part 4 vernacular musics since rock and roll chapter 15: jazz since 1960 america’s musical...

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Part 4Vernacular Musics Since Rock

and RollChapter 15: Jazz Since 1960

America’s Musical Landscape 6th edition

© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

2© 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Part 4: Vernacular Musics Since Rock and Roll Chapter 15: Jazz Since 1960 2

Jazz Since 1960 Emerging new styles joined without replacing established

jazz trends

The jazz experience increased in complexity and sophistication

Although hardly in popularity

Starting from bebop, jazz has belonged to the classical as well as popular music world

Jazz is “America’s classical music”—Billy Taylor



Jazz in the 1960s Jazz musicians explored relationships between

classical and popular music

Less emphasis placed on outstanding solo performances accompanied by other players

More emphasis on collective improvisation by several, or even by all, ensemble members at the same time



Free Jazz During the 1960s jazz musicians sought new approaches to

improvisation

Improvisation remained at the core of the concept of jazz

Some believed that jazz was not primarily about individual solos, but best expressed by collective improvisation – the simultaneous improvisation of some or all members of a combo

1960: The album Free Jazz, by Ornette Coleman, introduced free collective improvisation

Free Jazz defied the perception of jazz as accessible to the ordinary listener



Free Jazz: Characteristics No familiar chord changes No references to popular songs or blues No steady beat Each musician improvised independently, but aware of others Initial phrases of a piece were played together by soloists yet not

necessarily in unison Released musicians from the strictures of tonality, recurring

rhythmic patterns, fixed pulse, predetermined themes There were short melodic motives—riffs—that could be inserted Free jazz uttered musically the sorts of freedom African Americans

demanded and finally were achieving in many areas of life



Free Jazz and its Relationship to Non-Western Music Having no chord changes relieved free jazz ensembles of the

need to include piano With its restrictive keyboard limited to the tones of the black and

white keys This freed musicians to explore non-Western scales Musicians were able to include instruments from other cultures

And play Western instruments in nontraditional ways

Ornette Coleman’s free jazz performances used Microtones (lying between the tones of a piano keyboard) Certain rhythmic techniques from the music of India

Heightened emotions and intellectual challenges



Free Jazz:John Coltrane (1926-1967) Saxophonist, spiritual leader of

free jazz during the last years of his short life His free spirit caused him to change

stylistic preferences throughout his career

Early in his career Known for producing “sheets of

sound” because of playing so many notes at rapid-fire tempos

Example: His 1959 Giant Steps

saxophone



John Coltrane Later areas of interest

Modal music, working with Miles Davis The influential album Kind of Blue

Indian music The 1960 album My Favorite Things

As a saxophonist on tenor and soprano saxophone Admired for his beautiful tone and effects Countered Ornette Coleman’s concept of collective

improvisation by playing extremely long individual solos “Chasin’ the Trane” (1961) is the most famous of these



Listening Example 57A Love Supreme, Part I

“Acknowledgment” (excerpt)By John ColtranePerformed by the John Coltrane Quartet(Coltrane on tenor sax, plus piano, bass, drums)Listening Guide page 259

Meter: An improvised introduction, then quadruple meter that is free and flexible, changing as the piece progresses, with skillful polyrhythms.

After the brief opening passage, bass introduces the four-note main theme, based on the words “a love supreme.”

Produced in 1964, the very spiritual and emotional albumA Love Supreme seems to identify with rebellious youth of the 1960s seeking new culturaland spiritual identities based onnon-Western traditions. Combining religious ecstasy with tranquility and meditation, thishypnotic mixture of music andchanting became one of the best-selling jazz albums of alltime.

Acknowledgement is the first offour sections, which make up a suite. The other three parts areResolution, Pursuance, andPsalm.



