Jazz

=Jazz=

//"If you're in jazz and more than ten people like you, you're labelled commercial"// - [|Herbie Mann] (b.1930)



History of Jazz Music
Jazz emerged at the beginning of the 20th century US as a hybrid of [|ragtime], [|blues], and the regional music prevalent in the [|New Orleans] and its surroundings. It is considered to be a truly American music since it was established as a combination of America's two dominant cultures - African and European. There are several distinct eras in the shaping of the jazz music. Prior to 1930s and 40s, jazz genre is referred to as the "early jazz" and its most important feature included the collective group improvisation. It emerged as a combination of the aural tradition of the blues and the imitation of the popular marching band style popularized by [|John Philip Sousa]. The first recording of this jazz style was made in 1917 by the [|Original Dixieland Jazz Band] and was named the "Livery Stable Blues". It is interesting to note that while this genre of music is strongly influenced by African-American culture, this first recording was made by an all-white band. The primary function of this kind of music was to entertain the black working class. By 1920s, the new capital of jazz ceased to be New Orleans which was instead replaced by Chicage, due to the large migrations of black workers from south to north in search of employment. This is when the first prominent jazz musicians emerged on the scene. Some of these include composer/pianist [|Jelly Roll Morton], concertists [|Joe "King" Oliver], [|Freddie Keppard], and [|Louis Armstrong], soprano sax and clarinet player [|Sidney Bechet], clarinetist [|Jimmy Noone], pianist [|Earl Hines], and trombonist [|Kid Ory]. These black performers also inspired many white musicians to turn to jazz and form their own bands. One important factor contributing to the exploding popularity of jazz music was the conclusion of the World War I when American people were ready to celebrate and relax and jazz music offered them the perfect opportunity for this. The popular "[|Charleston]" dance of the early 1920s was one well-known product of this music style. In the 1920s other names emerged on the jazz music scene and these included [|Mamie Smith], [|Bessie Smith], [|Ma Rainey], [|Alberta Hunter], and [|Ethel Waters]. The most important change that took place was the transformation of the traditional New Orleans style of five musicians to larger "jazz age" groups of usually ten musicians. The image below shows one early jazz band of 1920s.



Different Jazz Styles
Since its creation jazz has become a varied genre of music that has branched out over the time into many different sub-genres. While all these sub-genres can still be placed into the broader jazz category, each of these styles possesses a distinct set of characteristics as well as its own set of performers who popularized it. Thus, they should all be commented on separately.

Swing
This form of jazz originated in Kansas City and Harlem in the 1920s and it was marked by the substitution of orchestration for improvisation and a rhythm that falls between the beats. The average big band of this style had about 15 members playing together. The best known artists of this form include bands and solists like the [|Duke Ellington] and [|Count Basie]**,** [|Fletcher Henderson], **Jimmy Lunceford**, [|Benny Goodman], [|Artie Shaw], [|Glenn Miller], [|Tommy Dorsey], and [|Harry James].

Latin
This is a hybrid sub-genre which combines different traditional rhythms from African and Latin American countries with traditional jazz beats. The main difference from the traditional jazz is that it employs straight rhythm rather than swung rhythm. There are two main categories of this style, onw being the **Brazilian Latin Jazz** which in turn includes the styles of [|Bossa Nova] and [|Samba]. The second sub-group is the **Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz** and it includes such styles as [|salsa], [|merengue], [|songo], **son**, [|mambo], [|bolero], [|charanga], and [|cha cha cha]. Well known artists of this style are [|Machito], [|Stan Kenton],[|Antonio Carlos Jobim], [|Joao Gilberto], and [|Stan Getz].

Stan Kenton playing the Latin Jazz

Bebop
The type of jazz which developed in Harlem in the early 1940s. This unusual name was coined by the young jazz artists, including [|Dizzy Gillespie] (1917-93), [|Charlie Parker] (1920-55), and **Theolonius Monk** (1917-82), to describe the style which emerged during their jam sessions. This style was characterized by upbeat rhythms, fast tempo, and improvisation. This is the dominant style of jazz during the World War II.

Cool jazz, also referred to as the "modern jazz" and "progressive jazz", is the style of jazz whose performers take a somewhat more intellectual approach to thier music. It developed primarily on the West Coast (after beginning in New York) in the late 1940s and early 50s. One of the most prominent characteristic of this style is the disdain for any kind of showmanship which is an integral part of jazz performing and these musicians often play with their backs to the audience. The formal elements include the muted rhythm and the drummer which simply keeps the beat. The freedom to improvise is even more emphasized in this style that in other jazz sub-genres. The best known cool jazz performers include [|Miles Davis] (1926-91) and the [|Dave Brubeck Quartet].

