Exhaustive Study Guide for A-Level Music: Area of Study 5 – Jazz
Overview of Area of Study 5 – Jazz
This resource serves as a definitive teaching guide for Area of Study 5 (Jazz) under the A-level Music specification (7272).
Students must study every element provided in this guide to prepare for two primary exam components:
Listening Exam: Students will be tested on their ability to recognize musical elements in unfamiliar music from the Jazz Area of Study.
Essay Exam: Students must answer one question. AS students focus on the work of one named artist, while A-level students focus on two named artists. Students may choose their preferred artist(s) but must make detailed reference to at least two contrasting examples of their work.
Suggested Listening List: This is intended as a foundational starting point to help students build a small library of well-known recordings for recall during examinations.
Breadth vs. Depth: While students must be familiar with the musical styles of all named artists for the listening section, detailed study for the essay section may be limited to two or three specific artists.
Components of Jazz Melody
Individual Style: The melodic features used by a Jazz performer are among the most distinctive aspects of their personal contribution.
Precision and Notation: Unlike 'classical' music, which expects exact definitions of pitches and rhythms in notation, Jazz relies on interpretation.
Performance Resources: Performers often play from memory or use a 'lead-sheet,' which provides rudimentary shorthand notation. This allows them to 'blend' pitch and rhythm for a unique interpretation.
Transcription: This is the analytical process of notating music merely by listening to it. The goal is to create a written record as accurate as possible for a specific solo line. Aspiring musicians use transcription to soak up the styles and purely aural memories of soloists they admire.
Pitch Manipulation Techniques:
Glissando (gliss): A smooth slide from one note to another. Effectively executed on trombones (via the slide) or fretless string instruments. On woodwinds, this is achieved through embouchure and throat control, or gradual uncovering of tone holes (saxophone, clarinet). On trumpets, it involves half-valving. On keyboards, it is a rapid scale played with a sweeping fingernail gesture.
Pitch-bend: Moving slightly away from and then back to the original pitch using a small-scale glissando. Intervals typically range from microtones to minor thirds.
Smear: A glissando that moves upward from an indeterminate starting pitch toward the main note.
Spill/Fall-off: A rapid descending glissando from the end of a main note toward an indeterminate lower pitch.
Rip: A violent, rapid upward glissando leading into the start of a note. It is a signature technique of the trumpet, specifically associated with Louis Armstrong.
Harmony and Tonality in Jazz
Evolution: Jazz harmony progressed from the simple functional harmony of Ragtime and light music to complex, dissonant 1940s and 50s styles, and eventually into the atonality of Free Jazz or the simplification of Modal Jazz.
The Blues Foundation: Early Jazz harmony relied on chords I, IV, and V. Uniquely, chord IV often plays a more significant role than chord V, contradicting standard classical harmony.
Pentatonic Scale:
A five-note scale originating in West Africa and transported to the New World by enslaved people.
It lacks the semitones that define standard major/minor tonality.
Major form:
Minor form:
Blue Notes and the Blues Scale:
Origins: Descendants of the black slave population in the Southern USA sang improvised melodies using the 'minor' pentatonic scale against major harmony.
Key Intervals: The interaction produced major/minor 3rds and 7ths. The flattened 3rd, flattened 7th, and later the flattened 5th are known as 'blue notes.'
Intonation: These notes are often flattened by microtones rather than full semitones to increase expressiveness.
Diminished (Octatonic) Scale:
A symmetrical eight-pitch scale formed by alternating semitones and tones.
It is constructed by connecting the four notes of a diminished 7th chord with another four steps that form a second diminished 7th chord.
Example structure on C:
Modal Jazz:
Developed by Miles Davis in the late 1950s to escape the frenetic harmonic changes of bebop.
Focuses on improvisation over scale types (modes) rather than chord changes.
The Seven Principal Modes: Each corresponds to a 'white note' scale on the keyboard, but with different tonics. Transposition allows modes to start on any note (e.g., Lydian on C: ).
Static Harmony: Modal Jazz often utilizes pedal notes or repeating two-chord sequences (e.g., 'So What' by Miles Davis, 1959).
Chord Extensions, Additions, and Substitutions
Harmonic Colour: Adding or exchanging notes within a triad creates variety without altering the root function.
