Dixieland (New Orleans Jazz)

Origin• Around 1910 a new style of music, Jazz,

became popular in New Orleans, Louisiana. • Jazz was influenced by many sources:– It used the strong beat and instruments

(brass, woodwind, drums) of Band.– It used the syncopation of Ragtime.– It used the strong emotions and energy

of African-American Spirituals.– It used the “blue” notes and scale of

Blues, as well as the 12-bar blues chords.• This early kind of jazz was known as “Dixieland,” “New

Orleans Jazz” or “Hot Jazz.”

New Elements in Jazz: Swing

• Jazz is almost always performed with a “swing” beat.• Swing: Performing 8th notes with a lilting rhythm (even if they

aren’t written that way.) Instead of splitting the beat evenly, the 1st note gets 2/3 and the 2nd only gets a 1/3.

• Blues Scale with “Straight” and “Swung” Beats:http://youtu.be/gjpxOt2x5kI

• More Straight vs. Swing: http://youtu.be/R5xH0TzpwMk

“Straight” (normal) 8th notes “Swung” 8th Notes

Doo - Bah Doo - Bah Doo - Bah Doo - Bah

New Elements: Improvisation

• Improvisation: Making up parts of the song on the spot. In Jazz, musicians often add additional notes to the melody, or even make up totally new melodies in the middle of performances.

• In Dixiland Jazz, each instrumentalist usually made up their own individual parts on the spot that fit with the song they were playing. Each song neversounded the same twice!

• Listen to hear instruments’ improvised parts in this video: http://youtu.be/O7fF_loQEcw

“Jelly Roll” Morton

• Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton (1890-1741) was one of the first in a long tradition of Jazz pianists. By adding swing and improvisation to the Ragtime piano style, he helped to create the early Jazz sound.

• Joplin’s Ragtime “Maple Leaf Rag”:http://youtu.be/pMAtL7n_-rc?t=5s

• Jelly Roll’s new Jazz “Stomp” version:http://youtu.be/MEfW4sggZCk

Louis Armstrong

• Trumpeter, singer & band leader Louis (Loo-ee)Armstrong (1900-1971) was the most influential jazz musician of the “Dixieland” era.

• He was a master improviser and played higher on his trumpet than any jazz musician before.

• He created Scat Singing: improvising sung Jazzusing nonsense syllables like “dat-a bat-a bit”.

• Through his long career, he constantly toured, recorded, and even appeared in movies with his Jazz band.

• His style of jazzy singing and trumpet playinghas inspired countless jazz musicians even to this day.

Recordings

• “When the Saints Go Marching In” was an African-American Spiritual that Louis Armstrong turned into probably the most popular Dixieland song ever: http://youtu.be/5WADCJ4_KmU

Pay attention to each instrument’s improvisation, especially Louis’ trumpet playing and the female singer’s “scat singing”.

• Though Jazz moved on to bigger and more complicated styles, Dixieland Jazz is still frequently performed in New Orleans and throughout the world. http://youtu.be/msvOqvBJLBw