Jazz midterm

12-bar blues

• 4 beats to measure

• Two repeat then bridge

• Bessie smith 

• Reckless blues

  • Louis Armstrong on trumpet

  • Call and response, mutes

  • Bessie smith

Ragtime March

• AABBCC

• 2/4 meter

• Ragged melodies

• Syncopated

• Down home rag - wilbur sweatman

• Scott Joplin - rag composer - entertainer 

• Dead man blues

32 bar song form

• AABA

• Ex: sailboat in the moonlight billie holiday

• So what - miles davis trumpet

• Jelly roll morton - dixie jass band one-step

  • Each repeat increases energy

break

when the rhythm section (piano, bass, drums) stops playing behind a soloist for a brief period, usually two or four bars leading into the soloist's first improvised solo chorus

collective improvisation

 a, performance technique where multiple musicians improvise simultaneously, creating a spontaneous, polyphonic texture rather than taking individual, sequential solos

riff

• a short, catchy, and rhythmic musical phrase or melody that is repeated continuously throughout a song.

Symphonic Jazz with (strings)

a musical hybrid blending the improvisation, rhythm, and blues-influenced melodies of jazz with the complex structures, large scale, and orchestration of classical music 

hot jazz

an early, high-energy style of jazz that originated in New Orleans in the 1910s and 1920s, characterized by fast tempos, collective improvisation, and a strong, driving rhythm

sweet music

a genre of popular, melodic music characterized by a smooth, gentle, and often orchestral sound, contrasting with the fast, hot, and improvisational nature of "hot jazz"

Programmatic

instrumental music that tells a specific story, depicts a scene, or evokes a particular theme, moving beyond abstract improvisation to represent an external idea, narrative, or emotion

Name the 1920’s technologies that helped to popularize jazz across the nation.

automobile, radio, phonograph, film

Name 12 bar blues example

Hound dog

Father of Tenor Sax

Coleman Hawkins

what replaced banjo

guitar

what replaced tuba

bass

example of riffs

count basie - one o’clock jump

boogie woogie (kansas city and western style)

• high energy piano based blues genre

• 8 beat “walking” bass line

  • repetitive 8 beat to the bar patterns

• boogie-woogie dance styles

  • partner dance, energy

head arrangements

• musical arrangement in jazz and popular music is created collaboratively, memorized, and played without written sheet music

• swing era

• arrangements are often based on simple riffs, melodies, and improvised harmonies

• spontaneous, flexible performances

4/4 meter (walking) vs. 2/4 meter

• 4/4 meter - slower, brader, walking sensation

• 2/4 - quicker, driving, marching feeling

Count Basie

• american jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer

• count basie orchestra

  • took them to chicago for their first recording

• big band leader

• kansas city swing song

• “less is more” piano style

• one o’clock jump

Lester Young

• nickname “Pres”

• american jazz tenor saxophonist

• count basie’s orchestra

• light style of playing - like a cello

• “Lady be Good”

Mary Lou Williams

• american jazz pianist, arranger, composer

• wrote compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records

• jazz’s bop movement

  • into swing style

Coleman Hawkins

• american jazz tenor saxophonist

• prime example of rise of independent swing era

• henderson band

• “Body and Soul”’

Billie Holiday

• “Lady Day”

• american jazz and swing singer and songwriter

• dramatic intensity, unique phrasing, intimate singing style inspired a new way of manipulating tempo and phrasing

• “All of Me”

Ella Fitzgerald

• american jazz singer, composer, songwriter

• first lady of song and queen of jazz

• improviser with flexible, accurate, and wide ranging voice

• signature style included scat singing and clear tone

• “How high the moon”

Benny Goodman

• american jazz clarinetist and bandleader

• orchestra did well commercially

  • led one of the most popular swing big bands in USA

• “Dinah”

Integration

historical, social, and musical blending of different cultures, styles and performers

small group jazz

• jazz combo

• 3-7 musicians

• focusing on improvisation, close interaction, and individual expression

• usually pair a rhythm section (piano/guitar, bass, drums) with one to four horn players (trumpet, saxophone, trombone)

• more freedom than big band

  • improvised solos

big band jazz

• large ensembles, 10 plus musicians

• organized, arranged music with distinct saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and rhytm sections

• danceable swing style

  • relied on tight arrangements and strong bandleaders

  • still featured soloists

John Hammond

• american record producer, civil rights activists, and music critic

Charlie Christian

• american swing and jazz guitarist

• first electric guitarists and was a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz

• transformed electric guitar from a rhythm instrument into a leading solo voice in jazz

• “Swing to Bop”

Jimmy Blanton

• american jazz double bassist

• credited with being the originator of more complex pizzicato and arco bass solos in jazz

Duke Ellington

• composer, pianist, and bandleader who elevated jazz to a serious art form

• innovative “big band” sound

• “body and soul”