Sevenths: Most common extension, turning I, IV, and V chords into 'dominant 7th' chords in a 12-bar blues.
Higher Extensions: Chords like 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths add richness and dissonance. These are most common on dominant function chords to increase tension before resolution.
Incomplete Chords: In 11th and 13th chords, musicians often omit the 3rd to avoid the clash of a minor ninth between the 3rd and 11th.
Sus4 Chords: Produced by substituting the 4th for a 3rd. Unlike classical music, these do not require preparation or resolution.
Chord Substitutions: Replacing one chord with another that shares several notes and fulfills the same function (Tonic, Dominant, or Pre-dominant).
Tritone Substitution: Replacing a dominant 7th chord with a chord whose root is a tritone ( or ) away.
Example: can substitute for because they share the same 3rd and 7th (F and B/).
Structure in Jazz
12-Bar Blues: A cyclic pattern derived from vocal music with lyrics in AAB form. Each line is four bars.
Standard Progression:
Line 1:
Line 2:
Line 3:
Common variants include substituting IV in bar 2 or bar 10.
Turnarounds: Elaborate sequences in the final two bars to prepare for the next chorus.
Song Form / Standard Form:
Usually based on Broadway or Hollywood melodies.
AABA: Four sections of 8 or 16 bars. The B section is called the Middle Eight or Bridge.
ABAB: Another common alternating pattern.
Contrafact: Building a new melody over the chord changes of an existing song (e.g., Charlie Parker's 'Ko-Ko' based on 'Cherokee').
Key Terminology:
Head: The main melody statement at the start and end of an arrangement.
Chorus: One full statement of the chord changes.
Trading Fours: Musicians share the solo line in 4-bar units near the end of a series of solos.
Break: A brief (1-2 bars), often virtuosic, unaccompanied solo occurring at a junction point.
Sonority (Timbre) and Texture
Era Characteristics:
New Orleans Era: Front line includes Clarinet, Cornet/Trumpet, Trombone. Rhythm section includes Guitar, Banjo, Piano, String Bass (or Tuba), and Drum set.
Swing Era (Big Band): Large sections of Saxophones (Alto, Tenor, Baritone), Trumpets, and Trombones. Electric guitar became common in the mid-1930s to compete with volume.
Bebop/Cool Jazz: Return to small ensembles. Vibraphone became a solo instrument. Cool Jazz introduced French horns, flutes, and bass clarinet.
Modern Jazz: Fusion with rock led to electric keyboards, amplified guitars, and studio effects (echo).
Techniques:
Growl / Talking Trumpet: Using the voice or flutter-tongue to create a rasping, human-like vocal sound.
Mutes: Devices added to the bell of brass instruments. The Harmon (Wah-wah) mute is hollow metal; Miles Davis popularized using it without the stem for a withdrawn, bleak sound.
Ghosted Notes: Barely audible, implied notes.
Slap Bass: Double bass technique where strings rebound off the fingerboard, popular in the New Orleans era.
Rim Shot: Striking the rim and skin of a snare drum simultaneously.
Textures:
Heterophonic: Different simultaneous versions of the same melody.
A cappella: Unaccompanied vocal music.
Tempo, Meter, and Rhythm
Swing Feel: Performing equal quavers as an unequal triplet-like rhythm ().
Cross-rhythms: Conflicting pulses, such as 3 against 2. Common in Latin styles like Habanera and Bossa Nova.
Push and Drag: Playing slightly ahead of or behind the beat to create excitement or a laid-back feel.
Double Time: The rhythm moves at half-duration while the chord changes remain at the original speed.
Stop Time: The accompaniment is suspended, and the ensemble plays simple riffs in unison, allowing the soloist to stand out.
Ametrical Rhythm: Music without a regular pulse, characteristic of certain Free Jazz passages (e.g., late Miles Davis works).
Named Artist: Louis Armstrong (1901–1971)
Significance: Often called the most important 20th-century American musician. Shifted Jazz from collective polyphonic improvisation to individual solo virtuosity.
Early Life: Born in extreme poverty in New Orleans. Learned cornet in a children’s home. Discovered by Joe 'King' Oliver.
Career Progression: Moved to Chicago in 1922 to join Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. Joined Fletcher Henderson in New York (1924), introducing the 'hot' style to big bands.
