History of Jazz Notes PDF

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History of jazz Fall quarte 2017 taught by Mark Samples...

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Ragtime: -Forms and chord progressions derived from marches such as intro AA BB A C(D D)D -Originally written, not improvised -Originally for solo piano -Syncopation -Around 1900 pianists started adding some improvisation -Piano pieces arranged for bands -Featuring brass and band instruments -Adapted blues pieces for band -Ragtime pieces played by clarinet, trumpet, trombone, bass, and drums sounds very much like early jazz Characteristics influencing jazz: -Call and response -Polyrhythm -Bending of pitches New Orleans -Founded in 1718 by France -Sold to Spain in 1763 -Reclaimed by French in 1803, almost immediately sold to the US in the Louisiana Purchase Congo Square, 1878 -African Americans publicly performed their culture New Orleans -Developed as a port city -Cultural Cosmopolis -European culture, especially French -Entertainment: opera, Mardi Gras, dances, parades, balls -New Orleans was not the center of music publishing industry -Jim Crow laws and segregation -Burgeoning record industry Music of New Orleans -Uptown Negroes: raucous, beat based, orally learned (not typically written) bluesy, improvised music based on rags, folk music, and marches -Creoles saw uptown negroes as unprofessional, but started teaching uptown blacks as well as young creoles Buddy Bolden (1877-1931) -First jazz celebrity -Personal style: loud, persuasive, dance-oriented, bawdy -Has mental breakdown and lived the rest of his live in mental institution -1901-1906: Bolden plays music full time -1906-1917: Decade of development of New Orleans style What distinguishes jazz?

-Instrumentation -Brass (front line): cornet/trumpet, trombone, clarinet, drum set -String ensemble: violin, banjo, mandolin, etc. provided guitar and bass -Ragtime players added piano later -At first: violin played straight melody while cornet “ragged” -New Orleans style by 1917, violin disappeared, cornet on “ragged melody, clarinet plays against cornet (more notes), trombone improvises below cornet (fewer notes) used glissandos and called “tailgate trombone” -Collective improvisation: What are the roles of the clarinet, trumpet, and trombone -Jelly Roll Morton - Dead Man Blues -Jazz was seen as novelty music and pop Jazz: First recordings -Freddie Keppard (1890-1933) -Declined to record -Original Dixieland Jazz Band -Signed by Victor to record “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixie Jazz Band One Step” -Created a sensation -Influenced later performers -Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) -Pianist, composer, bandleader -Claimed to have invented jazz -Travelled widely -Settled in Chicago in 1922, recorded with New Orleans band -New Orleans Rhythm Kings -Stop time -Joe “King” Oliver (1885-1938) -Hired Louis Armstrong -King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band -Gum disease -Usually had two cornets, Louis Armstrong was second cornetist -Snake Rag - Ragtime structure, bluesy breaks, chromatic melodies, repeated trio section, signature Armstrong-Oliver improvised duo breaks -Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) -Clarinetist and soprano saxophonist -Taught himself clarinet, played in marching bands -Touring 1916-1919 -Recruited by Will Marion Cook in Chicago in 1919 -Toured to Europe - Bought his first soprano saxophone, Ernest Ansermet writes first serious jazz essay, popularizes jazz abroad -Bechet spent much of his life abroad -Soloist -Settled in France in 1951 -Only jazz musician in his time who could rival Louis Armstrong as a solo improviser

Exam 2 -New York in the 1920s -Soloists -Swing -Bebop -Cool Jazz -Hard Bop New York in the 1920s -Entertainment industry -The great migration -Development of large bands and orchestras to support dancing -Paul Whiteman -Fletcher Henderson -James P Henderson -George Gershwin -Duke Ellington Terms to know -Dance band -Arranger -Tin pan alley -Harlem Renaissance -Stride piano -Programmatic music -Plunger mute - Closely aligned with Duke Ellington orchestra -James P Johnson - You’ve Got to be Modernistic -Duke Ellington - Black and Tan Fantasy -Style: Early New York Big Band -Form: 12 bar blues with contrasting 16 bar interlude -Black and tan - racially integrated nightclub -Main influence of hot 5 - Turned jazz from a collective art to a solo art Development of big bands -1920s New Orleans - 2 parts, front line and rhythm section -Larger groups of the 1920s - woodwinds, brass, and rhythm -Duke Ellington big band - 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 4 saxes, piano, guitar, bass, and drum set -Bigger bands means more need for arrangers Important early arrangers -Don Redman - First important arranger for jazz big bands -Fletcher Henderson - most influential big band arranger in the 1920s and 30s. Arranged for his own band after Don Redman left and for Benny Goodman -Jazz bands became swing bands Swing era - 1935-1945 -The great depression, world war 2

