Y13 A2 - Four Decades of Jazz: Overview

Four Decades of Jazz and Blues

1910-1950

Origins of Jazz

African music – complicated rhythms, syncopation, call and response, improvisation, blue notes, slides, polyrhythms, singing in close harmony, using dance and music to work up to a frenzy or trance-like state

Spiritual – religious melody originally sung by African American slaves in churches or as they worked. The melodies were often pentatonic and were sung (often in harmony) with such fervour that they could lead to a trance-like state. The words, when written down by white musicians often reflected a “black” way of speaking. Nobody Knows the Trouble I Seen, Michael Row The Boat Ashore

Gospel – sung in black American churches, combines spiritual melodies with blues notes, jazz rhythms, call and response, improvised parts to make the melodies more upbeat and allow performers to work themselves up into an almost hypnotic state of religious ecstasy. Oh Happy Day, We Shall Overcome

Ragtime – stride in left hand, syncopated (ragged) melody in right hand. Regular sections of 16 bars from European dance music. Use of diminished 7^th chords and a tag to introduce the stride pattern. Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag.

Blues – use of blue notes – flattened 3^rd, 7^th and sometimes 5^th – over major harmony. The blue notes give a minor feel, helping to illustrate the words which are often about unhappy times. Some say blue notes happened when Africans tried to adapt their pentatonic music to Western melodies. Bends and slides are often used with blue notes. These can’t be played on the piano, so the piano imitates them by playing two notes crushed together (accacciaturas). 12 bar structure: I I I I IV IV I I V IV I V or in the key of C: C C C C F F C C G F C G. This is such an established pattern that it is easy for anyone to meet and improvise using it. The lyrics often have the same pattern – one line repeated, followed by a new line and then the first line again – AABA. Singing often has a rasping or growling quality. Walking bass sometimes used. Robert Johnson – Me and the Devil Blues, Bessie Smith – Empty Bed Blues

Jazz Styles

Stride – the ragtime left hand leaping from bass notes to a mid-range chord became the harmonic and rhythmic basis for blues scale improvisations in the right hand. James P Johnson – Pork and Beans, Fats Waller – Alligator Crawl

Boogie Woogie – the left hand stops the stride leap and does patterns in the same position which keep the beat going, often using dotted/swung rhythms, related to trains. Jimmy Yancey – Yancey Stomp, Meade Lux Lewis – Boogie Woogie.

Dixieland/New Orleans/Trad Jazz/Hot Jazz (1920s) – small combo – trumpet, double bass, clarinet, trombone, drums, banjo, piano. Structure developed by Jelly Roll Morton is used – intro – head (popular song), followed by a series of solos before returning to the song melody. Often people improvise different solos at the same time, creating a polyphonic/heterophonic/pseudo unison texture. Louis Armstrong – West End Blues, Jelly Roll Morton – Original Jelly Roll Blues

Swing/Big Band (1930s) – larger combo, big brass section, saxophones. They used professional arrangements of popular Tin Pan Alley songs. Less scope for improvisation, texture more straightforward than in New Orleans jazz. Often featured guest singers. Duke Ellington – Stompin’ at the Savoy, Glen Miller – In the Mood, Count Basie – Basie, Benny Goodman – Sing, Sing, Sing

Bebop/Bop/Cool Jazz (1940s) – smaller groups, more improvisation. Solos often technically difficult, harmonies more daring (use of 9^th, 11^th, 13^th chords, quartal harmony), fast beat supported by walking bass, more irregular rhythmic patterns. Charlie Parker – Be Bop, Miles Davis – A Night in Tunisa, Dizzie Gillespie – Salt Peanuts

The Influence of Jazz on Classical Music

Classical composers used more syncopated rhythms, blue notes and jazz instruments/combinations of instruments to make their compositions more exciting and to reflect the popular music of the time. Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue, Bernstein – Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, Milhaud – La Création du Monde

Essay Questions

·         Explain the different types of music which existed in the early 20^th century which gave rise to jazz. Refer to specific composers and pieces

·         Plot the progress of the development of jazz formations from the five-instrument combos to the big band. Refer to specific bands and pieces of music

·         Some composers were more closely associated with music in the European orchestral tradition but still found much inspiration from jazz. Choose two pieces of music and write about the jazz influences that are evident

·         Choose two jazz musicians and write about their contributions to the development of jazz. Refer to specific pieces of music

·         How did jazz influence mainstream music in Europe during the 20s and 30s? Refer in detail to pieces by at least two different composers

·         Write an essay tracing the development of jazz from 1910 up to the beginnings of the swing era in the early 1930s. Refer to specific pieces of music, commenting on melody, harmony, rhythm and use of instruments

·         Assess the contribution of one of the following musicians to the jazz world. Refer to at least one piece of music, commenting on melody, harmony, rhythm and use of instruments: Jelly-Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington

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