...Jazz is an art form that originated and developed in America. Even though Jazz was created using the musical instincts of the African and European traditions, it reflects the American life. Over the years Jazz music has played a key role by reflecting an American’s right to personal freedom of expression. For instance, “Jazz has been called the purest expression of American democracy; a music built on individualism and compromise, independence and cooperation [1].” It has had a major influence on many musical styles and genres within the American society and continues to do so. Therefore, Jazz can be called the true American Classical Music. Just like Classical Music, Jazz has its own standard of literacy, form, and complexity. It has established a value over time and it allows many cultures to communicate thought as well as ideas with one another for Jazz is widely known. The only time Jazz was considered mainstream was the in the 1930s commonly known as the Swing Era. This is the time where many musicians were finally experimenting with the music and crafting jazz arrangements for bigger bands. The end of the Swing Era was marked by one main disaster. This had to do largely with the direct effects of World War II itself for members in the big bands were forced to serve their country [1]. There were also gas shortages, a tax raise, and curfew. These dissuaded people from going out which had a dramatic impact on the Swing. Since then Jazz music then proceeded to decline in popularity...
Words: 530 - Pages: 3
...History of Jazz Music | | | Inemesit Inyang Crump | 4/27/2012 | | In the world we live in today there many different types of music that comes from all types of people, countries and origins. Rock, blues, neo-soul, classical, hip-hop, techno and even heavy metal are just brief descriptions of the many genres of music. One genre of music that is most popularly known worldwide is Jazz. Jazz is one of the most historical forms of music in America, contributing to several cultural achievements and society. The history of jazz has an extensive timeline of history dating back to the early 1700’s and 1800’s which is also known as the slave era and the ragtime era. This unique form art has helped to unite people of all races, regions and national boundaries. Even though it is a form of entertainment, it has been used to widely voice sentiments on slavery, freedom, creativity, and American character both in the United States and also overseas. Jazz music consists of many forms such as European, ragtime, modal, afro-cuban jazz, fusion and many more. While many people argue that Jazz is not one of their favorite forms of music, it has been proven that it is one of the longest lasting forms of music dating back over 100 years. Jazz was born to African Americans, which were predominantly slaves. These African Americans attempted to express their culture and feelings using instruments to give other cultures an idea of their personalities. Even though Jazz is a descendant...
Words: 1737 - Pages: 7
...COUNT BASIE / ONE O’CLOCK JUMP Count Basie wrote One o’clock jump in 1937, with arrangements Eddie Durham and Buster Smith. At the same time, the song became the theme song of the Count Basie Orchestra. Eight instruments are used in this song; these are piano (C. Basie), trumpet (E. Lewis), trombone (B. Scott), saxophone (J. Washington), guitar (F. Green), Drums (J. Jones) and bass (W. Page), which brings in the whole reed section backed by the trombones and their loping punctuation, to a finish that was supposed to have everyone off their feet. One o’clock jump plays simpler standard a 12-bar blues instrumental, then uses more melodic motion and passing tones in the second 12 bars. In the song, there is a typical of Basie’s early riff style. There were at least five different riffs. You know, there was one riff of saxophones used behind the trombone solo. Another riff the trumpets used behind the saxophone solo. And another ensemble chorus, which consisted of about three different riffs: the saxophone section doing one, the trombones doing another, and the trumpets doing another one. The instrumentation is based on “head arrangements” where each section makes up their part based on what the other sections are playing. The Basie’s music is always intended for dancing and thus it makes sense that he has the best rhythm section, which bases on bass, drums and guitar in the song. The high- fidelity (hi-fi) song affects a lot of big bands. Finally until duration of the song (3...
