Jazz

common musical features

improvisation

very technical

mostly instrumental

Main artists

Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald

Instrumentation

Drums, piano, upright/double bass, guitar, large brass, trumpet, saxophone and vocals

how was the balance of instruments managed

by the musicians themselves

the era jazz was at its most popular

1930s-1960s

how technology had improved when jazz became popular

condensers and valve amps beginning to be used

why direct to disc recordings were bad

produced low quality recordings

when magnetic tape was invented

1940s

how the listening experience of jazz recordings was limited

gramophones had a low frequency response