jazz in america: notes

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Jazz in America : The Sounds of Freedom

Introduction**

jazz too blends elements of African, Caribbean, and western European culture and

is a democratic music where the individual expression of its creator is a treasured

attribute.

Jazz is deeply rooted in an oral tradition and this is one reason why its earliest

years are shrouded in controversy. The vibrant immediacy of jazz is difficult to

capture in music notation making jazz more ephemeral than many other kinds of

western music.

Syncopation is the effect of displacing the emphasis so that the strong beats are

undermined and the weaker beats strengthened.the frequent use of syncopation is

an aspect that instantly identifies the jazz sound.

Improvisation is the ability to compose and perform instantaneously, essentially

"making up" music on the spot. When a vocalist creates an improvisation, it is

called scat singing. In scat singing, singers use nonsense words or syllables that

can often sound like musical instruments.

One of the most common structural forms in jazz is that the improvised section

comes in between two statements of the main tune. The tune, or head as it is

usually called in jazz, is a generally straightforward performance of the composedmusic. When the improvisation takes place, the basic elements of the head

continue (a sequence of chord progressions, bass lines, etc.) but now the melodic

line is replaced with an improvised one. This section is often of indeterminate

length but generally lasts as long as it takes for each musician to make an

improvisation over one pass of the composed tune.

Even without a drum set, the music has a very strong sense of beat but it seems to

float above that beat. SWING* is a feeling and a trait that distinguishes performer

from performer.

The upright bass playing pizzicato (plucking the strings rather than bowing them

as in classical music) is commonly heard in jazz. Called WALKING BASS*

occurs when a bass plays equal note values (usually quarter notes) in every beat in

an unsyncopated manner.

Trading* commonly heard call and response variation.Musicians take musical phrases and split them so they are
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shared amoungst themselves.

Jazz Begins

Dawn of 20th century in New Orleans, a flourished community of

musicians who were hearing diverse music: marches, opera, religious

music, slave music (field hollers and spirituals), west african dance in

Congo Square.

These musicians found employment in the red light district, outside

French Quarter known as Storyville and created jazz together. It

was often called "ragtime",which today refers to highly polished and

notated music.

King of ragtime : Scott Joplin classically trained pianist andcomposer who wrote opera called Treemonisha. Strictly notated, no

improvision. Purists do not qualify it as jazz, however syncopated

rhythm accompianed people dancing.

"Maple Leaf Rag." 1899 most famous composition, selling more

than half a million copies by 1909. But ragtime eventually gave way to

stride piano. Revival of his music happened when used in "The Sting."

The Entertainer made top 100 and Joplin awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

The Golden Age of Jazz

Prohibition era: speakeasies, flappers, and the Charleston

is the Golden Age of Jazz. Roaring Twentiesimmortalized

in F. Scott Fitzgeralds "The Great Gatsby" brought jazz to

forefront of American music and introduced it to world.

Excitement generated classical composers like Igor

Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Aaron Copeland to compose jazzinspired music and introduced saxophone to the classical

orchestra.

The Harlem Renaissance


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After WWI, center of culture shifted from Europe to New

York. Imaginary boundary placed on 110th Street in New

York was Harlem. Black artists like : Langston Hughes,

Zora Neale Hurston, and James Weldon Johnson

gravitated towards.

The best in Harlem was Cotton Club. Pianist, director,

composer become most pre-eminent musicians in 20th

century American music: Edward "Duke" Ellington

"Duke" self taught and his intuition for harmony and

orchestration is unparalled. "Dukes" MOOD INDIGO: mood

setting vignette w/ lush orchestration and understated

character.

Melancholy of trumpet (Arthur Whetsol), Smooth TromboneSound (Joe Nanton), and rich warm Clarinet sound , later

inspired many black and white band leaders to form own big

bands.

Blues music

Golden Age: era of legendary women. "BLUES"singers like Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Mamie Smith,

Alberta Hunter, and Bessie Smith.

Mamie Smith, first black women to record a song.

1920 Crazy Blues started a craze. It sold more than

800,000 records.

Theatre Owner's Booking Assosciation founded to give

black performers public spaces to perform.

Some Blues Characteristics

BLUE SCALE; most identifiable trait. Has African

Origins, though not fully substantianted.

Many non-western cultures have pitches that lie outside

of the twelve tempered notes of western music and


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expressivity of these pitches, when especially applied to

third and seventh scale degree, BLUES FEEL.

Standardized harmonic plan. Popular 12-bar blues,focus on chord producing instrument (piano or guitar)

and notice the lock into harmonies.

Lyrics are typically comments of relationships, oftensuggestive. Lyrics sung in two bar trades with

instrumental breaks. Lyric heard over measures 1 and 2

and measures 3 and 4 will be traded with instrument

(usually guitar.)

Blues refer to : special kind of scale, sequence of

relatively fixed harmonies, standardized lyrical

pattern, type of performance style, state of mind.

High Society and Hot Jazz

High Society Jazz exemplified by Paul

Whiteman. Self proclaimed "King of Jazz".

Classically trained violinist and thought jazz

could be improved by creating professional

arrangements of tunes played by dance

orchestra.

Whiteman is responsible for commissioning

"Rhapsody in Blue" from George Gershwin in

1924 for a famed "Experiment in Modern

Music" concert held in New York's Aeolian Hall.

Commercially popular, Whiteman's recording of

"Whisperings" sold one million copies by 1928

but many feel isn't really jazz.

Virtuosic style of trumpet playing, stage

prescense, and unorthadox singing voice:

champion of early jazz: Louis Armstrong.

Born 1901, made jazz hot. Hot Jazz was fast,

brilliant improvisions, had an energy that high

society dance bands lacked.

Jazz moved from New Orleans to mississipi,


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into Saint Louis and Chicago, and was full light

of American popular music.

October 1929, New York stock market crashed,

impact lasted till 1930s. Great

Depression and lifestyles of RoaringTwenties came to a halt. People now listened

to radio broadcasts of drama and comedy

instead of heading out.Technology for mass-

producing music was improving. However

humble it may be, there is no place like home.

Mid-decade big band music dominated the

airwaves. Jazz was mainstream popular

music in american for first time. Performerslike Tom and Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington,

Glenn Miller, and others were idolized by

American Public. And when US joined WWII big

bands enlisted and went with them.

jazz in america: notes

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