Hot Five and Hot Seven: Seminal recordings from 1925–1928. 'West End Blues' (1928) is considered his masterpiece.
Vocal Innovation: Credited with inventing 'scat' singing. His voice was warm and gravelly, leading to mainstream success as 'Satchmo' or 'Pops.'
Legacy: Broke racial barriers; first black radio presenter (1937), appeared on Time cover (1949), and beat the Beatles for a No. 1 hit with 'Hello Dolly' in 1964.
Named Artist: Duke Ellington (1899–1974)
Significance: The most significant Jazz composer. Led a professional big band for over 50 years.
The Jungle Sound: Developed at the Cotton Club in Harlem (1927–1931). Featured exotic percussion and brass growls/wah-wah effects.
Compositional Style: Wrote longer, symphonic-style works (suites) and religious 'Sacred Concerts.'
Collaborators: Notable for recruiting stars like Johnny Hodges (alto sax) and long-time assistant Billy Strayhorn (composer of 'Take the A Train').
Career Resilience: Survived the decline of big bands in the 1950s; his 1956 Newport Jazz Festival performance of 'Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue' revitalized his career.
Named Artist: Charlie Parker (1920–1955)
Significance: Known as 'Bird.' Pioneer of Bebop in the 1940s. Transformed solo improvisation via extreme chromatic freedom and fast tempi.
Early Life: Grew up in Kansas City, a hub for raw swing music. Practiced obsessively from age 11.
Bebop Development: Collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie. Used 'melodic formulae'—a vocabulary of approximately 100 pre-learned sequences woven into solos.
Personal Struggles: Severe heroin and alcohol addiction eventually led to mental breakdowns, suicide attempts, and an early death at age 34.
Key Works: 'Ko-Ko,' 'Cool Blues,' 'Moose the Mooche.' Showed interest in contemporary classical music by Stravinsky and Bartok.
Named Artist: Miles Davis (1926–1991)
Significance: Continuously reinvented Jazz styles, including Cool Jazz, Hard Bop, Modal Jazz, and Jazz-Rock Fusion.
Performance Style: Pure, vibrato-less sound. Famous for using the stemless Harmon mute for an introspective tone.
Milestones:
Birth of the Cool (1949–50): Nonet recordings emphasizing smooth lines and delicate textures.
Kind of Blue (1959): The best-selling Jazz album of all time, focusing on modal improvisation.
Bitches Brew (1970): Landmark Jazz-rock fusion album with electric instruments and studio editing.
Collaborators: Worked extensively with arranger Gil Evans, pianists Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter.
Named Artist: Pat Metheny (b. 1954)
Significance: Contemporary guitarist and composer who synthesized Jazz with Rock, Latin music (Bossa-Nova), and Classical influences.
Career: Youngest teacher at both University of Miami and Berklee College of Music. Early mentor was vibraphonist Gary Burton.
Style: Known for melodic clarity, guitar synthesizers, and rich, warm harmony using both acoustic and synthesized sounds.
Notable Albums: 'Bright Size Life' (1976), 'American Garage' (1979), and 'Offramp' (1982). Frequent collaborator with bassist Jaco Pastorius and keyboardist Lyle Mays.
Named Artist: Gwilym Simcock (b. 1981)
Significance: British pianist/composer blurring the lines between Jazz and contemporary Classical music.
Background: Studied French horn and piano at Chetham’s and the Royal Academy of Music. Became a BBC 'New Generation Artist' in 2006.
Musical Features: Extensive use of unusual time signatures (, ), polyrhythms, and riffs. Part of the super-group 'The Impossible Gentlemen' and toured with Pat Metheny.
Questions & Discussion (Suggested Tasks)
Analysis of 'West End Blues': Students should map the 12-bar structure, noting instrumentation (tutti vs. solo) and specific Armstrong traits like terminal vibrato and chromatic triplets.
Comparison of 'Star Eyes': Analyze two Charlie Parker versions (1951 quintet vs. 1940 quartet) to compare the mood of the introductions (Latin-feel vs. tight/nervous).
Composition Task: Compose a trumpet solo over a specific 12-bar progression:
Defining Jazz Boundaries: After listening to 'Saeta' from 'Sketches of Spain,' discuss if the mixing of Spanish religious music with Gil Evans' orchestration is still 'Jazz.'