Jazz Exam 1

Instruments of Jazz

New Orleans ensemble:

• cornet/trumpet, clarinet, trombone, piano, banjo, tuba, drums (trumpet played main melody)

Other instruments:

• Saxophone, bass fiddle and acoustic bass, flute

Difference between Styles

• Ragtime

  • Bouncy and syncopated

  • Piano music

  • Usually written and composed rather than improvised

• City Blues

  • Expressive, emotional music often about hardships / everyday life

• New Orleans Jazz

  • Several instruments playing different musical lines at the same time

  • Collective improvisation

  • Emphasis on beats 1 and 3

• Chicago Jazz

  • Builds on NO jazz

  • More emphasis on individual solos

• Swing

  • Big bands, arranged sections

  • Organized arrangments

Ragtime

• Ragtime was a popular musical style from the late 1800s into the early 1900s that used syncopated rhythms

• There are two styles:

  • Scott Joplin and James Reese Europe

• Scott Joplin was an important ragtime composer known for Maple Leaf Rap. He wrote ragtime primarily for solo piano

• James Reese Europe led large ensembles and brass bands

• Unlike earlier jazz, ragtime was usually written down and performed from sheet music

Gospel/Blues

• The blues is an African American musical tradition that follows a 12-bar structure

• Blues lyrics commonly follow an AAB pattern, where the first line is repeated and the third line responds

• The blues uses blues notes and expressed emotions such as sadness, struggle, love, and happiness

• Gospels and blues connect to jazz as an oral art form

  • Country blues: mostly performed by men and often used guitar and vocals to describe rural life

  • City blues (classic blues): performed by women and focused on relationships and emotions

    • Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey

Improvisation

• The creation of music spontaneously during a performance.

• It was one of the things that propelled jazz into the Swing Era

• Scat singing is an example of vocal improvisation: a singer improvises using syllables rather than ordinary words

New Orleans Jazz/ Ensemble

Swing

• Swing is a style that developed from earlier jazz styles and became especially popular in the 1930s and 1940s

• The style developed in Chicago and New York (Harlem), while New Orleans continued to play their own New Orleans Jazz style for quite a while.

• The style emphasizes beats 2 and 4 and often has a walking bass.

How did slavery influence the development of jazz?

• Enslaved Africans used work songs, including field hollers and shouts, which contributed to musical traditions that influenced jazz.

• Call and response developed from field and work songs.

• In New Orleans, Congo Square was a place where enslaved people gathered to dance on Sundays, and traditions also included ring shouts and clapping.

Call and response

• When a musical phrase is answered by a singer or group

• This developed from field/work songs

• The call was often improvised, and the response was improvised or mimicked.

Syncretism

The blending of different cultural or musical traditions

Syncopation

An emphasis on unexpected beats or weaker parts of a beat, creating rhythmic surprise.

The Great Migration

• Around 1917, people began migrating from New Orleans, Birmingham, and Charleston to Chicago.

• This migration brought New Orleans’ jazz musicians to Chicago and help spread jazz.

• Chicago’s population doubled

Why did African Americans move to Chicago?

• Jobs and economics: African Americans could obtain entry-level jobs

• Escape from Jim Crow and violence: people sought to leave oppressive conditions in the South

• Better educational opportunities

• Better housing

• Voting rights (without Jim Crow)

• Racial violence

What was prohibition and how did it affect jazz?

• Prohibition was the period beginning in 1920 when alcohol production and sales were banned in the US

• Illegal drinking clubs and speakeasies became popular places for jazz performances

• As a result, jazz gained a larger audience; although, crime was sometimes connected to these clubs

Chicago’s racial crime, geography, and discrimination

• In 1919, white mobs attacked Black residents as they attempted to move to the South Side

• Restrictive covenants were used to prevent properties from being rented or sold to newcomers (Black residents) (By 1939, 80% of properties were subject to these restrictions)

  • Black residents were on the South Side and white residents were in the central and northern areas

  • The south side was a major destination to hear the best jazz

Black and tan clubs

• Venues were black and white people could socialize in a mixed crowd

• They were a part of the nightlife and entertainment associated with Chicago jazz

• This helped spread jazz to more people

The Austin High Gang

Young high school kids who would go to the Lincoln Gardens in Chicago during the afterhours to hear jazz performances

Chicago’s musical environment

• Placed more emphasis on individual solos and written arrangements

• Reading and formally trained musicians became more prominent

• Benefitted from radio, photograph records, and a growing entertainment industry

• City offered opportunities for musicians to perform and reach wider audiences (^)

New Orleans hisory

• New Orleans was a port city shaped by immigration and trade

  • Created a mix of cultural traditions and a diverse musical environment

• Congo square was a gathering where enslaved people danced and played music on Sundays, including the ring shout

• Steamboats traveling along the Mississippi River created entertainment and employment opportunities for musicians

  • Could spread jazz

New Orleans’ music

• New Orleans jazz emphasized collective improvisation, with musicians playing different parts together, as well as accented beats 1 and 3

• New Orleans’ musicians continued to play their own New Orleans jazz rather than Swing, even when Swing became the predominant style

• Musical influences: blues, ragtime, brass bands, gospel, opera

Main differences between New Orleans jazz and Chicago jazz

• New Orleans:

  • Emphasized collective improvisation, brass bands, and the city’s diverse musical traditions

• Chicago

  • Developed as musicians migrated north during the Great Migration

  • Individual solos and written arrangements became more prominent

  • Offered more recording opportunities, radio exposure, and entertainment venues (Lincoln Gardens- where King Oliver’s band played)

Harlem Renassiance

• An African American cultural movement centered in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s

  • (BEFORE the GM)