Third Stream Third stream combines jazz and classical

music in a manner that—unlike the blending of classical and jazz effects in symphonic, cool, and progressive jazz—allows each style to retain its characteristic qualities

John Lewis first attracted attention to this new idea



Third Stream:John Lewis (1920-2001) Classically trained, this African American pianist was interested in

Renaissance and Baroque European art music

Founded the Modern Jazz Quartet

Wrote jazz pieces for the MJQ using classical forms of earlier periods

Some pieces were performed with the MJQ and symphony orchestra or other classical ensemble

MJQ improvised, while the classical ensemble read and played the notes;

Both ensembles remained true to their traditions



Third Stream:Gunther Schuller (b. 1925) Introduced the term “third stream”

Believed that jazz and classical music should be treated as separate but congenial entities

In 1957 he referred to Classical music as the “first stream” of music Jazz as the “second stream” Their combination in a manner allowing each to retain its

characteristic qualities as “third stream” music



Third Stream remained in vogue for only a short time Yet its influence persists

Example: Ornette Coleman’s 1960s piece “Skies of America” for symphony orchestra and solo jazz improvisers

In this piece by Coleman, the conductor chooses between an array of notated inserts to be cued to the orchestra by hand signals

Challenges in Coleman’s piece abound for symphonic players

New York Philharmonic musicians balked in 1997 when Coleman suggested to play notes other than notes he had written



The 1970s and Prior Decades No one style reigned exclusively at any time

All existed concurrently with other important kinds of jazz

Yet each decade is associated with its own particular approach to jazz

It is possible to discern an alternation between classically cool and romantically emotional music decade by decade



The 1970s and Prior Decades

It is possible to define a dominant style for each decade

1920s: The jazz age; emotionally intense 1930s: The swing era; soothing big band music 1940s: Reacting to bebop 1950s: Staying cool 1960s: Exploring relationships between jazz and

classical music



The 1970s Several important movements coexisted and influenced later jazz

A comeback of swing, remaining strong today

European chamber music-style combos appealed to many musicians and listeners

Bebop made a powerful and lasting return

Two other movements vied for attention World music Fusion



The 1970s: Fusion (Jazz-Rock) Jazz and rock

Came from the same roots (blues, gospel, work songs)

Faced crises as the 1970s began Jazz losing its identity

Foundering somewhere between classical and foreign ethnic musics

Rock, mourning the deaths of some of the greatest stars And struggling to find the means to address the tragic social

and political events of the day



Fusion (Jazz-Rock) Jazz musicians started incorporating rock

elements into their music in the 1960s

Example: Miles Davis’s 1969 recording Bitches Brew

Davis then produced On the Corner in 1972, including sitar and a shocking rock drumbeat

This was criticized as “antijazz”



Fusion Defined Jazz-rock = fusion = jazz-rock-fusion

Melds rock rhythms and the use of electronic instruments with Collective improvisation Extreme ranges of volume Rapid shifts in meter, tempo, mood, uncharacteristic of rock Instrumental music—no vocals Bass guitar or electric bass instead of stand-up bass

Allowing for faster playing, and… Altering of sounds with electronic effects

Snare drums and bass drums used as the rhythm section Raising the rhythm section to unprecedented dominance



Fusion: Mid-1970s Some jazz ensembles used

electronic organs, other keyboards, synthesizers… Electroacoustic instruments =

Sound is mechanically generated, then electronically amplified and altered

The sound engineer as artist and technician… manipulated sounds to

musicians’ best advantage

Synthesizer and Keyboard



Weather Report: A Fusion Band of the 1970s and 1980s One of the earliest and most influential jazz-rock

groups, active for over fifteen years

Formed by musicians Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, who had worked with Miles Davis

This band stunningly presents the virtuosity and rhythmic complexity associated with jazz-rock fusion



Fusion: Two Influential Jazz Pianists Herbie Hancock (b. 1940)

Huge success with electronic instruments His album Headhunters (1973)

The first jazz album to be certified gold Remained for a time best-selling of all jazz albums Electric bass, keyboards, synthesizers gave jazz a radical

new sound called funk (see chapter 13)

Chick Corea (b. 1941)—An accomplished pianist Return to Forever was his influential fusion group Corea played a wide variety of electronic keyboard instruments Incorporated Latin American rhythms within his music



The 1970s: Integration of Foreign Sounds Fusion implies a bringing together, yet brought serious schisms

within the jazz world, as musicians chose

Between acoustic and electronic instruments

Between flexible free jazz rhythms and a soul- or gospel-influenced steady beat

Among a variety of music from foreign cultures, a concept sparked by John Coltrane

