Music

Blues derived from enslaved African group singing in call-and-response (solo leader sings motif, and chorus responds by either repeating or “answering”)

African music uses melismatic embellishment (one syllable set to multiple pitches), likely from Muslim custom of reciting Qur’an with embellishments

Blues lowers 3rd and 7th notes (in West African fashion) and creates mix of major and minor

Blues-singing sometimes refers to using blues inflections (lowering 3 and 7)

Blues progression used tonic-dominant-subdominant chord progression (I-V-IV) for 12 bars; every repetition is a chorus (no need for sheet music) of three four-measure phrases

Blues in duple or quadruple meter, but with longer first eighth note and shorter second eighth note (swing)

During 12 bars, the second phrase mimics the first phrase (with embellishments) before new rhyming third phrase (“punch line”); A-A-B

This convention is satirized by Andrew Llyod Webber’s (b. 1948)musical Starlight Express (1987) in song “Poppa’s Blues” (sung by character Poppa)

In 16th century, “blue devils” meant depression; blues singing meant as catharsis for sorrows of enslaved people that began as an unwritten art

“Country blues” (rural origins of first blues songs in 19th century or earlier) has one (usually male) singer accompanied by guitar, accordion, or harmonica in free rhythm and at informal events (payment sometimes in alcohol)

Country blues, folk blues, Southern blues, Delta blues, and down-home blues are all the same

Country blues was the basis for protest songs of 20th century

First blues singers in Mississippi Delta region with word-of-mouth approach, so only records today are recordings

Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893-1929; started recording 1926) and Huddie Ledbetter (1889-1949), aka Lead Belly (started recording 1933) were among the first to record

Robert Johnson (1911-38) was popular because he suddenly got better at music after 6-month break (speculations that he sold his soul to the Devil); recorded in mid-30s

Classic blues, city blues, urban blues, and vaudeville blues are the same

Classic-blues was more theatrical (people listened instead of the party atmosphere of country blues)

Mostly female vocalists accompanied by piano or combo (small instrumental group)

Classic-blues more focused on love (but both blues had poetic lyrics)

Less free rhythms and first sheet music for blues songs were classic-blues (one of the first was W.C. Handy, 1873-1958, who published starting 1912)

Smith (1894-1937) was “Empress of the Blues” for her “cast-iron” voice (could fill a theater without a microphone) and many recordings

Influenced Ella Fitzgerald (1917-96) and Billie Holiday (1915-59)

Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1911-72) said she was a voice for the South

Rock singer Janis Joplin paid for Smith’s headstone (read “The greatest blues singer in the world will never stop singing”)

Columbia Records published 5 double-album set of records for Smith in 1970

Smith struggled to find studio time but was accepted at near-bankrupt Columbia in Feb. 1923 and saved the company with “Down Hearted Blues” and “Gulf Coast Blues”

Her records sold 6M copies over next six years, with 2M in first ten months

Smith continued to record popular songs (like March 18th, 1926 release of this song, three years after first two hits)

Was not planned for recording session, but added when they realized they were one song short

Conventional (12-bar blues, in Eb key, used A-A-B structure)

Accompanied by Joe Smith (1902-37), cornet, and Fletcher Henderson (1897-1952), piano

Joe Smith reacted to Bessie’s improvised lyrics with cornet motif (“fill”), like the call-and-response of African singing

Bessie had no formal training in classical art music, but added ornamentation to climactic words (shows how gospel singing’s nuances were derived from classic blues)

Slid up quickly through several notes (“slide” or “glissando”), but this was not captured in sheet music

Jazz had many early sub-types (Chicago, Dixieland, and New Orleans), only exceeded by newer swing after WWII

Jazz founded in New Orleans red-light district (bars/brothels) called “Storyville,” created by Sidney Story in 1897 (drafted law to limit prostitution to that one area)

Divided into a “Black” and “White” half (opposite sides of Canal St.)

