jazz in america: notes
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Jazz in America : The Sounds of Freedom
Introduction**
jazz too blends elements of African, Caribbean, and western European culture and
is a democratic music where the individual expression of its creator is a treasured
attribute.
Jazz is deeply rooted in an oral tradition and this is one reason why its earliest
years are shrouded in controversy. The vibrant immediacy of jazz is difficult to
capture in music notation making jazz more ephemeral than many other kinds of
western music.
Syncopation is the effect of displacing the emphasis so that the strong beats are
undermined and the weaker beats strengthened.the frequent use of syncopation is
an aspect that instantly identifies the jazz sound.
Improvisation is the ability to compose and perform instantaneously, essentially
"making up" music on the spot. When a vocalist creates an improvisation, it is
called scat singing. In scat singing, singers use nonsense words or syllables that
can often sound like musical instruments.
One of the most common structural forms in jazz is that the improvised section
comes in between two statements of the main tune. The tune, or head as it is
usually called in jazz, is a generally straightforward performance of the composedmusic. When the improvisation takes place, the basic elements of the head
continue (a sequence of chord progressions, bass lines, etc.) but now the melodic
line is replaced with an improvised one. This section is often of indeterminate
length but generally lasts as long as it takes for each musician to make an
improvisation over one pass of the composed tune.
Even without a drum set, the music has a very strong sense of beat but it seems to
float above that beat. SWING* is a feeling and a trait that distinguishes performer
from performer.
The upright bass playing pizzicato (plucking the strings rather than bowing them
as in classical music) is commonly heard in jazz. Called WALKING BASS*
occurs when a bass plays equal note values (usually quarter notes) in every beat in
an unsyncopated manner.
Trading* commonly heard call and response variation.Musicians take musical phrases and split them so they are
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shared amoungst themselves.
Jazz Begins
Dawn of 20th century in New Orleans, a flourished community of
musicians who were hearing diverse music: marches, opera, religious
music, slave music (field hollers and spirituals), west african dance in
Congo Square.
These musicians found employment in the red light district, outside
French Quarter known as Storyville and created jazz together. It
was often called "ragtime",which today refers to highly polished and
notated music.
King of ragtime : Scott Joplin classically trained pianist andcomposer who wrote opera called Treemonisha. Strictly notated, no
improvision. Purists do not qualify it as jazz, however syncopated
rhythm accompianed people dancing.
"Maple Leaf Rag." 1899 most famous composition, selling more
than half a million copies by 1909. But ragtime eventually gave way to
stride piano. Revival of his music happened when used in "The Sting."
The Entertainer made top 100 and Joplin awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
The Golden Age of Jazz
Prohibition era: speakeasies, flappers, and the Charleston
is the Golden Age of Jazz. Roaring Twentiesimmortalized
in F. Scott Fitzgeralds "The Great Gatsby" brought jazz to
forefront of American music and introduced it to world.
Excitement generated classical composers like Igor
Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Aaron Copeland to compose jazzinspired music and introduced saxophone to the classical
orchestra.
The Harlem Renaissance
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After WWI, center of culture shifted from Europe to New
York. Imaginary boundary placed on 110th Street in New
York was Harlem. Black artists like : Langston Hughes,
Zora Neale Hurston, and James Weldon Johnson
gravitated towards.
The best in Harlem was Cotton Club. Pianist, director,
composer become most pre-eminent musicians in 20th
century American music: Edward "Duke" Ellington
"Duke" self taught and his intuition for harmony and
orchestration is unparalled. "Dukes" MOOD INDIGO: mood
setting vignette w/ lush orchestration and understated
character.
Melancholy of trumpet (Arthur Whetsol), Smooth TromboneSound (Joe Nanton), and rich warm Clarinet sound , later
inspired many black and white band leaders to form own big
bands.
Blues music
Golden Age: era of legendary women. "BLUES"singers like Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Mamie Smith,
Alberta Hunter, and Bessie Smith.
Mamie Smith, first black women to record a song.
1920 Crazy Blues started a craze. It sold more than
800,000 records.
Theatre Owner's Booking Assosciation founded to give
black performers public spaces to perform.
Some Blues Characteristics
BLUE SCALE; most identifiable trait. Has African
Origins, though not fully substantianted.
Many non-western cultures have pitches that lie outside
of the twelve tempered notes of western music and
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expressivity of these pitches, when especially applied to
third and seventh scale degree, BLUES FEEL.
Standardized harmonic plan. Popular 12-bar blues,focus on chord producing instrument (piano or guitar)
and notice the lock into harmonies.
Lyrics are typically comments of relationships, oftensuggestive. Lyrics sung in two bar trades with
instrumental breaks. Lyric heard over measures 1 and 2
and measures 3 and 4 will be traded with instrument
(usually guitar.)
Blues refer to : special kind of scale, sequence of
relatively fixed harmonies, standardized lyrical
pattern, type of performance style, state of mind.
High Society and Hot Jazz
High Society Jazz exemplified by Paul
Whiteman. Self proclaimed "King of Jazz".
Classically trained violinist and thought jazz
could be improved by creating professional
arrangements of tunes played by dance
orchestra.
Whiteman is responsible for commissioning
"Rhapsody in Blue" from George Gershwin in
1924 for a famed "Experiment in Modern
Music" concert held in New York's Aeolian Hall.
Commercially popular, Whiteman's recording of
"Whisperings" sold one million copies by 1928
but many feel isn't really jazz.
Virtuosic style of trumpet playing, stage
prescense, and unorthadox singing voice:
champion of early jazz: Louis Armstrong.
Born 1901, made jazz hot. Hot Jazz was fast,
brilliant improvisions, had an energy that high
society dance bands lacked.
Jazz moved from New Orleans to mississipi,
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into Saint Louis and Chicago, and was full light
of American popular music.
October 1929, New York stock market crashed,
impact lasted till 1930s. Great
Depression and lifestyles of RoaringTwenties came to a halt. People now listened
to radio broadcasts of drama and comedy
instead of heading out.Technology for mass-
producing music was improving. However
humble it may be, there is no place like home.
Mid-decade big band music dominated the
airwaves. Jazz was mainstream popular
music in american for first time. Performerslike Tom and Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington,
Glenn Miller, and others were idolized by
American Public. And when US joined WWII big
bands enlisted and went with them.