Y13 A2 Jazz: essay plan

My notes, apart from the "Satin Doll" parts in the box, which came from All About Jazz

Plot the development of jazz formations from the five instrument combos to the big band. Refer to specific bands and pieces of music in your answer

·         New Orleans Jazz – King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five – Alligator Hop, Sugar Foot Stomp, West End Blues

·         New York bands – Duke Ellington – Mood Indigo, Jungle Nights in Harlem

·         The Swing era of the 30s – Duke Ellington – Take the A Train, Satin Doll

·         The big bands of the 40s – Glenn Miller – Moonlight Serenade, In The Mood

 Development – 20s Dixieland/New Orleans - small groups with each player doing their own thing, often leading to complicated heterophonic textures...... West End Blues

New York – gradual change – more players, more arranged..... Jungle Nights

30s Swing – more players, complicated harmonies and rhythms, less scope for improvisation .... Satin Doll

40s Big Band – larger again, more sophisticated, popular arrangements.... In the Mood

Jungle Nights

Performed by Duke Ellington in the infamous Cotton Club – night club where black musicians played to white audiences. Jungle. Minor key depicts the Depression era.

Head – rasping trumpet solo with chromatic sliding unison saxes. Trumpet solo starts with trill again rasping and emphasising flat 5^th. Clarinet takes the next solo with rapid chromatic scales. Tenor sax has the next solo, followed by a repeat of the head. Ending has an organised ritardando, followed by all playing a final minor chord pp-f-pp swell.

Satin Doll

Duke Ellington – later swing style composition. Duke Ellington himself plays the opening piano intro and the solo which follows the head. Much more sophisticated arrangement

Intro – head – piano – tenor sax – head with added trumpet improvisations – quieter version of head – second piano solo, based on B section of head, making a lot of use of added note chords – head, fades to piano, drums and bass – head. Composition is longer through the repetition of the head section in different forms, rather like the baroque ritornello form

Musical analysis of “Satin Doll”
Original Key	C major with temporary false key changes to F major and G major during the bridge
Form	A – A – B – A
Tonality	Primarily major
Movement	Almost completely stepwise; only occasional skips
Comments     (assumed background)
The repetitive “A” section melody sounds suspiciously as if it began life as a “riff” or background figure that section players use as accompaniment to a soloist (similar to an ostinato). Section “B” is a bit more developed, based on a scale pattern that descends a fourth and then ascends back up a fourth. The chord progression of “A” is interesting because it starts out with a harmonic sequence often used as a “turnaround” at the end of a tune–ii7 – V7 – ii7 – VI7. The fifth and sixth measures of “A” almost defy analysis. If a composer following the classical rules of voice leading had written the harmonic progression here, it would have been II7 (or ii7) – V7(#9)– I (D7 or Dm7 – G7(#9) – Cma7 in the original). Instead, the chords used seem completely coloristic and yet disguise the voice-leading function definitely present when looked at closely. In the fifth measure, the first chord written is Am7(b5)/Eb (which could have been written as an Ebø7–and actually is), which proceeds to the D7 – the II7 we would expect to find there. The next chord, however, is Abm9, which resolves to Db9. Under normal circumstances, one would think of this as a ii7 – V7 – I in Gb, but really what has happened is that the Abm9 has been an embellishment of the “Neapolitan” chord (in the key of C, a Db7) which is nothing more than a tri-tone substitution for V7. Indeed, proper voice-leading technique is still present, albeit disguised almost beyond recognition. Section “B” is more orthodox sounding: ii7 – V7 – I in F and G major. Transition back to section “A” is accomplished by dropping the middle three voices of the G7 chord a half-step, creating a vii˚7/ii in the original tonic key of C major.

Conclusion

Bands got bigger

Arrangements became more complicated, less improvised haphazard

Solos stopped being a free for all and became part of an overall, controlled structure

Solos became the only place for improvisation

Gradual change to a more popular, sophisticated style as jazz became more acceptable