India, Brazil, Arabia, Bali, Japan, China, African cultures

European concert music was also used by some musicians



Integration of Foreign Sounds in the 1970s: Don Cherry (1936-1995) Worked with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane; performed and

recorded in Europe and New York during the 1960s

Following extensive travel in Asia and Africa, settled in Sweden Became active there in music education and performance

Calling himself a “world musician,” Cherry played trumpet, as well as ethnic instruments from… Tibet, China, India, Bali, other countries

1978: He formed a trio, Codona, with a Brazilian percussionist and an American sitarist Performed and recorded ethnic musics for children and adults



The 1980s A fragmented period of enormous diversity, exploration, discovery

The range of jazz identity was extended, through… New information about other music traditions Sophisticated new technology

World music remained important

Electronic techniques expanded their applications

Often musicians participated in a number of kinds of jazz, establishing no definitive identity in any one

Two fields of interest were characteristic: Crossover jazz, and, a revival of interest in traditional styles



The 1980s: Crossover Music Crossover music = The blending of jazz and various other musics

John Lewis’s Modern Jazz Quartet Seen as a black response to the intellectualism of the Dave

Brubeck Quartet And as New York’s answer to West Coast cool jazz

Fusion was another form of crossover Remained strong in the 1980s; not as popular as in the 1970s Herbie Hancock’s album Future Shock (1983) was an example

Included the piece “Rockit” A fusion of jazz, funk, electronics A massive hit, inspired an MTV video



1980s Crossover Music:Pat Metheny (b. 1954) A jazz guitarist who remains popular today

Initiated a rock band format Produced albums of melodious jazz-rock

1985: Composed the score for the movie The Falcon and the Snowman Led to his recording “This is Not America”—a Top 40 hit—with

David Bowie

Having explored the musical possibilities of the twelve-string guitar and a digital sampling synthesizer, called the synclavier, Metheny continues to move between pure jazz and pop jazz



The 1980s: Traditionalism Some musicians blended jazz, rock, folk, pop, foreign sounds…

Other musicians resisted such combinations and the white European concert sounds of much crossover music

They returned to earlier styles, updated to modern tastes

New Orleans, Chicago, and Dixieland jazz became popular

Bop and so-called post-bop offered traditionalists a structured yet progressive sound—daring but not too new

The return to the traditional was tempered with freely flowing, flexible rhythms and meters indigenous to much music in Africa



The 1990s and Beyond The 1990s became the first decade in jazz history to have no

defining movement

Relationships to rock loomed ever more important, as well as soul, funk, world music, and crossover

A new fusion called jazz-rap evolved

Fusion became more complex as musicians explored and expanded styles, techniques, technology Example: British jazz group Us3 released their album

Cantaloop 2004, with “jazz influenced urban sounds leaning heavily on a Latino R&B vibe”

The recording sampled Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”



The 1990s and Beyond: No Wave or Noise

No wave seeks the emancipation of noise (as per scholar musician John Zorn)

Pieces in this style are extremely brief, very fast, loud

A collage of very short, isolated sound events



The 1990s and Beyond: Musicians John Zorn is among an impressive number of

contemporary jazz musicians who are…

Following Duke Ellington’s lead in finding ways to integrate composition and improvisation

Masterful improvisers, interested in putting to their own various uses many or all of the ethnic, technological, traditional, and experimental resources available

Several of these people are scholars



The 1990s and BeyondHenry Threadgill (b. 1944) Saxophonist and flutist; toured with gospel musicians, blues bands

1960s: Became associated with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM) To help Chicago musicians present their new, commercially

unacceptable music

1970s: Formed the trio Air Explored African music, ragtime, assorted traditional musics

Since 1980: Formed groups with unusual instrumentation Such as the Very Very Circus, which uses…

Trombone, two tubas, two guitars, drums Fuses avant-garde jazz, funk, salsa, European marches



The 1990s and Beyond:Anthony Braxton (b. 1945) A former AACM member, Braxton reached a milestone in

jazz history by recording a double album of solo alto saxophone music For Alto, released in 1971 Other alto sax players soon made their own recordings A master improviser

