnic music, gospel, blues, ragtime, classical (from Creole musicians)

3. Jazz – a musical form distinguished by its reliance on improvisation and its rhythmic urgency • Polyrhythmic – juxtaposing two or more different rhythms • Eubie Blake, James P. Johnson, and Earl Hines set norms on “stride piano”

4. “Jelly Roll” Morton • Ferdinand Morton • 1885-1941 • Perfected Dixieland Jazz – small ensemble, one of each instrument, blend of simultaneous improvisation • Black Bottom Stomp

5. Break – a measure or two where everyone stops playing except the soloist • Scat singing – a form of vocal improvisation on nonsense syllables • Ella Fitzgerald - One Note Samba • She was discovered as a 17 year old during a singing competition at the Apollo Theater. She was the first black woman to win a Grammy Award. She died in 1996 in California.

6. Louis armstrong • 1898-1991 • From New Orleans • Trumpet, vocals • Nicknamed – “Satchmo” • What A Wonderful World

7. With style of “hot jazz” sizes of band expanded • Hotter Than That – Lil Hardin

8. Reaching chicago • New style of jazz (1930s)– swing – the special rhythmic character that jazz musicians give to the music • Fletcher Henderson developed swing style and expanded jazz ensembles to compliment the style • Brass section – 3 trumpets, 2 trombones • Reed section – 3 or 4 saxes (double clarinets) • Rhythm section – drums, piano, guitar and double bass • Henderson Stomp – trading fours

9. Big band era • Mid 1930s, music was primarily for listening, not dancing • Benny Goodman – clarinetist, Russian-Jewish immigrant family, “King of Swing”, first/only major jazz artist to have a parallel career in classical music • Lester Young – played tenor sax, ushered the transition from clarinet to sax • 32 bar form – AABA form, standard jazz form • Bridge – a connective part of a composition

10. Composers • Duke Ellington – one of the most important American composers, wrote over 2000 pieces, “It Don’t Mean a Thing” – sung by Ella Fitzgerald, “Cotton Tail” • Chromatic – incorporating tones from a musical scale consisting entirely of half steps • Mary Lou Williams – popular female composer, Zodiac Suite (Gemini)

11. 1940s and bebop • Bebop – a complex and sophisticated type of improvised jazz, for listening rather than dancing • Smaller ensemble than big band/swing, more freedom to improvise

12. Bebop musicians • John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie – trumpet • Charlie “Yardbird” Parker – alto sax • Made melodies more chromatic, harmonies and rhythms became more complex, rapid tempos and dazzling technical displays • “Shaw Nuff” by Gillespie and Parker

13. 1950s – return to Dixieland and Ragtime styles, developed new styles “rhythm and blues” and “modal jazz” • Dorian Mode – a scale with the pattern of WHWWWHW • Miles Davis – pioneer of modal jazz, “So What” • Thelonious Monk – “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”

14. 1960s/70s – “free jazz”, similar to modal jazz, just more complex • Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Quincy Jones – pushed new style of “fusion” – combination of jazz and rock • “Birdland” - fusion • “So Danco Samba” - Latin • “I Got You” – blues • “Easy Listening” – Norah Jones, Kenny G