Words: 281 - Pages: 2
...19 July 2010 Jazz as a Black American Art Form : Definitions of the Jazz Preservation Act JEFF FARLEY Jazz music and culture have experienced a surge in popularity after the passage of the Jazz Preservation Act (JPA) in 1987. This resolution defined jazz as a black American art form, thus using race, national identity, and cultural value as key aspects in making jazz one of the nation’s most subsidized arts. Led by new cultural institutions and educational programs, millions of Americans have engaged with the history and canon of jazz that represent the values endorsed by the JPA. Record companies, book publishers, archivists, academia, and private foundations have also contributed to the effort to preserve jazz music and history. Such preservation has not always been a simple process, especially in identifying jazz with black culture and with America as a whole. This has required a careful balancing of social and musical aspects of jazz. For instance, many consider two of the most important aspects of jazz to be the blues aesthetic, which inevitably expresses racist oppression in America, and the democratic ethic, wherein each musician’s individual expression equally contributes to the whole. Balanced explanations of race and nationality are useful not only for musicologists, but also for musicians and teachers wishing to use jazz as an example of both national achievement and confrontation with racism. Another important aspect of the JPA is the definition of jazz as a ‘‘ high ’’...
Words: 8297 - Pages: 34
...Jazz and jizz Jazz is a music genre that originated from African American communities of New Orleans in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African American andEuropean American musical parentage with a performance orientation.[1] Jazz spans a period of over a hundred years, encompassing a very wide range of music, making it difficult to define. Jazz makes heavy use of improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swing note,[2] as well as aspects of European harmony, American popular music,[3] the brass band tradition, and African musical elements such as blue notes and African-American styles such as ragtime.[1] Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience to the music as well. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".[4] As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to many distinctive styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collectivepolyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisational style and Gypsy jazz (a style...
Words: 415 - Pages: 2
...Professor Barr Wednesday 3:00 11/22/10 Concert Report I attended the Fall Jazz Band concert at Mt. Sac in the Sophia B. Clarke Theater. The show was on Friday November 19th, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. The concert first featured the Latin Jazz Ensemble of Mt. Sac. Followed by the Latin Jazz Ensemble was the Mt. Sac Jazz Ensemble 1. The concert was directed by Jeff Ellwood and Tim Curle. The first piece played by the Mt. Sac Jazz Ensemble was called “Intersecting Lines” which was composed by Les Hooper. After warming the audience up with that piece, they went on to play “True North” by Mike Dana. Next the Ensemble played “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” by Irving Berlin. The last piece the Latin Jazz Ensemble played was “Too High,” composed by Stevie Wonder, which I thought was pretty interesting. After a short intermission the Mt.Sac Jazz Ensemble came out and started off with “Hot and Spicey,” by Jason Goldman. The second song they played was called “Count Me In” by Billy Byers. Next they played “D-Bop” played in D-Flat I believe, and it was said to be a difficult piece for the ensemble, but they still mastered it. After “D-Bop” the piece called “Truth” was played which featured a solo piece from a talented saxophone player. Then they played “And Another Thing,” which is composed by Tom Garling. The last piece played was called “Yes or No,” and this was composed by Wayne Shortner. Jazz music started towards the beginning of the 20th century. This genre was first...
Words: 568 - Pages: 3
...Jazz is a seemingly simple, but also very complex style of music that’s exact origin is somewhat unclear; however, most associate the birthplace of jazz with the city of New Orleans in a French Quarter, in which prostitution was openly tolerated, known as Storyville. In these thirty-eight blocks brothels, gambling joints, saloons, dives, cabarets and newly emerging music such as jazz flourished and was an integral part of everyday life in New Orleans (Grauer and Keepnews 3). During the first half of the 20th Century, jazz was mainly viewed as non-intellectual or utilitarian music that primarily served the purpose of entertainment in the streets by brass bands and later in the cafes and smoke-filled nightclubs it was often performed in. It...
Words: 1135 - Pages: 5
...How Jazz Music Lead to a Victory in World War II Music is a very powerful tool, it can bring people together, it can make two people hate each other and in some instances it can put words into your head without you even knowing (ie. Hotel California- The Eagles). Music is something that nearly everybody listens to anywhere from church hymns to the ear splitting dubstep music that sounds like Autobots and Decepticons fighting. Since it is so universal that means that it could have a large impact on every population. I shouldn’t use the word could, it has impacted history already as it is. In my paper I will prove this by showing you that the invention of jazz music effected World War II enough to push us onto the winning side of the war. Imagine a time when the United States only consisted of nineteen states, and James Monroe has just been elected president. This time would be the year 1817 and it was also the year that the world of jazz would begin. I use the word begin in a very loose way, because jazz music didn’t just pop out of the ground one day. What I am referring to is that in New Orleans in 1817 Congo Square was designated as the official site for slave music and dance. This was what began what lead up to become jazz music. The music itself wasn’t started until at the very earliest 1892 when African American artist, Tommy Turpin writes what is considered to be the first ragtime song on his piano. [2] Ragtime music is a music style that would eventually turn into...
