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Christyna Zheng

Jazz Timeline

Pre-1890s

Pre-1890s

Work Songs and Gospel

The African Americans would sing and dance as they worked and after their day was done. It was a way to escape from reality as a slave. Work songs were also a way to keep the rhythm of movement going.

Brass Bands

They were used in the war to command instructions because the gunshot noises were too loud for vocal commands. After the Civil War, people that were once in the band needed an outlet, so they turned back to music.

1817

”Congo Square” was announced as an official site for slave music in New Orleans. Congo Square is where the enslaved and free African Americans gathered for music, open markets, and dancing.

1817

1873

1873

William Christopher Handy (W.C. Handy) was born. He was known as the “father of the blues” and is well known for his song “St. Louis Blues” which was written in 1914. He was the first to publish music in the Blues form and brought it to light.

1877

Charles Joseph “Buddy” Bolden was born. He is known as the “father of jazz.” The biggest contributions to jazz would be his focus on the blues and having a looser, improvised version of ragtime. He also introduced having brass instruments in a band to play the blues.

1877

1881

Joseph Nathan “King” Oliver was born. He saw jazz as a collective music-making process and all the instruments were interdependent. Louis Armstrong was known as the first great soloist, which clashes with what King Oliver thinks of Jazz.

1881

1890s

Ragtime

It is called ragtime due to the syncopated or “ragged” rhythm. One famous ragtime artist is Scott Joplin.

1890

Ferdinand Joseph LaMother, also known as Jelly Roll Morton, was born. He was a ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. He was the first to write down his jazz arrangements.

1890

1890

Ferdinand Joseph LaMother, also known as Jelly Roll Morton, was born. He was a ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. He was the first to write down his jazz arrangements.

1890

1894

James Johnson was born. He was the father of the style of stride piano. He was the first major jazz pianist, and studied ragtime and jazz, and bridged them together. Thomas “Fats” Waller was one of his pupils.

1894

1895

Scott Joplin published his first two rags. Joplin was known as the “King of Ragtime.”

1895

1899

Duke Ellington was born. His government name is Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington. He was a jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader.

1899

1900s

Blues/ early jazz

During this time, there were small bands. This style originated from African American styles and genres; they are influenced by work songs, field hollers, show music, ragtime, and church music. This was mainly in New Orleans at this time. Some key elements of the Blues include chord progressions, bent notes, and melismas.

1901

Louis Armstrong was born. He was known for his solos and they are much imitated. He played the trumpet but also had the vocals.

1901

1902

Jelly Roll Morton claims to have invented jazz this year.

1902

1904

Buddy Bolden starts to have a reputation in New Orleans for playing music that fuses elements of the blues and ragtime.

Coleman Hawkins is born. He played various saxophone instruments, including the tenor sax, C-melody sax, baritone sax, bass sax, and occasionally the clarinet. He would play as a soloist saxophonist, which was unheard of then.

Thomas “Fats” Waller was born. He had this stage persona that drew the audience in. He would play anywhere that had a piano.

Willam James “Count” Basie was born. He played a role in changing the nature of the rhythm section. There were fewer choppy sounds and more of a smooth, continuous pulse. He also changed the setting of jazz from clubs, speakeasies, etc.. to theaters and concert halls.

1909

Benny Goodman was born. He was trained as a symphonic clarinet player but his life experiences pointed him towards jazz. He would hire African American musicians to push back against racism.

Lester Young was born. He redefined the role of the tenor saxophone, and changed the essence of melodic improvisation in jazz, and phrasing across bar lines. Many Jazz saxophonists looked up to him.

1911

Robert Leroy Johnson was born. He is considered as one of the greatest blues performers of all time. He used turnarounds, passing chords, boogie patterns, fills, vamps, licks, and other techniques. He had very flexible voice and intimate vocals.

1911

1913

Woody Herman was born. He stuck around with a successful big band during the Bebop era. This was unheard of during this ear, but he managed it due to his ability to recognize outstanding ability and the right talent. He also hired people regardless of their race, just as Benny Goodman did.

1913

1914-1918

World War I

1915

King Oliver forms a band with Sidney Bechet.

Billie Holiday was born. She lacked the technical skills as a singer, but she made up for it with her improvisational skills and sense of timing and phrasing. She was also the first African American woman to work with an all white band.

1917

The Original Dixieland Jazz band makes their first Jazz recording. The song was “Livery Stable Blues.”

Dizzy Gillespie was born. He played during the Bebop era, but also appeared to the mass American audience. He did this by putting. together multiple ethnic musics from around the world. He drew the crowd in with his banter.

