Jazz Basics

Jazz is the only art form created in the US Inhibits people to be free Improvisation Elements: Improvisation o Spontaneous Composition o Reworked, retooled Syncopation Melody: Form: Backbone of jazz is the Blues Scale

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Typically a 12-bar blues Human voice and instruments were allowed to bend pitches

Eras: Jazz starts around 1900 1900 Ragtime 1910 Blues 1920 Dixieland 1930 Swing 1940 Be Bop 1950 CoolSchool, West Coast (Cool Jazz) 1960 Post Bop, AvantGuard, Free Jazz 1970 Fusion 1980 ECM 1990 and on Current Trends

History of Jazz

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Started in New Orleans Was a major port city American music conveys content thru melody (or notes) Art Based on Melody African music conveys content thru rhythm Functional Based on Rhythm ***1917 Date of first jazz recording*** Minstrel Music most common for 80 years List of Musical Influences: African Music Blues Marches (Brass Bands) Minstrel Music Ragtime Classical Music Work Songs Church Music Folk Songs

Buddy Bolden 1st musician celebrated for playing jazz Jelly Roll Morton 1st to write down jazz music Started playing piano for a brothel at the age of 14 in Storyville Freddie Keppard Creole trumpet player Used Wah-wah mute Original Turned down opportunity to make the 1st jazz record Dixieland Jazz Band Feb 26, 1917 1st Jazz Recording Victor Studio, NYC 5 White musicians from New Orleans lead by Nick LaRocca o Livery Stable Blues o Dixieland One-Step o Became a huge hit; sold more than 250,000 copies; more than any other single record had sold to that point

o ODJB called themselves the creators of jazz o Were extremely popular, and toured Europe

Ragtime

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Started late 1890s Spread by sheet music Tin Pan Alley Music publishing district in NYC @ the turn of the century

Blues

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Started towards the end of Ragtime era Sculpting meaning out of music Blacks searching for a way to free themselves from minstrelsy Built on 3 chords 12 bar sequences called choruses Allows infinite number of variations Call and response Can be about anything Good or bad Meant to make listener feel better, not worse Each performer is expected to tell a story

Louis Armstrong

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Troubled kids Once arrested for shooting off a gun Sent to Colored Wafes Home (New Orleans version of Juvie) Adopted by a family They got him his first trumpet Papa Joe (King Oliver, Joe Oilver) took him under his wing, took him to gigs Lincoln Gardens in Chicago Influenced Flecher Henderson Paul Whiteman King of jazz

Edward Kennedy Ellington (1899-1974)1/15/2013 12:14:00 PM

Nicknamed Duke Ellington Irving Mills Ellingtons Manager Kept 55% of Ellingtons income and publishing rights Cotton Club (1927-1931) Harlem All white club 1st black band leader with a Nation wide Radio Show (1929) Forced him to develop his style o Composed for the person, not the instrument Blanton/Webster Era Band (1939-1941) Jimmy Blanton bass Ben Webster tenor saxophone Rebirth @ Newport Jazz Festival 1956

Swing
Swing started in NYC Savoy Ballroom Territory bands couldnt tour extensively Played around specific area

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Count Basie
From Red Bank, NJ Started in Kansas City, MO

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Discovered by John Hammond when he heard them on the radio in Chicago Legend is that he drove to Kansas City to sign them Music is Riff Basedmostly head charts (at first) The Basie Rhythm Section becomes the model for how rhythm is played in jazz Freddie Green Guitar Joe Jones Drums Walter Page - Bass Starting working with Billy Holiday (famous female singer) Sweets Edison Basies gig at the Famous Door becomes the turning point in the development of the bands sound (summer of 1938) Like Ellington, Basies band has a rebirth in the 50s Featured arrangements of Neal Hefti, a much more sophisticated sound than the 50s or 60s