Words: 2054 - Pages: 9
...Listening Activity 2- Jazz Composition Part I The genre was New Orleans hot jazz, which was why his early bands were named Louis Armstrong Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. A brief instrumental introduction by the ensemble gives way to a wonderfully swinging chorus by Armstrong on cornet; he dances playfully around the melody, keeping his audience guessing where he might be leading them. At the break, clarinetist Johnny Dodds, a talented musician in his own right, takes up the challenge, doing what he can to keep pace with Armstrong's virtuosity. It begins with a section of free polyphony followed by improvised solos. The song is built around a 32-measure tune written by Lil Hardin. The 32-measure chord pattern is repeated several times, and the performers improvise all their melodic lines over this stable chord structure. The end of each 16-measure section is played as a break everyone drops out except the soloist, who leads the song into the next half of the chorus or into the next chorus itself. The basic structure of the performance is shown here: Intro: full ensemble (8 bars) Chorus 1: trumpet solo with rhythm section (32 bars) Chorus 2: clarinet solo with rhythm section (32 bars) Chorus 3: vocal with guitar (32 bars) New material: vocal and guitar duet (16 bars) Chorus 4: trombone solo with rhythm section (16 bars) full ensemble (16 bars) Coda: trumpet and guitar Armstrong sings a repeated figure that sounds like triple meter and superimposes it over the duple...
Words: 377 - Pages: 2
...sounds supported by tunes generated by musical instruments like guitars, violins, fiddles, keyboards, and xylophones to mention but a few. Dating back to the invention of jazz in the Roaring Twenties, this sound has developed over the years into Early Creole music, and later Creole zydeco. In our generation, some of the most talented bands that play this kind of music include the unsung heroes Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys based in Louisiana. The band comprises Jeffrey Broussard on lead vocals, vocals, and accordion, John Gerald Broussard on bass, Chris Fruge on scrub board and drums, and D’Jalma Garnier III on fiddle and guitar. With a career spanning over four years, the band has had two studio albums: Return of the Creole (Le Retour du Créole) released in 2007 and Keeping the Tradition Alive released in 2011. My personal favorite is the title track to their debut studio album, ‘The Return of the Creole.’ Their fans appreciate their rich, indigenous brand of contemporary Zydeco as well as the rendition of Creole classics. Early Creole music is currently experiencing a well-deserved comeback thanks to the band whose front man Jeffrey is the son of legendary Creole classic star Delton Broussard. On Friday, Jeffrey and his band are scheduled to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. If you are a jazz fan, now would be the time to get that ticket before they are sold out. According to the New York Times “Mr. Broussard and his Cowboys are fabulous: You start moving in...
Words: 510 - Pages: 3
...picked, tone of voice, how words are used, etc, are some of many changes made to each genre. The same can be said about many other musical genres, but the musical platforms that I choose to compare and contrast are Hip-Hop and Rhythm & Blues (R&B). The musical layout of Hip-Hop and R&B has come a long way. People that do not listen to these genres regularly, may wave them off as having the same sound, and just think that of it as the same type of music. If you are familiar with Jazz and Blues, you can notice that the structure of Hip-Hop and R&B is based off of them. If you were to let someone who is familiar hear an example or a small “cut” of these types of music, they would immediately be able to tell apart which is which. R&B and Hip-Hop can be considered as cultural inhabitants within themselves, being that a large amount of people mainly to each and or both. One of the ways that the differences may seem subtle is that modern R&B molds from classical jazz and blues, and Hip-Hop is primarily molded from R&B. The musical tone, lyrical content, and sometimes the drums & musical “beat” can usually tell each other apart. R&B tends to have a calm sound to it mainly because the content being announced usually is about love-loss or being in the pursuit of. The Blues, in general seems to be enhanced, therefore a lot of R&B songs may seem to be a...