An intellectual composer: Devised systems for composing music, some based on mathematical relationships, diagrams, or formulas as a means of generating improvisation within the framework of an orchestral composition In some pieces, parts can be played by different instruments Some of his compositions can be played together



The 1990s and Beyond:Anthony Davis (b. 1951) Sometimes referred to as a crossover musician

Blends jazz and classical styles in his pieces Using Eastern musics

Pianist and improviser Writes out most of his own music

He considers improvisation just one compositional tool

Episteme, his avant-garde jazz ensemble, has been involved in some third stream-style performances with classical performers



Anthony Davis: Classical Compositions The Life and Times of Malcolm X

Davis’s first opera, and the first of several American operas based on a contemporary political subject

Amistad, 1997, his fourth opera, is a story of a slave uprising on a ship, and the subsequent trial

As a Broadway composer 1993: Composed music for Tony Kushner’s prizewinning

Angels in America

Davis’s symphonic, choral, and chamber works incorporate jazz and classical concepts Such as improvisatory passages, jazz undertones



Wynton Marsalis (b. 1961) A classicist who believes that bebop is

the foundation of modern jazz

Defends, updates, modernizes early jazz styles in his own compositions

Juilliard-trained trumpet virtuoso with extremely beautiful sound

Educator, composer, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York



Wynton Marsalis Voiced concern with restoring “respect and seriousness” to

jazz

Believes the future of jazz holds more emphasis on composition than on soloing

Writes music intended to last

Author of Sweet Swing Blues on the Road, 1994

1998 Pulitzer prize winner for music, for his extended composition “Blood on the Fields”



Jazz Today and Tomorrow The important American music we call jazz continues to evolve

Tradition and innovation inspire today’s jazz musicians and fans

The blues was the subject of a celebration in 2003, declared by Congressional Proclamation, the Year of the Blues

In remembrance of W. C. Handy’s first hearing, in 1903, a man playing slide guitar with a knife and singing a plaintive blues

He later published commercial blues; established a relationship between blues and the music business

Today we recognize the blues as a basic structure, a feeling, an attitude, an exacting discipline—an indefinable and indestructible American music



Jazz Today and tomorrow: Collectives Important to the jazz business today are the numerous

collectives organized to support jazz musicians From the start, collective organizations have helped musicians

Make a living Create jobs (called gigs) Create new compositions (starting in the 1960s)

Collectives now play a stronger role than ever Finding grant money for commissioning compositions and

recordings Sponsoring concerts Building audiences for new jazz music



Jazz Today and Tomorrow: Instrumentation Jazz instrumentation continues to evolve

Musicians explore new technology and world sounds The organ and its evolution in jazz:

1920s: Thomas (Fats) Waller played on a giant pipe organ 1940s and 1950s: Jazz organ trios with electric organ,

guitar, drums, at times tenor sax imitated an orchestra Today: Synthesizers and portable digital organs

Commercial success of the recent sampling of organ-heavy soul jazz recordings from the 1960s has created a new audience for the Hammond (electric) organ

(Wild) Bill Davis—the creator of the modern jazz organ



Jazz Today and Tomorrow: Performances The arranging impulse largely dropped out of jazz

performance from the 1960s through the 1980s

But thanks to Wynton Marsalis and jazz musicians, it is back

The trend is towards less emphasis on virtuosic solos

The bandleader controls the ensemble, in a collective endeavor shifting focus from one musician to another

Today’s performances often seem to be more about rhythm and interplay than about solos or even melodies



Jazz Today and Tomorrow: Conclusion The Turtle Island String Quartet fuses the classical string

quartet with popular contemporary American styles Bluegrass, swing, bebop, funk, rhythm and blues, hip-hop,

salsa, others—plus classical Indian music

Innumerable jazz festivals around the nation and worldwide celebrate local and international talent

It has become increasingly unrealistic to confine jazz to narrow definitions

Jazz continues to be a vital feature of the American musical landscape



Image Credits Slide 7: Saxophone © Getty Images Slide 20: Music Synthesizer and Keyboard

Royalty-Free/Corbis Slide 36: Wynton Marsalis

© AP/ Wide World Photo

part 4 vernacular musics since rock and roll chapter 15: jazz since 1960 america’s musical...

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