Jazz       Jazz  is  a  genre  of  music  born  in  the  African-­‐American  community  in  New  Orleans  in  the  early  20th  century.    It  is  a  form  of  music  that  relies  heavily  on  improvisation,  syncopation,  polyrhythms,  and  complex  harmony.    From  the  beginning,  jazz  was  dance  music.    However,  from  the  1950’s  to  today  you  are  as  likely  to  find  jazz  in  the  concert  hall  as  the  nightclub.    The  creation  of  jazz  came  about  through  many  musical  influences:  European  harmony,  African  rhythms,  work  songs,  spirituals  and  the  blues,  the  brass  band  tradition,  and  ragtime.    People  around  the  world  have  hailed  Jazz  as  “America’s  original  art  form.”    Jazz  was  America’s  popular  music  from  approximately  1918  through  the  1950’s.        

New  Orleans  

         Storyville,  1906  

 

                                         French  Opera  House,  1900                                  Mardi  Gras  

                                                           Jackson  Square                    St.  Charles  Ave,  1910                          Early  Brass  Bands  in  New  Orleans  

                  Colored  Waif’s  Home  Band  Early  “Jazz  Bands”  

                             Buddy  Bolden  and  his  band                      The  Eagle  Band  (Buddy  Petit)          

Joe  “King”  Oliver  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_WbQYdQty0  

   “Jelly  Roll”  Morton  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1XtZntLFxs  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXbJSzj27JA    Louis  Armstrong  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W232OsTAMo8  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y-­‐d1WN2IbM  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHjZQb-­‐kGek  

     

Bix  Beiderbecke  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ue9igC7flI  

                 Bessie  Smith  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iympOhiU1o  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcrx2-­‐vvwC4  

                                       “Swing”  

Fletcher  Henderson  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU0ybjKEuX8  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B-­‐bCdra_9A  

                                             

Edward  “Duke”  Ellington  was  an  American  composer,  pianist,  and  big-­‐band  leader.    Ellington  wrote  over  1,000  compositions.    A  major  figure  in  the  history  of  jazz,  Ellington's  music  stretched  into  various  other  genres.  His  career  spanned  more  than  50  years  and  included  leading  his  orchestra,  composing  an  inexhaustible  songbook,  scoring  for  movies,  stage  musicals,  and  world  tours.    Due  to  his  inventive  use  of  the  orchestra,  or  big  band,  and  thanks  to  his  eloquence  and  extraordinary  charisma,  he  is  generally  considered  to  have  elevated  the  perception  of  jazz  to  an  art  form  on  a  par  with  other  traditional  genres  of  music.  His  reputation  increased  after  his  death  and  the  Pulitzer  Prize  Board  bestowed  on  him  a  special  posthumous  honor  in  1999.    Ellington  called  his  music  "American  Music"  rather  than  jazz,  and  liked  to  describe  those  who  impressed  him  as  "beyond  category."  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoDm_O71iYk  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7atwjmPcxng  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJBkp40KVI0  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX4oVQTnpho  

   Paul  Whiteman  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFurKUxafRk  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l-­‐BgEbiV-­‐k  Count  Basie  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYLbrZAko7E  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HHE39sXiiQ  Billie  Holiday  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysow1wXWyvE  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mO92ll_q0k  Ella  Fitzgerald  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9lNt8uUbSA  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p37wippKLc  

             Benny  Goodman  (1909-­‐1986)     Born  in  Chicago  of  a  family  of  poor  Jewish  immigrants  from  Warsaw.    When  he  was  10,  his  father  enrolled  him  in  music  lessons  at  the  Kehelah  Jacob  Synagogue.    The  next  year  he  joined  the  boy’s  club  band  at  the  Jane  Addams  Hull  House,  where  he  received  instruction  from  Franz  Schoepp,  a  classically  trained  clarinetist.    Goodman  was  greatly  influenced  by  New  Orleans  jazz  clarinetists  working  in  Chicago.    He  made  his  professional  debut  in  1921,  and  by  the  time  he  was  14  was  playing  in  a  band  that  featured  Bix  Beiderbecke.    He  led  big  bands  through  the  1930’s  and  40’s  and  played  in  small  jazz  groups  –  most  notably  the  Bennie  Goodman  Quartet  and  Quintet.    He  was  well  known  for  his  racially  integrated  jazz  groups.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGxf93NqH74  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzNTv5y34c8     1938  Carnegie  Hall  performance  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8aEVY9lONk          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTKOgTk2gGE            

       Glenn  Miller  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7tdZcP4xa4  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjq1aTLjrOE  

The  Bebop  Era  Bebop  jazz  was  created  by  musicians  who  were  members  of  the  big  bands  of  the  Swing  era  of  the  30’s  and  40’s.    These  musical  innovators  would  gather  in  clubs  to  play  after  their  dance  band  performances,  experimenting  with  their  improvisation,  rhythms,  chord  progressions,  and  tempos,  pushing  each  other  to  the  limits  of  creativity.    Bebop  typically  features  faster  tempos,  more  complex  harmonies,  and  long,  extended  passages  of  improvisation.    This  music  was  more  complex,  more  “intellectual”  than  Swing,  and  was  not  usually  considered  music  to  dance  to.    Rather,  audiences  would  gather  in  clubs  to  listen  to  these  artists  play.  Charlie  Parker  (alto  saxophone)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmroWIcCNUI  Max  Roach/Clifford  Brown  (drums/trumpet)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkwAN493Gg  Bud  Powell  (piano)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O2xMqJH6Z8  Miles  Davis  (trumpet)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEC8nqT6Rrk  Sonny  Rollins  (tenor  saxophone)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2XIWZxMKM  

                                     Modern  Jazz  

Dave  Brubeck  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs  

  Chick  Corea     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9rxeyzyKVw     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_OEJ0wqt2g     Miles  Davis     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coJtMqOOqds