Competing brothels attracted customers via music; resulted in more creative musicians

Hired either solo pianists or combos, typically a cornet, trombone, clarinet, and piano (or banjo/guitar), bass/tuba, and drums accompaniment

Customer-oriented jazz was lively

Early jazz pianists used ragtime foundation with more improv, faster tempo, and swing

Pianists used dissonances of country and classic blues

Combos allowed for more effects (call and response or heterophony via simultaneous/collective improv)

Collective improv (like terraced percussion of Latin American and African culture) became New Orleans jazz

New Orleans jazz was for Black musicians; White musicians used a similar style, but more pre-planning due to greater sheet music reading ability (Dixieland jazz)

Original Dixieland Jazz Band made first jazz recording “Livery Stable Blues” (1917; Black musicians did not record until several years after

Storyville’s music scene limited when U.S. entered WWI; Secretary of War Newton W. Baker wanted no prostitution within five miles of army camp (part of American Social Hygiene Organization’s moral campaign)

Unemployed musicians now went North (like Chicago) and adapted New Orleans jazz (first recordings made in early 1920s)

New Orleans musicians had less experience (fewer solo breaks), but Chicago had longer solo breaks and less collective improv

Joe “King” Oliver (1881-1938) used both Chicago and New Orleans jazz; Oliver started in New Orleans and made King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band (“king” referring to lead cornet player in New Orleans combos)

Oliver’s peers in Chicago were also New Orleans musicians (many featured in his recordings, started in April 1923)

The Gennett Studio (Richmond, Indiana) was 4 hr. bus ride southeast of Chicago and needed to make one-day trip (no hotels would accommodate Black people)

Studio was small and covered with draperies to muffle train track sounds; two megaphone-shaped cardboard horns hung from walls to get sound

Recorded April 1923 and used New Orleans jazz instrumentation with mix of New Orleans and Chicago in the song

Oliver and Louis Armstrong (1901-71), hired July 1922, played cornet

“Dippermouth” and “Satchmo” (Satchel Mouth) were Armstrong’s nicknames (due to his large mouth)

Oliver played solos during chorus 6 and 7; Armstrong played chorus 5

Honoré Dutry, trombone, Johnny Dodds, clarinet, “Baby” (Warren, Johnny’s little brother) Dodds, drums (plays woodblock here due to lack of sound clarity with drums), Bill Johnson, banjo, and Lil Hardin, piano

Chicago jazz in intro (both cornets repeat descending eighth-note homophonic melody three times); first chorus uses New Orleans jazz

Stop-time choruses (group plays staccato chord on downbeat while Johnny Dodds plays measure alone) also pre-planned

Choruses 3, 4, 6, and 7 are Chicago jazz; choruses 1, 2, 5, 8, and 9 are New Orleans jazz

12-bar blues shows jazz’s hybrid origins

Baby Dodds supposed to play woodblock at end of chorus 8, but forgot (reminded by Johnson’s “Oh, play that thing!”)

End resembles “big finish” (aka sock-chorus or out-chorus) of New Orleans jazz

Tag ending pre-planned in Chicago style

Swing used heavily throughout the piece

Wah-wah mute used by Oliver in Choruses 6/7 (used 1920s by waving rubber plunger in front of cornet bell to mimic adults talking, like in Charlie Brown)

Used in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (2009) as alligator Louis (tribute to Armstrong) hears Prince Naveen play the melody

Lil Hardin differed from others in the group (not from New Orleans, only woman, and had formal music training)

Played piano at Jones’ Music Store in Chicago to demonstrate sheet music to customers; got reputation for “jazzing” the songs and nicknamed “Jazz Wonder Child” (to her mother’s horror)

Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band booked at a local restaurant with another singer, but had no pianist to accompany her

Ability to notate music came in handy (helped Armstrong read/write music and became his second of his four wives in 1924)

Saw that Armstrong was in Oliver's shadow (Oliver rarely featured him) and encouraged him to break away

Louis got offer to go to NY and be first cornet player for Fletcher  Henderson’s Orchestra; learned trumpet and vocals in NY

Lil saw her husband’s lack of billing in orchestra, so persuaded Chicago’s manager of Dreamland Club to offer him $75/week as leader of new band (advertised with sign “Louis Armstrong, the World’s Greatest Trumpet Player”); Louis took job in 1925

Okeh Records announced $50/player for recording session, so Louis got “The Hot Five” quintet (himself, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Johnny St. Cyr (1890-1966) on banjo, “Kid” Edward Ory (1886-1973) on trombone, and Lil Hardin)

