100 likes | 227 Views
The Birth of Jazz. The Origins…? . Jazz was surely developed in New Orleans Not necessarily in the Red-Light District of Storyville Based on the music of brass bands, the blues, and ragtime. The Word. Not only are the origins of music nebulous, so are the origins of the word jazz.
E N D
The Origins…? • Jazz was surely developed in New Orleans • Not necessarily in the Red-Light District of Storyville • Based on the music of brass bands, the blues, and ragtime
The Word • Not only are the origins of music nebulous, so are the origins of the word jazz. • (read article from Porter)
African Retentions • Music served a function • Group participation • A connection to dancing • Emphasis on rhythm • Call and response • The use of improvisation • Use of the bent note • Aural tradition
Syncretism • The story of jazz begins with two of the most important population shifts in modern history: European emigrants seeking a better life in the New World and Africans being brutally uprooted and transported to the Americas and sold into slavery. • These cultures intermingled for centuries, thus creating a new culture. • This evolution is called a syncretism.
European Influences • Harmony • Written tradition • Instrumentation • Compositional forms like 32-bar popular song form and multi-strain form of rags and marches.
New Orleans • Established in 1718 outpost in the French colony of Louisiana • Culturally French and Spanish • Often called “the Paris of America” prior to the Civil War. • 1803 Louisiana Purchase • New Orleans became an ethnic composite that included Irish, Germans, Italians and people of Caribbean descent.
Habanera • Jelly Roll Morton called it the Spanish Tinge • Rhythm of Caribbean and Cuban cultures. • (example: Bizet’s Carmen, 1875) • Led to sense of loosening of rhythm called swing.
Precursors to Jazz • The slave songs. • Field holler / Work Song • My Little Annie • Berta, Berta