English Quarter 3 Test Terms

Jelly Roll Morton

Piano player from New Orleans who flourished in both Ragtime and Dixieland styles. Got his start playing in houses of prostitution.

Louis Armstrong

Virtuoso trumpet player and Dixieland band leader, known by jazz fans for the song “St. Louis Blues” and by non-jazz fans for his gravely voice on “It’s a Wonderful World”

Freddy Keppard

Dixieland jazz trumpet player who had the opportunity to record the first jazz record but refused because he was afraid others would steal his “licks” (songs).

Sydney Bechet

First important jazz clarinetist in the Dixieland style

Scott Joplin

Most important ragtime composer of such songs as “The Entertainer” and “Maple Leaf Rag”

Dixieland

Jazz style following ragtime, known for its typical frontline of a trumpet, clarinet, and trombone

Ragtime

First jazz style (or pre-jazz) featuring syncopated piano playing

The “Big Four” Beat

The incorporation of this into ragtime tunes and marches helped to create the distinctive Dixieland feel

Storyville

Red light district in New Orleans where jazz was born

Creoles of Color

The Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling made it impossible for these musicians to find work in the classical venues they had performed in for years

Original Dixieland Jazz Band

Recorded the first jazz record, “Livery Stable Blues” in 1917

Glissando

The sliding from one note or tone up to another, which is a distinguishing trombone technique in the Dixieland jazz style

Blues

Simple music often based on a 12 bar formula and contributed to the creation of jazz

Nick LaRocca

Trumpet player and band leader of the Original Dixieland Band; would claim (falsely) that African Americans had nothing to do with creating jazz.

Congo Square

Location in New Orleans where slaves were allowed to meet and play music and dance once a week

Sharecropping

Business arrangement that kept former slaves from getting ahead and enjoying true freedom after the civil war

Hot music

A term describing this new funky, “impolite”, music before people settled on the name “jazz”

Jim Crow

Name of a minstrel song written by Daddy Rice that would later be used to describe the segregated South

Thorstein Veblen

Author of The Theory of the Leisure Class, where the terms “conspicuous consumption” and “conspicuous leisure” come from.

Conspicuous consumption

The idea we accumulate and show off our possessions to others because we believe wealth is a sign of virtue and high character

Conspicuous leisure

The idea that it’s better to have people seeing you traveling, having fun, and relaxing rather than working, especially working with one’s hands

Harry Connick Jr.

Contemporary actor, singer, piano player, and big band leader who spreads modern Dixieland Jazz with covers of songs like “sweet Georgia brown”

Miscegenation

Marriage or reproduction by parters of different races. Anti-miscegenation laws were common in the early to mid 20th century

The male gaze

The way men look girls/women up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance. Also in feminist theory, the way the camera in tv and movies shows the male perspective

One drop theory

Claims that if there is one drop of another race’s blood in you then you’re tainted by it. Specifically, this was used in early to mid 20th century to disqualify people from claiming white identity.

Group think

Tendency of group members to conform, resulting in a narrow view of some issue, sometimes causing them to do and say things or tolerate things they wouldn’t otherwise if acting alone.