Did not perform together outside of studio, but gathered at Okeh Records over next few years, like their 1926 hit “Heebie Jeebies” (Louis scatted the words since he forgot them)

“Scatting” is scat-singing (nonsense syllables in improv)

Group recorded six tunes Dec. 9-13 of 1927 with guitarist Lonnie Jonhson (1899-1970), one of them being “Hotter Than That”

Recorded Dec. 13, 1927 and fully Chicago jazz (long solos with heterophonic group parts)

Used 32-bar form (instead of 12) used in popular music of the time, sometimes split into two 16-bar sections

Changes are series of chords for a song

George Gershwin’s (1898-1937) “I Got Rhythm” (written for Broadway's 1930 Girl Crazy) has chord changes used by many artists

“Tiger Rag” (1917) by Original Dixieland Jazz band has familiar chord changes two minutes into the recording (used previously, but made popular by this song) and used by Hardin in this song

Third chorus is rhythmically complex (Armstrong shifts to quarter note triplets and briefly groups them into sets of three, like 3/2, against the guitar’s common time, 4/4) and shows “playing with time” adopted by later musicians

Armstrong and Johnson do a call-and-response after the scat (almost like a meowing cat) and Hardin reestablishes tempo

Kid Ory has trombone solo for first half of Chorus 4 and band does collective improv for the rest of the chorus while Armstrong played 11 syncopated “C”

This song led to the book Hotter Than That: The Trumpet, Jazz, and American Culture in 2008 by Krin Gabbard

“Swing Era” in 30s and 40s increased performance expectations and had more pre-planning since more could read music, creating “big band jazz” (larger ensembles)

Count (William) Basie (1904-84), Fletcher Henderson, and Duke (Edward Kennedy) Ellington (1899-1974) influenced “pre-swing” music in the 20s

Duke Ellington required stitches on head after getting hit with baseball bat, so mother signed him up for piano lessons to be safer

Created relationships with his musicians and paid them well

Composed 2,000 pieces of music with arranger/composer Billy Strayhorn (1915-67)

Ellington used multiple solos (Chicago jazz) to highlight virtuosity of players

Brass players used mutes to change tone color, clarinet played lowest register for mysterious mood, and wordless voice (like 1927 “Creole Love Call”)

Ellington made Latin jazz (swing with Latin American percussion) with Juan Tizol

Basie was a high-demand pianist in NY, but agreed to accompany a touring group in 1927 that fell apart (he was stranded in Kansas City)

He started playing there; made “Kansas City” sound and model rhythm section (piano, string bass, guitar, and drum set)

Also made “head arrangement” (composition devised on the spot by having band play riffs, or ostinato-like motifs, instead of heterophony)

Gave prominence to the piano and let them play right hand melodies without left hand accompaniment (rare for the time, like Lil Hardin)

Henderson trained as chemist, but got job demonstrating songs (like Hardin) for a publisher while getting master’s degree at Columbia University in NY

Publisher launched Black Swan (first Black-owned recording company) and Henderson helped recruit members, including Louis Armstrong from Chicago to play at Roseland Ballroom in NY with group (started career as bandleader)

Helped build swing and increased band size for “big band”

Treated sections as units (woodwinds, brass, etc.) in sectional writing, aka block voicing, with his arranger, Don Redman (1900-64)by using riffs and call-and-response between sections

Challenging music (wife Leora, 1898-1958, says it was an honor to get into the band) and spurred music literacy movement in Harlem (according to trumpeter Louis Metcalf, 1905-81)

Henderson played with Don Redman, Louis Armstrong, Bobby Stark, Joe Smith, Coleman Hawkins, Buster Bailey, Benny Carter, John Kirby, and Big Charlie Green throughout career

This was recorded May 14, 1926 (same year as “Lost Your Head Blues”) with Bailey and Redman (clarinet), Hawkins (tenor sax), and Smith (cornet; Armstrong was in Chicago)

Hawkins (1904-69) and Smith (1902-37) featured soloists for 2nd and 3rd choruses, respectively

Features vamp (short motif/interlude until next chorus or until next performer is ready) at ends of 2nd and 3rd choruses