Words: 367 - Pages: 2
...Music in today’s culture has expanded into many different types of genres. There is jazz, pop, culture swing, gospel, bluegrass classical, contemporary, indie, rock-n-roll, opera, Latino, the list goes on. In the different genres music there are also different sub-genres. For instance in classical music there are different types of classical music, for example the waltz, and also ragtime music. In the Gospel genre there are southern gospel, sacred gospel, contemporary gospel, Christian, hymns, etc… Music has always been a part of different cultures throughout history and around the world. Jazz music was started in Africa, yet developed in Europe, thus giving us the well-known genre of jazz music. According to Wikipedia, a cultures music...
Words: 1611 - Pages: 7
...R. Matzen Is Jazz Dead, Or Has It Just Moved Across The Pond? Jazz may appear to be dead, but only at first glance. The era in which jazz first launched and gained massive pop culture status in the United States has come and gone by more than 80 years. Even so, the improvisational genre continues to thrive outside its birthplace with great enthusiasm in the countries of Europe. All it takes is a jump across the ocean to realize that jazz is very much alive and growing thanks to the talent of a few innovative artists residing there. American jazz music accompanied the liberation of Europe after World War II where it came to be strongly associated with freedom. Shortly after the liberation there was a large influx of American jazz musicians, including greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Bud Powell and Ben Webster who traveled overseas to find a wider, more accepting audience and to escape the racism to which they were regularly subjected to in the United States. Having all these jazz legends living in Europe enabled a large cultural exchange between the musicians of America and the musicians of Europe. Jazz music was quickly internalized by the European musicians who were eager to add tinges of their own folk music and culture to the ever expanding melting pot of American jazz. Due to the fact that the Europeans were so open to cultural exchange and so willing to except and support jazz - through the likes of the avant-garde Polish Trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, Norwegian...
Words: 932 - Pages: 4
...Jazz and Rap What is known today as “pop” or popular music evolved in American society at the end of 19th centry. Pop music, which accounts for the majority of the music, is a mix of many different styles of music, such as jazz and rap. Although jazz and rap originate from two different groups of people, the African-American and South African, they are both musical art forms and related to African people. However, there are some obvious differences, which are reflected in instruments, musical styles and effects on the audience. First of all, different instruments have different effects on jazz and rap. Considering many genres of jazz, many instruments are used, such as piano, violin and guitar. “Meanwhile, the central instruments remained central, with the exception of the clarinet, and new approaches developed for the trombone, saxophone, piano, guitar, string bass, and drums”(Kernfeld 167). On the other hand, rap has no specific instruments to be used. Instead, making vocal imitations of instruments or body beat, which have the same effects as a drum, is the core of rap music. In addition, musical styles differ between jazz and rap. Heavy rhythms characterize the free-style poetry of rap. “Rhythm is such a key element to making a song sound great, the rhythm is actually where the lyrics begin for many artists-the rhythm is the first thing they come up with, before they even have words for the song”(Edwards p113-116) Moreover, the free-style rap is full of battle...
Words: 606 - Pages: 3
...profoundly influential to the history of jazz? Bebop has been very influential in the jazz industry as well as the art industry. From when it began in 1940 up until right now, Bebop has impacted jazz exponentially. When Bebop started, different musicians did not like the sound of Bebop. They thought it was setting jazz music back twenty years. A famous swing musician, Although in the text they break it down to five main reasons why bebop has been so influential. Those five main reasons are, art music, innovation, individualism, vocabulary and political activism. These five terms have contributed to the success of the bebop movement. Bebop became more of an art and a way to express yourself, which is unlike any other type of jazz that was created before this. This opened up jazz for people to become more expressive with it and it was an art form rather than an entertainment piece. Through the art music, bebop created a way for people to innovate beyond the norms and to look past that. This would help what was coming later in the jazz era. The third reason was individualism, up until this point there was soloist artists. Louis Armstrong attempted it, but the idea didn’t come through until Bebop came along. The vocabulary that was created was new to the Bebop movement. It is said that when Bebop came along it made the swing vocabulary outdated. Most of the words that were created in the Bebop vocabulary are still used in the genetic code of jazz. The last and final reason why Bebop...
Words: 287 - Pages: 2