Swing music -Retained rhythmic contrast, bluesy phrasing, and balance between improvisation and composition -Developed a more commercial profile -Preferred homophonic textures, bluesy riffs, clearly defined melodies, and dance grooves -Four beat foundation, perfect for dancing Rhythm sections changes -Tuba - acoustic bass -Banjo - Guitar -Swing bands often played for dancing Fletcher Henderson -Style - short, memorable, riffs -Call and responds -Left considerable room for solos Benny Goodman (1909-1986) -Goodman and race -Learning from black musicians -Leading a double life, day and night -National tour and Palomar Ballroom (1935) -Adapted pop tunes with influence of black music -Dance halls all over America -Carnegie hall 1938 -Goodman launched a number of small groups that emphasized the soloist, renewing an interest in improvisation. Some of them were interracial -Teddy Wilson (Piano) -Lionel Hampton (Vibes) -Small groups or combos -Players liked playing in combos because there was more space to stretch out musically Swing era soloists -Benny Goodman (clarinet) -Artie Shaw (clarinet) -Art Tatum (piano) -Teddy Wilson (piano) -Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax) -Lester Young (tenor sax) -Roy Eldridge (trumpet) -Django Reinhardt (acoustic guitar) Swing Era Bandleaders -Artie Shaw -Jimmie Lunceford -Tommy Dorsey -Teddy WIlson -Cab Calloway

-Glenn Miller Decline of the swing era -Wartime draft -Gasoline rationing -War bonds -Tax on entertainment (1944) -Shortage of shellac -Baby boom -1942-43 Musicians union strike against record labels Ken Burns -Kansas City -Swing music was very big in Kansas City in the 30s -Lots of clubs in downtown district -Tom Pendergast -From Kansas City -The boss of Kansas City -Corrupt politician who allowed illegal activities in Kansas City -Head arrangements -Music that isn’t written, just made up as they go -Count Basie -Barons of Rhythm -Dropped out of school and went to New York to learn about music -Had a band that toured and ended up in Kansas City -Use of time and space in Jazz -Band known for rhythm section -Mary Lou Williams -Started playing piano very young, eventually got the reputation as best pianist in KC -Wrote for Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, and Duke Ellington -Kansas City style swing - Very energetic -Jazz musicians became cultural icons -Nightly radio broadcast at the cotton club -Billy Strayhorn - Duke Ellington’s artistic partner -Duke Ellington - Equally influential as a pianist, bandleader, and composer -His band was his true instrument -Ellington Effect: An army of generals - Miley, Nanton, Strayhorn -”Not content with just fox trots” - Ellington aimed at a career as a serious composer Conga Brava (1940) -Big band instrumentation - 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 4 saxes, piano, banjo, bass, drums -Legacy of cotton club - exotic sounds, unusual timbres -Latin groove -Swing groove -Kansas City style tenor sax solo

-Vitruosic soli from the brass A World of Soloists -Coleman Hawkins -Lester Young -Django Reinhardt -Benny Carter -Billie Holiday -Ella FItzgerald -Soloists and bandleaders were well known Coleman Hawkins -”Bean” -Played 11 years in Fletcher Henderson’s band -Established tenor sax as a serious jazz instrument -Heavy vibrato, powerful tone, strong emotion Body and Soul -One big solo -Melody only hinted at in beginning -Listen for the arc of emotion, as it swells and resolves -Each chorus builds in some way -Performers craft a musical narrative in longer solos Lester Young -”Pres” -Joined Basie’s band in Kansas city -Style: Light and personal, breathy -Improvisation: Melodic and free floating Django Reinhardt -Developed guitar as a solo instrument -Two finger technique because of a childhood accident -Only European musician considered on par with American soloists Benny Carter -Musicians called him the king -Alto sax and trumpet -Band leader -Composer -Social activist, first truly integrated orchestra in jazz history -Established alto sax as major jazz instrument Billie Holiday -”Lady Day” -Life shrouded in myths and scandal, rough childhood, though and self sufficient, drug use -Essence of an authentic artist, couldn’t fake a performance -Small vocal range, only about an octave and a half -Made every melody extremely personal -Melodic phrasing had deep influence on other singers

