Introduction to Jazz Music: History, Elements, and Styles

Vocabulary flashcards covering the musical elements, origins, historical timeline, ensemble instruments, and influential figures of jazz music.

Melody (in Jazz)

The tune of the song, played by soloists and ensembles.

Harmony (in Jazz)

The rich tones within jazz music, characteristically featuring lots of $7\text{ths}$ and $9\text{ths}$.

Bassline (in Jazz)

The lowest voices of the music, usually played by the bass.

Rhythm (in Jazz)

The musical texture, played by the drum set, guitar, and keys (piano).

Swung Eighth Notes

Eighth notes played with an alternating long-short duration rather than as even, equal-length eighth notes.

Syncopation

A rhythmic technique featuring a short-long-short feel, often accenting on the off-beats.

Blues Scales

Scales incorporating specific blue notes used to create the characteristic harmony and melodic expression of jazz and blues.

Improvisation

The spontaneous composition and performance of musical ideas without relying solely on written music.

Members of the Ensemble

The standard instruments and performers that form a jazz ensemble: saxophone, trumpet, trombone, drum set, guitar, bass, and vocalist.

Origins of Jazz

Originated in the early 1900's in African-American communities in New Orleans, Louisiana, inspired by West-African rhythms and French military bands within the tight-knit communities of the segregated South.

Migration of Jazz (1910's)

The movement during the 1910's where musicians sought to escape the segregated South, using the railway to travel north to Chicago, Illinois, and New York.

Jazz in the 1920's

A period characterized by speakeasies, the flapper era, glitz, glamour, and dancing, where jazz came to represent freedom of expression.

Cotton Club

A famous New York venue in the 1930's known for swing music and high-profile performances for celebrities.

Work Songs (1770's)

Early vocal music from the 1770's that served as one of the earliest cultural roots on the jazz timeline.

Spirituals (1876)

Sacred African-American folk hymns first recorded in 1876, forming an essential predecessor to the blues and jazz.

Dixieland Jazz

An early style of jazz that emerged during the early 1900's and 1910's in New Orleans.

Big Band Swing

A popular jazz style of the 1930's played by large dance orchestras and popularized at clubs like the Cotton Club.

Bebop

A style of jazz developed in the 1940's that later evolved into Cool Jazz.

1950's Jazz Developments

An era marked by the expansion of Blues and Gospel influences, as well as the rise of Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz.

Famous Jazz Musicians

Prominent historical jazz figures including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Jelly Roll Morton, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Etta James, Thelonious Monk, Glenn Miller, Miles Davis, Benny Goodman, Ray Charles, and Bessie Smith.

Essential Jazz Repertoire

Key jazz standards to know, such as "When the Saints Go Marching," "Don't Mean a Thing," "Blue Skies," "A Tisket, A Tasket," "Maple Leaf Stomp," "Sentimental Mood," "Salt Peanuts," "One O'Clock Jump," "At Last," "Straight No Chaser," "In the Mood," "So What," "Sing, Sing, Sing," "Hit the Road Jack," and "St. Louis Blues."