Created big band standards (riff passed along sections, call-and-response instead of soloists, block voicing, and 11-person ensemble with four brass, 3 woodwind, and 4 rhythm of piano, tuba, banjo, drums) that Ellington wanted to imitate

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Cholera epidemic in her town; contracted it as a child, but survived

Germaine’s mother (Marie-Désirée Taillefesse) fell in love with notary’s son, but her father met Arthur Taillefesse on a train and wanted daughter to have same last name before and after marriage (hid letters from his daughter’s lover and convinced her to marry Arthur)

Germaine’s parents always fighting, including over her musical talent (her mother brought her to Paris Conservatory in 1904 and accepted at age 12, but father thought it was equal to letting his daughter be a “streetwalker,” or prostitute)

Germaine went to a convent and was taken to Conservatory by nuns once Arthur left for work

Under piano teacher Eva Sautereau-Meyer, Germaine won multiple prizes (her father got to know about it and was proud, but would not give her financial help, so she paid for studies by tutoring in music)

Won first prize in harmony class and counterpoint class (where she met Milhaud, Honegger, and Auric, future members of Les Six)

Got pilot’s license as balloonist and counterpoint teacher went with her on maiden voyage

WWI caused Conservatory classes to be cut back, but Tailleferre continued to attend (with three others, including Milhaud, who encouraged her to keep composing before going to Brazil with Paul Claudel in 1917 when Conservatory classes were fully cut)

Tailleferre had stage fright (played entire Bach piece in wrong key because she was afraid of Conservatory director being on the jury)

Tailleferre and her family left Paris for safer area during the war (Arthur died in 1914)

Performed for Erik Satie (1886-1925), leader in French innovative music, in 1917 (christened her his “musical daughter”)

Befriended Princesse Édmond de Polignac (1865–1943), born Winaretta Singer (Singer sewing machine owner’s daughter), who let Tailleferre stay in a property in Basque region of Southwest France for winter of 1920, where she composed her first violin sonata

Les Six composed ballet for Ballets Suédois (also commissioned La création du monde) in 1921, but Durey pulled out last-minute, so Tailleferre had to work harder on the piece

Ballets Suédois appreciated her extra effort and commissioned her alone to write a ballet the next year, 1922

The Princesse said Tailleferre’s archaic style of ballet reminded her of Baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti and commissioned a piano concerto

Patron helped for the concerto to be performed in U.S. cities in spring 1925; it was popular, so she returned to NY often over the next year

Met Ralph Barton (1891–1931) at party by Blanche Knopf (wife of publisher Alfred Knopf) in NY in late November 1926

Barton was a famous caricaturist for The New Yorker and other famous magazines

Barton was thrice-married, but asked Tailleferre to marry him while he drove her back to her hotel; they were married a week later

Couple divided time between U.S. and France, but moved back to France in December 1928 and composed Sicilienne (dedicating it to her husband)

Played Rhapsody in Blue (two-piano version) with George Gershwin at a Manhattan party

Marriage ended 1929 due to husband’s jealousy of her success

Sicilienne is French translation of Italian “siciliano” (used by Baroque composers trying to imitate music of Sicily)

Like most “siciliano” pieces, Sicilienne uses compound-duple meter and conjunct melody

Sicilienne chords seemed conventional to listeners used to jazz chords, but moves away after the first three beats (in F maj) to the parallel minor (Db and Eb in the second half of the second measure) to create a blues feel using mixed modes (Eb is the seventh note lowered)

Eb again in second half of third measure (beat 6)

Also flattens mediant of F maj (A to Ab; third note is commonly lowered in jazz)

Jazz rarely found in Tailleferre’s other works, so it might be a nod to her husband’s American birth

Sicilienne uses ternary form

First A section ends with accented and forte polychord (E maj triad under Bb major triad)

B section has a jazz-style hemiola (creates a triple meter feel) before sixteenth-note triplets harmonized (mostly) as parallel sixths

Ninth chord (A-C-E-G-Bb) before A returns

Coda signaled by polychord with C and Bb roots

Sicilienne difficult to play (triplet sixteenths like a cadenza; notated on three staves instead of two, like most piano pieces)