JAZZ

JAZZ

Jazz was the first American music style to influence music worldwide. Most music scholars agree, the early Jazz influences came from the post Civil War and Emancipation era, a time when former slaves were now free to travel about spreading their African Heritage of rhythm and tonality with them. They could now make a living for the family by entertaining in hotels, restaurants, clubs, and dance halls. This was also a time when instruments from the bands of Civil War Armies became available to the African Americans.

So, Jazz is a music genre that originated at the beginning of the 20th century, arguably earlier, in New Orleans within the African-American communities of the Southern United States. Its roots lie in the combining by African-Americans of certain European harmony and form elements, with their existing African-based music (blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swung note). From its early development until the present day, jazz has also incorporated elements from popular music especially, in its early days, from American popular music.

ORIGIN

After the discovery of America by European colonizers, they try to extract the natural riches. Therefore, African slaves were imported from their continent to the new world, because the native people were put and end.

Both of them (African and European people), travelled to America with their musical traditions:

- European heritage: traditional and salon dances, military marches and classical music; harmony and forms.

- African heritage: tribal songs and dances; improvisation, blue notes, polyrhythms and syncopation.

THE FIRST STEPS (I)

Thanks to the Afroamerican slaves, the European and African musical traditions evolved until the birth of two genuine styles: Ragtime and Blues.

African people adapt the rhythm of the military marches when they play them in the piano, using the African syncopation. So, Ragtime appeared. This practice of syncopation was described as "ragging," in which the melody, and often the chordal progressions, were syncopated over a rhythmically straightforward bass line.

Their musical traditions under the European culture influence made room for spirituals (while working in the fields, railroads, seaport docks, and on the plantations, many of the slaves, and later the freed blacks, used work songs as a rhythm for their labours), worksongs and blues.

THE FIRST STEPS (II)

Jazz was destined to be born in New Orleans during the 19th century because it was the city with more mixture of cultures due to having the most important port of North America.

So, in suburbs such as Storyville, Jazz appeared because of the mixture of the syncopated rhythm of Ragtime and the notes, structure and feeling of Blues. We refer to as the 'twelve bar blues'. In this form the words are placed into three stanzas, four measures to each stanza. The first stanza states the particular problem, the second stanza repeats the problem, and the final stanza carries the thought to a conclusion. (Musically speaking, the whole operation takes 12 bars). The slaves had been freed physically, but not financially. Not being equipped to enter the 'free' world, they would often moan or sing of their problems with love, money, and life, usually without any instruments. Before 1900 a travelling musician with a guitar or banjo would try to create a unique sound, using the sliding, emotional, swerving, and soaring pitch, of the falsetto cry, or 'field holler', a type of plantation greeting.

CHARACTERISTICS

Jazz bands are formed by two sections:

- Rhythmic - harmonic section: It's in charge of the accompaniment of the piece, formed by the piano, drums and double bass.

- Melodic section: It's in charge of the melody of the piece, formed mainly by the clarinet, trumpet, saxophone and trombone.

A. It's the tune's blueprint, that is, "what gets played when." All jazz musicians know the form of a tune before they begin playing in order not to get lost.

B. Basic structure: Every jazz tune is built on a set of predetermined chords that accompanies the melody (each jazz tune has its own set of predetermined chords). Playing through the set of chords one time is called a chorus. Playing a jazz tune consists of playing several choruses, one right after the other, with something different occurring during each chorus: a) During the first chorus, the written (composed) melody is played; this melody is called the head. b) Then, on each subsequent chorus, each jazz musician improvises a solo in turns, that can last for one chorus, two choruses, three, -- as many as the soloist wants. Toward the end of his/her last chorus of improvising, the soloist tapers down the intensity and nods to another player in the band, signaling him/her to begin his/her solo; this keeps happening until all the musicians in the band who want to take a solo have done so. c) After the last musician finishes his/her solo, the band plays the head again -- this is the last chorus.

STYLES (I)

- The 1880's decade. Origin in bands that play and file in the open air to liven up the bars of Storyville district.

- Ensemble: drums, double bass or tuba, piano, banjo, clarinet, trumpet and trombone.

- Musicians: Jerry Roll Morton

- Characteristics: No improvisation yet, similar to passacaglia marches and Ragtime.

- The 1920 Decade. More industrialized cities such as Chicago and New York are the jazz centers due to the bad crops.

- Ensemble: drums, double bass, piano, guitar, clarinet, trumpet, trombone and sometimes the voice. Larger and larger bands.

