Jazz, Pop, and Rock - Chapters 1-3

ch. 1-3 of Starr & Waterman's American Popular Music; midterm #1

Carlos Gardel

French-born tango superstar

Dink Roberts

banjoist and songster known for old techniques; crossed colour line in North Carolina

Francisco Canaro

Uruguayan violinist and bandleader; promoted tango & became successful performer and composer

James Gideon Tanner

fiddler from Georgia who founded the Skillet Lickers

Jean Ritchie

folk singer who inspired first generation of urban folk musicians

Jose Ricardo

guitarist who worked with Gardel and demonstrated importance of Afro-Argentine musicians in tango

Lightning Washington

African-American musician who recorded “Long John”, a work song

Mississippi John Hurt

African-American guitarist who represented the songster tradition

The Skillet Lickers

quartet from Georgia; one of first southern string bands to be commercially recorded

Tommy Jarrell

old-time fiddler and banjoist from North Carolina

a cappella

vocal singing that involves no instrumental

artists & repertoire (A&R)

department of record company who discovers and cultivates musical talent

arranger

person who adapts the melody and chords of the song to a different ensemble

backbeat

in rock, the accenting of the 2nd and 4th beat

ballad

song type consisting of verses set to repeating melody in which a story is sung

“Barbara Allen”

one of the most widely performed British ballad

broadside

ballad printed on single sheet of paper; early form of sheet music

call-and-response

music alternates between either soloists or groups (or both); characteristically African in nature

chorus

repeating section within a song with a fixed melody and lyric

composer

creator of a piece of music

dialect

regional speech variant; also applied to stylistic variants in musical genres

folk music

music that tends to be orally transmitted; in culture, a popular style of late 1950s to early 1960s with guitar players addressing topical issues

gospel music

religious-themed popular music performed by white and African-American musicians

groove

the channeled flow of the rhythms

hook

catchy or memorable musical phrase

lyricist

person who supplies a poetic text to vocal music

montuno

spanish term for a section within a performance of Afro-Cuban dance; alternates a fixed vocal refrain with solo vocal improvisation

polyrhythm

simultaneous sounding of rhythms in contrasting metres

producer

person who directs and assists the recording process; helps realise artistic vision within a reasonable budget

riff

simple, repetitive melodic idea or pattern to create momentum

spiritual

sacred song created by and for African-Americans

streaming

real-time playing of media without downloading

strophic

song form employing the same music for each poetic unit in lyrics

timbre

“tone colour” or characteristic sound; allows us to differentiate between instruments and people

verse

group of lines in a poetic text; often exhibit recurring metrical patterns