Ella Fitzgerald -”The First Lady of Song” -Won a Harlem amateur night contest -Sang with Chick Webb -Mastered blues, pop song, bebop -Style: virtuosic, joyful, instrumental in sound, playful, used musical allusion Billie Holiday -Expressed emotional pain -Small vocal range -Know for vocal phrasing, not improvising -Timbre: Breathy and raw -Rhythm: Laid back (back phrasing) Ella Fitzgerald -Expressed musical joy -Huge vocal range (four octaves) -TImbre: full, powerful -RHythim: Swinging and forward Soloist nicknames -Coleman Hawkins - Bean -Lester Young - Pres -Benny Carter - King -Billie Holiday - Lady Day -Ella Fitzgerald - First Lady of Song The Swing Era - Rhythm in Transition -High and low ends of rhythm section benefited from advances in recording technology Fats Waller -Pianist, composer, vocalist, humorist -Wrote many pop standards - Honeysuckle Rose, Ain’t Misbehavin Art Tatum -Pianist -Virtuoso -Legally blind Charlie Christian -Guitarist -Made electric guitar a jazz instrument Swing to Bop (Topsy) -Live recording -Swing groove -Extended solo Jimmy Blanton -Played for Duke Ellington orchestra -Developed bass as a solo instrument/melodic instrument

Jo Jones -Drummer -Count Basie Modern Jazz -Complexity -Late 1930s/early 1940s -Forerunners - Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young -Modernism - Progress -Increased complexity, difficulty, sophistication -Swing Era - Big bands, four instrument sections, played for dancing -Modern Jazz - Small groups, rhythm section + solo horns, for listening Harlem Nightclubs -Minton’s Playhouse -Monroe’s uptown house -Freedom to experiment - Melody, harmony, rhythm, without interference from club managers -Jam sessions - main development of bebop Thelonious Monk -House pianist at Minton’s -Modern jazz of the 1940s became known as bebop, also the name of a Dizzy Gillespie song First wave of modern jazz musicians -John “Dizzy” Gillespie -Charlie Parker - “Bird” -Thelonious Monk -Charlie Christian -Jimmie Blanton -Kenny Clarke -Same age group, younger generation -Experienced in swing music -Interested in musical experimentation -Christian and Blanton died before the bebop style was fully formed -Monk and Clarke were in the house band at Minton’s 52nd St -Modern Jazz moves to Manhattan Bebop and big bands -Some tried to adapt the new harmonic and rhythmic ideas to big bands -Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman all had bands -None lasted very long playing bebop Why combos? -Improvisational freedom -Economically practical

Charlie “Bird” Parker -Considered among the best saxophonists in jazz history -Grew up in Kansas city -Early model was Lester Young -Central innovation - Could play any note and still resolve it, making it work with the chords Dizzy Gillespie -Could play jazz and knew music theory -Considered one of the great intellectuals of jazz history -Central innovations: Changing harmonies of traditional tunes to be more complex and modern -”Salt Peanuts” - humor “A Night in Tunisia” - fascination with Latin music -Rhythm changes - the most used chord changes of any jazz song -A lot of bebop songs in 32 bar pop song AABA form Bebop artists -Fats Navarro -Sonny Stitt -Don Byas -Lucky Thompson -J.J. Johnson -Milt Jackson Bud Powell -Pianist - learned classical and jazz techniques -Badly beaten by police while on tour with Ellington -Crippling headaches, psychiatric treatment -Stylistic foundation for all bop pianists who followed -Left hand chords, right hand solo Dexter Gordon Sarah Vaughan Cool Jazz and Hard Bop -Hard Bop - Bebop with a harder edge -The term jazz achieved its present day, umbrella meaning Cool Jazz -Associated more with west coast -Toned down, limited vibrato, restrained timbre, stable dynamics, melodic calm, sophisticated harmonies -Instigated by Miles Davis -Birth of the cool sessions -Polyphonic counterpoint -Ensemble focused Hard Bop -Associated more with east coast -Bebop with harder edge, aggressive rhythms and improv, heavy timbre and vibrato, evocative blues scales, overt expressiveness

-Instigated by Miles Davis -”Walkin’” -Solo improv Miles Davis Moon Dreams -Birth of the cool -Miles Davis nonet -Cool jazz -40 Bar pop song form Clifford Brown -Hard bop Sonny Rollins -Extensive cadenza...