Miles Davis

Hard Bop
This sub-genre includes a variety of even further branched-out jazz styles developed in the mid-1950s and 60s. The main difference between this style and the original Bebop style of the 1940s is the more intense rhythmic drive along with an infusion of blues and gospel influences. The performers of this style used an already popular songs of the day as tools for improvisation. The popular song which came out of this experimentation include [|Clifford Brown's] "Joy Spring," [|Benny Golson's] "Blues March," [|Bobby Timmons's] "Moanin'," and [|Cannonball Adderley's] "Work Song." While the cool jazz style included predominantly white musicians from the West Coast, hard bop evolved among African-American musicians and reflected their experiences in the East. Other well known artists of this style are [|John Coltrane], [|Sonny Rollins], [|Horace Silver], [|Art Blakey], and [|Max Roach].

John Coltrane playing the saxophone

Third Stream
This form of jazz is really the blend of classical music and jazz. The most notable artists who cntributed to the creation of this style of music include [|Gunther Schuller] and [|John Lewis] of the [|Modern Jazz Quartet].

Avant Garde
Avant Garde tyoe of jazz is also called the "free jazz". It is characterized by an exploration of new harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic relationships. This new type of jazz is often atonal, and traditional melodic instruments often assume rhythmic-percussive roles and vice versa. The leaders of this style of jazz include [|Ornette Coleman], [|Eric Dolphy], [|Pharaoh Sanders], [|Archie Shepp], [|Cecil Taylor], and [|Rahsaan Roland Kirk].

Groove Jazz
This style of jazz is not a single distinct style but is rather a hybrid combination of various already existing styles which include, among others, hard bop and fusion jazz. It has been continuously developing since the 1960s and its most important characteristic is the importance of the underlying and continuous funky backbeat. It is closely tied with another subgroup of the jazz genre - the [|soul jazz]. Famous performers of this style include the guitarist [|Wes Montgomery], multi-reed player [|Roland Kirk], tenor saxophonist [|Hank Mobley], and alto saxophonist [|Cannonball Adderley].

Jazz Fusion
This sub-genre emerged from the fusion of jazz and rock, "jazz rock", which attempts to fuse elements of both genres of music. It combines jazz improvisation with the instrumentation and rhythm of R&B and it also employs technology to a greater extent. This means that the piano is sometimes replaced with the electric piano and the synthesizer. The best known performers of this style are among others the [|Weather Report], [|Return to Forever], and [|Blood, Sweat and Tears] who were at the hight of their career in the early 70s. While these are all American bands, in the Great Britain it was the band **Coliseum** which was fomous for performing this jazz style.

Return to Forever band

Smooth & Contemporary Jazz
This style has developed in the mid to late 70s and while it uses all the traditional instruments of jazz it also exploits its inspiration from other genres of music such as [|funk], [|pop], and [|R&B]. One important difference in this style as opposed to other jazz styles is that it traditionally emphasizes melody and de-emphasizes improvisation which is otherwise essential to jazz music. The best known artists of this style are the saxophonists [|David Sanborn], Warren Hill, guitarist [|George Benson] and pianist [|Joe Sample].

Neo-Classic Jazz
A style which emerged in the 1980s and 90s as an attempt to revive the classic hits of the earlier jazz eras (including among others those of Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, and the Duke Elliot). As young jazz artists attempted to do this, they gradually incorporated these hits into their own music and this style was born. Today the best known artists of this style are trumpeters [|Wynton Marsalis], [|Roy Hargrove], and [|Nicholas Payton]; pianists [|Stephen Scott], Eric Reed, and [|Marcus Roberts]; saxophonist Donald Harrison, guitarist [|Russell Malone], and bassist [|Christian McBride].

Roy Hargrove, the present-day face of jazz music

Instruments and Musical Elements Used in Jazz Music
Jazz as a style exploits a wide variety of different musical instruments. The most commonly used ones in this kind of music are the [|piano], the [|guitar], the [|drum set], and the [|double bass]. [|Brass instruments], including the [|trumpet] and [|trombone], are also frequently used as well as woodwinds such as [|clarinet] and [|saxophone]. It is interesting to note that many of these instrumenst were traditionally used in 19th-century European-style marching bands and were later adapted by African-American musicians (following the Civil War) for their own style of music. The musical elements and influences that make the use of these traditional instruments in jazz music truly different than in other forms of music include [|call and response], [|syncopation], [|ostinato], [|polymeters], [|polyrhythm], and [|improvisation]**.**

Image References
      