Chapter 16 - Jazz

1. Chapter 16 - Jazz • Five chronological sections: • #1. The New Orleans Style: The Traditional Jazz of the Early Recordings (1920’s) • The most representative early jazz recordings date from about 1923. • They define what jazz was at that time. • “essence of jazz” as a way of singing and playing—with many “intangible” features. • What are some of the “tangible” features of jazz? • accent • phrasing • tone color • the “bending” of pitch and rhythm • improvisation

2. “Dippermouth Blues” • Form and Harmony • Perhaps the most common formal harmonic plan is the blues. • performed by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band and recorded in Chicago, 1923. • Listen for • twelve-bar blues form • the improvised variations within each chorus. • Instrumentation • What is the instrumentation of “Dippermouth Blues”? • Texture • front-line, or melody (like the right hand in ragtime piano) • rhythm section (like the left hand in ragtime piano)

3. Improvisation • Perhaps the most vital ingredient in jazz is improvisation. • Who has been deemed the first great improvising soloist in jazz? • Louis Armstrong (1898-1971) • defined the “hot” style of playing in the 1920s • early master of “swing” • model solos of great influence on others to follow • “scat” singing • wordless improvising of complete choruses

4. “Hotter than That” • representative example of Louis Armstrong’s improvisation skills • Listen for • melodic inventiveness of cornet solos • clarinet solo • scat singing

5. #2. Dissemination and Change: Before the Swing Era • Chicago • Two jazz styles in Chicago in the 1920s? • white and black • white: • Original Dixieland Jazz Band • New Orleans Rhythm Kings • Bix Beiderbecke (1903-31) • black: • playing on Chicago’s South Side • King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band • with Louis Armstrong • fluid, relaxed style

6. What was the home of jazz in the 1920s? • nightclub scene • During Prohibition many clubs were run by the “mob.” • Many of the jazz musicians from New Orleans went from Chicago to New York.

7. What elements made the big band different from the traditional ensembles of early jazz? • number of players; about twice the size of a New Orleans-style band • new trend toward arranged jazz • improvised solos remain

8. #3. The Swing Era and the Big Bands • What are the dates associated with the beginning and ending of the swing era? • What elements contributed to the emergence and popularity of big band jazz during the swing era? • new performance venues: dance halls and ballrooms • recordings sold well • Radio performances sold recordings and advertised the band’s music. • Movies featured jazz bands. • Three Significant Bands • Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman

9. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974) • pianist, composer, band leader • The Ellington sound: unique use of instrumental color • broad range as a composer • pioneered writing more complex works for jazz ensemble

10. “Ko-ko” • - an example of the Ellington sound. • 12-bar blues • call-and-response pattern • varied tone colors

11. The Midwest and Count Basie • What is the Kansas City ingredient that went into big-band jazz? • “jump” • hard-driving beat • Count Basie (1904-84) called it “four heavy beats to a bar, and no cheating.” • closely akin to the drive of boogie-woogie

12. Benny Goodman • (1909-86) • white clarinetist and band leader (big bands and small) • formal music education: played both classical and jazz styles • acknowledged his black jazz heritage • many of his arrangements: Fletcher Henderson • one of the first to incorporate black musicians in his ensembles • brought jazz to a new level of popularity and acceptance as dance music

13. The Great Jazz Singers • The era of the big bands was also the era of the great jazz singers. • Bing Crosby • Billie Holiday • Ella Fitzgerald The Small Combo • three to seven players • played in small bars; “cocktail combo”

14. Wartime and the Seeds of Change • What are some of the changes that occurred in jazz after the end of World War II? • place of jazz in American culture changed • Before and during most of WWII, for the most part, there was one kind of jazz. • Fewer young people followed jazz. • Jazz began to be considered serious art music.

15. The Emergence of Modern Jazz: Bop as a Turning Point • What is bop? • “bebop” or “rebop” • emerged after WWII • first exponents: • John “Dizzy” Gillespie (1917-93), trumpet • Charlie Parker (1920-55), alto saxophone • Thelonious Monk (1917-82), piano • Kenny Clarke (1914-85), bass • small ensembles • musical characteristics: • harmonic basis remained: jazz standards • Nevertheless, substitute chords, harmonic extensions were common. • very fast tempi • bass: keeps the beat • lighter rhythm section often obscuring the beat • drums: more for accentuation and cross-rhythms than for keeping the beat • Unison passages open and close the pieces. • Bop has been called “black backlash” to the “white synthesis.”

16. “KoKo” • representative example of bebop • very fast tempo • small ensemble • only four performers • unison passages that open and close the number

17. What are the various styles of jazz that emerged out of bop? • cool jazz • hard bop and funk • modal jazz • free jazz

18. Cool Jazz • music of understatement, restraint, and leanness • what was “new” in jazz in the 1950s; not what was “popular” • slower tempi • vibraphone (“vibes”) common • Modern Jazz Quartet • one of the most influential combos in this style • Birth of the Cool • Miles Davis, trumpet

19. Hard Bop and Funk • 1950s and 1960s • reaction against the restraint of cool jazz • pull back toward jazz roots; especially black gospel music • leaders: • Art Blakely, drummer • Horace Silver, pianist and composer • changes from bop: • relaxed tempi • backbeat rhythm • preference for darker tones • tenor saxophone (instead of alto)

20. Modal Jazz • new developments: harmony and structure • virtually static harmony • improvisation: based on a succession of scales • longer improvisations • Miles Davis (1926-91), trumpet Kind of Blue (1959), So What • “Out of This World” - John Coltrane • Listen for • static harmony on piano • saxophone’s elaboration of tune • virtuosic drumming

21. The “Third Stream” and Other Developments Parallel to Bop • incorporation of musical elements, procedures, and actual instruments that had been considered foreign to jazz • instruments: violins, cellos, flutes, and French horns • merging elements from the jazz and “classical,” or European traditions • Gunther Schuller called this merging of elements from the jazz and “classical,” or European traditions the “third stream” • What are some specific examples of “third stream” developments? • rhythmic innovations • triple meter • asymmetrical meters (Unsquare Dance)

22. Rock Fusions and Electric Jazz in the 1970s and 1980s • “Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis recorded in 1969. • electric instruments: piano, guitars (bass and lead) • jazz-rock fusion • change in the rhythmic basis: • beat: mostly the “square” rock beat • ground bass • ostinato

23. Reconnection with Tradition • a resurgence and reinterpretation of bebop • conservation of jazz classics as live music • trumpet player Wynton Marsalis (b. 1961) is a representative example of one of a new generation of virtuosos. • fluent in both jazz and classical music • His jazz oratorio Blood on the Fields won the Pulitzer Prize for musical composition.

24. What is the primary function of repertory bands? • to re-create specific pieces • often transcribe music from early recordings • began to develop in the 1970s • examples: • American Jazz Orchestra and Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra • based in New York beginning in the 1970s • Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra • 1990