acdec music 25 26

Broadway

The New York theater district that, at the turn of the 20th century, primarily featured operettas, revues, and musical comedies.

Shuffle Along (1921)

A landmark Black-created musical comedy featuring a book by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles and vigorous jazz-style music.

Jimtown

The fictional location of the Shuffle Along story, which was reused in several later Black musical comedies.

Runnin’ Wild (1923)

A musical comedy produced by George White, featuring a book by Miller and Lyles and songs by James P. Johnson and Cecil Mack.

"The Charleston"

A hit song from Runnin’ Wild that launched an international dance craze; it features a syncopated rhythm riff in an A-B-A-C form.

No, No, Nanette (1925)

A musical comedy by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar known for its jazzy nature, which critics famously labeled "jazzomania."

"Tea for Two"

A song from No, No, Nanette structured in A-B-A-C form, utilizing rhythmic ostinatos and chromatic mediant harmony.

369th Infantry Regiment ("Hellfighters")

The band that helped introduce the French to the sound of jazz during World War I.

Darius Milhaud

A French composer and member of Les Six who integrated jazz features into his classical compositions after encountering the style in the U.S. and Europe.

La cr9ation du monde (1923)

A ballet score by Darius Milhaud depicting an African creation myth; it uses jazz instrumentation, polytonality, and a jazz fugue.

Phrygian Mode

An ancient musical mode used by Milhaud in La cr9ation du monde with the interval pattern H-W-W-W-H-W-W.

George Gershwin

An American composer who began as a song-plugger and became famous for blending jazz and classical elements in works like "Swanee."

Rhapsody in Blue (1924)

A famous jazz-classical synthesis commissioned by Paul Whiteman; it features a signature opening clarinet glissando.

Ferde Grof

The arranger who orchestrated Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for the Paul Whiteman band and later for a full orchestra.

"The Charleston"

A hit song from Runnin’ Wild that launched an international dance craze; it features a syncopated rhythm riff in an A-B-A-C form.

No, No, Nanette (1925)

A musical comedy by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar known for its jazzy nature, which critics famously labeled "jazzomania."

"Tea for Two"

A song from No, No, Nanette structured in A-B-A-C form, utilizing rhythmic ostinatos and chromatic mediant harmony.

369th Infantry Regiment ("Hellfighters")

The band that helped introduce the French to the sound of jazz during World War I.

Darius Milhaud

A French composer and member of Les Six who integrated jazz features into his classical compositions after encountering the style in the U.S. and Europe.

La cr9ation du monde (1923)

A ballet score by Darius Milhaud depicting an African creation myth; it uses jazz instrumentation, polytonality, and a jazz fugue.

Phrygian Mode

An ancient musical mode used by Milhaud in La cr9ation du monde with the interval pattern H-W-W-W-H-W-W.

George Gershwin

An American composer who began as a song-plugger and became famous for blending jazz and classical elements in works like "Swanee."

Rhapsody in Blue (1924)

A famous jazz-classical synthesis commissioned by Paul Whiteman; it features a signature opening clarinet glissando.

Ferde Grof9

The arranger who orchestrated Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for the Paul Whiteman band and later for a full orchestra.

Arpeggio vs. Block Chord

An arpeggio breaks up the pitches of a chord, while block chords involve playing all chord tones simultaneously.

Aaron Copland

An American composer who studied with Nadia Boulanger and incorporated jazz elements into early works like Music for the Theatre (1925).

Maurice Ravel

A French composer whose Violin Sonata (1927) contains a "Blues" movement influenced by country blues and polytonality.

Germaine Tailleferre

The only female member of Les Six; her work Sicilienne (1928) mixes jazz harmony ninth chords with compound-duple meter.

Show Boat (1927)

A Jerome Kern masterpiece where music helps convey character identity, specifically using jazz to foreshadow that Julie is mixed-race.

"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"

A song from Show Boat with a five-part rondo form (A-B-A-C-A); its opening upward fourth motif represents the power of the Mississippi River.

Tin Pan Alley

The popular music publishing hub on 28th Street in NYC, named for the "tinny" sound of many pianos being played at once.

Song-plugger

A person hired by music firms to demonstrate sheet music to customers or get professional singers to perform new songs in public.

"Sweet Georgia Brown"

A Tin Pan Alley hit composed by Maceo Pinkard; Ben Bernie’s recording features heterophony, extended solos, and sectional writing.

The Jazz Singer (1927)

The first "talkie" feature film, which utilized Vitaphone technology to sync audio disks with projected film.

Al Jolson

The star of The Jazz Singer who revolutionized film by including spontaneous spoken dialogue and performing songs like "Toot, Toot, Tootsie!".

Twelve-Bar Blues

A standard musical form based on a 12-bar chord progression; each repetition of the pattern is called a chorus.

Swing Rhythm

A rhythmic feel where the first note in a pair is lengthened and the second is shortened; it is a fundamental feature of jazz.

Blues Poetic Structure

A lyrical format where the first line is repeated (a a b) or sometimes stated three times (a a a) per chorus.

Country Blues

A style traditionally performed by male singers with a guitar or harmonica in informal settings using rhythmic freedom.

Classic Blues

A style featuring female singers (like Bessie Smith) in theatrical venues, accompanied by a piano or a small combo.

New Orleans Jazz

The oldest jazz style, centered in the Storyville district, characterized by collective improvisation (heterophony) and swing rhythms.

Chicago Jazz

An evolution of jazz featuring individual soloists for full choruses and pre-planned, rhythmically precise passages.

Stop-time Chorus

A technique where the ensemble plays a single brief note and then stops, allowing a soloist to be showcased in the silence.

Lillian (Lil) Hardin

A pianist and composer known as the "Jazz Wonder Child" who played in King Oliver’s band and married Louis Armstrong.

Louis Armstrong

A legendary trumpeter whose quintet, "The Hot Five," recorded hits like "Heebie Jeebies" which popularized scat singing.

Scat Singing

A jazz vocal technique using nonsense syllables to mimic instruments, famously used by Louis Armstrong.

Duke Ellington

A pre-swing leader known for extended forms, wordless voice, and unique tone colors produced with mutes.

Count Basie

A band leader who standardized the rhythm section to include piano, bass, drums, and guitar and utilized "head arrangements."

Sectional Writing

Also called block voicing, this technique treats families of instruments (brass, reeds) as unified blocks; developed by Fletcher Henderson.