Thelonious Monk was born. He was known as the “high priest of Bebop”. His music was different than other Beboppers because he preferred slower and more contemporary speeds. He had more smooth, tuneful melodies, but there was still some dissonance there. His stage presence was also detached, but a erratic and crazed effect on his audience.

1920s

Early Jazz

This was when jazz was at its peak. It is also known as the Dixieland jazz or traditional jazz.

1920s

1920

The Great Migration was occurring. Millions of African Americans migrated from the South to the North for better living conditions. And they brought music with them.

Prohibition of alcohol begins. The government prohibited alcohol, which made the people start up speakeasies and hidden bars. This enhanced jazz’s movement.

Charles Parker Jr., aka “bird” or “yardbird”. He played the alto sax, and when he did, he had a different tone and produced a cutting sound. He learned from many of the big-time swing artists and put his insights into his music. Midway through his career, he spent time in a mental health institution. He got clean, and his music changed.

Dave Brubeck was born. He had a different sense of music with weird time signatures, and many different rhythms had a distinct harmonic approach and were known to play in more than one key at a time. He played during the cool jazz and somewhat bebop era, and he remained popular even as the popularity of the music was fading.

1923

Fletcher Henderson forms the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. This was a larger sized band than the traditional jazz band size at the time. He defined the sound for a larger band. He also set the foundation for swing music.

1923

1925

1925

Lil Hardin was married to Louis Armstrong. She was one of the reasons why Armstrong returned to Chicago this year. She is credited with pushing Armstrong to pursue a solo career.

1926

Louis Armstrong recorded the first Jazz scat, “Heebie Jeebies”. During this session he dropped his sheet music, so instead of stopping and having to restart, he improvised the song on his horn and vocals. This was called scat singing.

1929

Cecil Taylor was born. He was compared to Ornette Coleman for their sense of training and composition style due to how different they were. Taylor was well trained in the musical arts and his influences were contemporary classical musicians and former bop figures such as Duke Ellington and Fats Waller. Taylor’s music would later go on to be used for formal dances, writing and performing pieces for ballet dancers.

1930s

1930s

Swing

The style was less strict; syncopation is gone. You can hear the sense of “feel” or groove in the beats of the music. But it contributed to its own demise. There was not much originality and it exhausted all of its resources.

1930

Ornette Coleman was born. He was disrespected and frown down upon in the beginning of his career. Miles Davis was one of this ones that looked down upon him. It was not until later in his career and getting famous was he finally respected. He was a self taught musician and struggled to learn the fundamentals of music. He was influenced by bebop, blues, R&B, and other African American style music.

1929-1939

The Great Depression

The Great Depression made record sales decline, almost a 90% decrease between 1927-1932. Many jazz artists had to switch career paths due to this.

1929-1939

1939-1945

World War II

1939-1945

1945

1945

Bebop

Some improvisation, but the beats were faster. This music was for sophisticated listeners and jazz fiends. Early jazz was used for entertainment, and mass consumption and was played to dance to. Bebop was created for serious listeners. The music was not danceable and did not appeal to the mass audience.

1949

1949

Cool Jazz

The tempo slowed down again, and artists tried to return the original jazz. It was more relaxed, easier to listen to then Bebop.

1960s

1960s

Free Jazz/Freeform

This style went back to the original African roots of Jazz. This music was used for political activism in black rights. It is called “free” due to the break away from slavery originally and at the time, the fight for equality.

1963

John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

1964

Louis Armstrong’s song “Hello Dolly” was the number one hit this year. This brought back the former fame and made him the musical super-star that he is.

1964

1968

Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination

1968

1960s-1980s

Fusion

This is the combination of jazz and styles like rock, funk, rhythm and blues, and Latin jazz. It was an attempt and Hail Mary for jazz to reach the younger crowd.

1960s-1980s

1970

“Bitches Brew” was released by Miles Davis. This album contained elements of rock and jazz. It was during the fusion era, so instruments that were implemented included the electric guitar, basses, and keyboards. He used techniques such as splicing and looping.

1972

Miles Davis gets into a terrible accident that put a pause on his career, but combined with his health and substance abuse, it put a perminant halt on his career. But he made huge hits throughout many eras of jazz during his career.

1970-1986

The duration of Weather Report, which was a fusion group. They were unique because fusion bands typically lasts 3-5 years, while they lasted for 16 years.

1970-1986

References

Reference

Canvas Modules. (Spring 2023). MUS 314: JAZZ: A UNIQUE AMERICAN MUSIC

Gioia, T. (2011). The history of Jazz. Oxford UP.

Jazz in America. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2023, from https://www.jazzinamerica.org/JazzResources/Timeline/1930/1939

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