• It celebrated Black creativity through jazz, literature, art, and other forms of expression

• Musicians performed in clubs and at rent parties, where pianists developed styles such as stride piano

Rent parties / Cutting sessions (Harlem Renaissance)

• Rent parties: gatherings where people paid admission to help tenants afford their rent

• Cutting sessions: competitions where musicians tried to outperform each other through improvisation or technical skill

Louis Armstrong early life

• Born and grew up in the Battlefield of New Orleans

• At age 7, he began working for the Karnofsky family

• They helped him buy his first cornet

Gateway into Armstrong’s musical journey

• He fired a pistol on NYE, was arrested, and sent to the Colored Waifs Home

• He met Peter Davis there, who helped him get into musical performanced

• He initially played the bass drum and then the bugle

• Peter Davis eventually taught him how to play the cornet

Armstrong’s musical development

• Brass bands and riverboats helped spread up the Mississippi River

• As a teenager, Armstrong obtained a gig with Fate Marable, which was one of the best gigs he could have got

• King Oliver became his mentor

• Armstrong eventually traveled from New Orleans to Chicago and played at the Lincoln Gardens with Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band

Armstrong- Chicago & the recording industry

• Armstrong moved to Chicago during the GM

• His move helped him bring his playing to a much wider audience

• He later went to NY, but returned to Chicago to move forward with recordings

Armstrong- in NY

• Fletcher Henderson called Armstrong to NY

• The band did not particularly like Armstrong’s singing, and he did not enjoy the gigs

• Pay cut involved in joining the band

• The relationship ended in a mutual parting of the ways

The Hot Five and Hot Seven

• Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings were encouraged by Lil Harden (his second wife)

• The recordings were made with African American musicians and were among Armstrong’s first recordings as a bandleader

• This was a recording band, not a touring band

• Armstrong’s playing on these recordings helped established the importance of the individual jazz soloist

Armstrong & entertainment/TV

Armstrong’s musical influence and legacy

• Father of the organized solo

  • Armstrong helped establish the jazz solo as a central feature of the music

• Improvisation

  • His trumpet playing influenced other instruments and helped shape the development of jazz

• Swing

  • Taught the world to swing

• Scat singing

• High C’s

  • High register trumpet playing

• Perfectionist

• Jazz ambassador

  • He travelled internationally and introduced audiences around the world to jazz

• Hot Five and Hot Seven

• Television and film

  • His career extended into popular entertainment

Lil Hardin’s influence

• Armstrong’s second wife

• A piano player in King Oliver’s band

• Had a doctorate in musicology

  • Was unusual for a an educated Black woman to be in this position

• Made her debut at the Lincoln Gardens

• She was responsible for the vision of Armstrong becoming a major artist and for encouraging the Hot Five and Hot seven recordings

Kid Ory

• Trombone player

• Armstrong joined Kid Ory’s band in New Orleans (until leaving to Chicago)

• Kid Ory traveled west, before going to Chicago to record the Hot Five with Armstrong

Manager Joe Glaser

• Took Armstrong under his wing and helped guide his career from his early troubled self into professional performances (in Chicago)

• Charged Armstrong 50% of his income (which is super high!)

Armstrong and civil rights

• Armstrong spoke out against civil rights, and publicly criticized President Eisenhower and canceled a state department tour in protest

• Critics labeled him as “Uncle Tom” and thought he could have spoken out more

• A Rhapsody in Black and Blue (1932) featured Armstrong but has been criticized for its racist stereotypes and degrading imagery of Black people

Armstrong later career

• 1965 Grammy for “Hello, Dolly!”

Who were the three trumpet kings?

• Buddy Bolden was the 1st and was known for loud playing, blues influence, and improvisation

• Freddie Keppard was the 2nd and helped spread New Orleans jazz to other parts of the country

• King Oliver was the 3rd and became Louis Armstrong’s mentor

King Oliver

• New Orleans cornet player and the 3rd trumpet king

• He led the Creole Jazz Band in Chicago, where the band played at Lincoln Gardens

• He mentored Louis Armstrong, teaching him music and helping him learn how to interact with people in society

Jelly Roll Morton

• Jelly Roll Morton was a New Orleans pianist, composer, and important early jazz

• Claimed to have invented jazz and emphasized Spanish tinge and organized arrangements

• Helped developed more structured jazz compositions.

• (Look at notes again)

Sydney Bechet

• Sydney Bechet was a an early New Orleans jazz musician known for playing clarinet and soprano saxophone

• He was an important early jazz soloist

• Musical philosophy:

Scott Joplin

• African American pianist and one of the most important composers of ragtime

• His composition “Maple Leaf Rag” helped popularize ragtime

• Ragtime was generally written down and was less spontaneous than New Orleans Jazz

James Reese Europe

• JRE was an African American bandleader associated with ragtime and brass band music

• He led the military musicians known as the Harlem Hellfighters during WWI

• His music helped bring African American musical styles to wider audiences

Bix Beiderbecke

• Bix Beiderbecke was a white cornet player born in Iowa who become associated with the Chicago jazz scene

• He played with the Wolverines and Paul Whiteman’s band.

• He loved classical music and had a light, lyrical sound, leading him to be considered a “cool” player

Mary Lou Williams

• Pianist, composer, and arranger born in Atlanta. She moved to Pittsburgh and began performing professionally at a young age.

• She wrote “Roll Em”, which is a Boogie Woogie Bop song that was originally written for Benny Goodman

• She helped teach other musicians and continuously evolved her style and composed masses

Original Dixieland Jazz Band

• The ODJB was an all-white group that played New Orleans jazz

• They recorded “Livery Stable Blues”, which was one of the first commercially released jazz recordings

• The band’s recordings helped introduced jazz to a wider audience