Jazz
Origins
African music supplied the strong underlying beat, the use of poly rhythms, and the idea of playing the melody separate from or above the beat. European music provided formal dance rhythms. Combined, these rhythms give Jazz its' characteristic swing. The blue notes, "call and response" and unconventional instrumental timbres of African music together with "conventional" harmonies and the formal structure of European music.
New Orleans jazz - 1900
The instruments used in marching bands and dance bands became the basic instruments of jazz.
Features include:
- Swung rhythms, frontline soloist.
- eg trumpet, for example Louis Armstrong.
- Rhythm section of upright bass, piano/banjo and drums.
- Tunes often blues based.
- Combined the syncopation of ragtime, adaptation of popular melodies and the blues.
- Preformed by both black and white musicians.
Dixeland / Hot Jazz 1920's
The definitive Dixieland sound is created when one instrument plays the melody or a recognizable paraphrase or variation on it, and the other instruments of the "front line" improvise around that melody. Usually building up to a 'hot' climax.
during the 1920’s notable performers include Fat Waller and Count Basie.
Features include:
- Boogiewoogie piano.
- Often linked with new Orleans jazz.
Swing - 1930-40's
Uses a strong rhythm section which supports a lead section that can include brass instruments, including trumpets and trombones, woodwinds including saxophones and clarinets or string including violin and guitar. Uses medium to fast tempos and a swing time rhythm. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise a new melody over the arrangement.
Features:
- Use of Big Band.
- Saxophones are more common, as are Hihat cymbals.
- Used as dance music.
Band leaders include:
- Duke Ellington (below) and Glenn Miller.
Bebop - 1940-50's
Swing drummers had kept up a steady four-to-the-bar pulse on the bass drum. Bop drummers moved the drumset's timekeeping function to the ride or hihat cymbal, reserving the bass drum for accents.
Small combo most common instrumentation.
Characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody.
Key Players
- Charlie Parker(alto sax) and Dissie Gillespie(trumpet).
Cool jazz - 1950's
Features
- Smoothed out mixture of swing and bop, tones were harmonic and dynamics were now softened.
- Mellow
- Sometimes unusual time signatures
- Small ensembles
Key Players
- Miles Davis and Chet Baker
- L.A
Avantgarde / Free Jazz - 1960's
Features
- Emphasis on melodic invention.
- Unaccompanied playing is important.
- Experimental, can be chaotic.
Key Players
- Miles Davis
- John Coltrane.
Vocal Jazz
Features
- Vocalist takes prominence over instruments.
- Uses scat singing.
Key Players (Vocalists)
- Louis Armstrong
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Sarah Vaughan
- Frank Sinatra