- Musicians: Louis Armstrong

- Characteristics: The present form of Jazz is stablished, based on the main chorus plus improvisations by soloists.

- The 1930 Decade. Jazz center: New York.

- Ensemble: Big Band with 10-20 musicians: drums, double bass, piano, saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, and sometimes the great jazz voices.

- Musicians: Glen Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, L. Armstrong, Benny Goodman

- Characteristics: More importance to virtuous solos; it uses the "riff" as a short sentence that is repeated several times to produce tension under the solos. Steady and swing danceable rhythm.

STYLES (II)

- The 1940 Decade. Black musicians want to renew the genre due to its commercialization by white players.

- Ensemble: drums, double bass, piano, trumpet and saxophone.

- Musicians: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie

- Characteristics: Frenetic tempos and improvised solos based on new and complex harmonies, more important than the mere performance of the melody.

- The 1950 Decade. The main stages: the West Coast of USA and some European couentries.

- Drums, piano, bass, saxophone or trumpet

- Musicians: Miles Davis

- Characteristics: more calmed and intimate (to be cool), close to the European Classical music. It looks for more placid and sensual sound, more stability and safety in the music.

- The 1960 Decade. Because of the influence of mass media and other styles (pop), a lot of musicians lost their jobs.

- Ensemble: drums, piano, bass, saxophone or trumpet. The best age for saxophone (1955-1967).

- Musicians: John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cecyl Tailor

- Characteristics: it's released from the harmonic rules, everything is good for it. This style has even contact with noise. There are total rhythmic, harmonic and melodic freedom.

- The 1970,1980 and 1990 Decades. Influence of the music business, concerts, cinema, mass media...

- Ensemble: any kind of combination

- Musicians: Chick Corea, Chucho Baldés, Chicago

- Characteristics: it mixes Jazz with other styles (flamenco, rock, Latin music...)

- During the 80's there are two trends: avant-garde and those who return to the origin of jazz.

- From the 90's to nowadays: there are a lot of movements and jazz has spread throughout different countries. Great jazz musicians are among the best sellers.

- Some of other current representatives are: Winston Marsalis, Diana Krall, Michel Camilo, Keith Jarret

JAZZ VOCABULARY

CHORUS: it's each one of the following repetitions of the main melody; it appears modified according to the performer's taste

SCAT: Improvised way of singing that imitates the sound and phrasing of the instruments, using syllables with no sense

GROWL: It's a instrumental timbre effect like a guttural sound that it's got with the lips and throat

DIRTY SOUND: It's a kind of rough, hard, strident and turbid sound produced by the vibrato, glissando and use of mute in wind instruments

WA-WA: It's an effect produced when the trumpet or trombone performers open and cover the pavilion with a specific mute.

It's like a human hoarse voice.

BE BOP

COOL JAZZ

DIXIELAND

FEMALE JAZZ SINGERS

NEW ORLEANS

RHYTHM. MELODY. IMPROVISATIONS.

INSTRUMENTS

INTRODUCTION

- 1910 Decade. In New Orleans, jazz is played in the open air and enclosed areas.

- Ensemble: drums, double bass or tuba, piano, banjo, clarinet, trumpet and trombone.

- Representative: Original Dixieland Jazz Band

- Characteristics: these bands are formed by white musicians who imitate black music bands and their style. They do collective improvisations.

RHYTHM

It's very varied and syncopated due to Ragtime heritage.

MELODY

It's based on the pentatonic scale, with five sounds, that comes from Blues.

EUROPEAN MUSICAL

TRADITION

AFRICAN MUSICAL

EVOLUTION

MILE DAVIS - SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES

ELLA FITZGERALD

BILLY HOLIDAY

DIZZY GILLESPIE AND CHARLIE PARKER - BE BOP

IMPROVISATION

Jazz improvisation is the process of spontaneously creating fresh melodies over the continuously repeating cycle of

chord changes of a tune. The improviser may depend on the contours of the original tune, or solely on the possibilities of the chords' harmonies.

JERRY ROLL MORTON - MAPLE LEAF STOMP

ORIGINAL DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND

JAZZ FUSION

SWING

FREE JAZZ

CHICAGO

BLUES

GOSPEL

SPIRITUAL SONG

MICHEL CAMILO

FORM

DIANA KRALL

NINA SIMONE

CHUCHO VALDÉS

RAGTIME

JOHN COLTRANE - A LOVE SUPREME

GLEN MILLER - IN THE MOOD

LOUIS ARMSTRONG - DINAH