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Music History Part 4: Jazz

Music History Part 4: Jazz. Impressionism through 1940’s. Early Jazz. After the Civil War, there was a mass migration of freed slaves into urban cities Often illiterate and lacked job skills, however had a very rich musical background! Elements of African heritage: Blue notes

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Music History Part 4: Jazz

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  1. Music HistoryPart 4: Jazz Impressionism through 1940’s

  2. Early Jazz • After the Civil War, there was a mass migration of freed slaves into urban cities • Often illiterate and lacked job skills, however had a very rich musical background! • Elements of African heritage: • Blue notes • Improvisation • Polyrhythm • Syncopation • Swung eighths • Blended with many other cultures and styles and is one of very few truly American styles of music

  3. Spirituals • Before 1865 (abolition of slavery), Africans arriving in the New World were slaves • Most worked in plantations or in town • Held meetings of many slaves in “praise houses” to share joy, pain, hope through singing • Sung by groups of people (choral, not solo) • Message usually is inspired by the Bible and the lives of the slaves • Referred frequently to the Underground Railroad • Example: “Wade in the Water”, referring to walking in the water so that dogs cannot smell their tracks

  4. Spirituals • After 1865 (the end of slavery), spirituals spread to Northern cities, universities, and even Europe • In the 1920’s, the Black Renaissance led to a renewed “race-spirit” that helped develop spirituals even more • Lots of melismas • Often use “call and response” • Often syncopated rhythms • Some popular examples: • We Shall Overcome • This Little Light of Mine • Swing Low, Sweet Chariot • The Gospel Train

  5. Ragtime • Popular from approximately 1890’s-1920, especially in the South • Genre mostly for the piano • Usually in duple meter • Usually has syncopated (ragged) melody over rhythmically steady bass • Meant for dancing! • Some of the more famous ragtime composers: • Scott Joplin • Charles Hunter • Thomas Turpin • Popularity faded with rise of jazz

  6. Scott Joplin • 1867-1917 • American composer and pianist • Intended to be played “as written”, no improvisation • Combined classical harmonies and tempos with “vulgar” ragtime rhythms to raise ragtime to social acceptance • Famous compositions: • The Maple Leaf Rag (1899) • Ragtime Dance (1902) • The Entertainer (1902) • And many more!

  7. Blues • Goes back to work songs of West African slaves in the South • Themes are usually about jail, poverty, hard labor, love lost • Charactarized by: • Soulful, melancholy sound • Blues scale • Usually solo voice • Inflection (a lot of pitch bending) • During the Great Depression (1930’s), blues singers migrated north towards Chicago • Began to use electric guitars, drumsets to compensate for the noise of loud crowds and bigger venues

  8. Bessie Smith • 1894-1937 • Blues singer, nicknamed “The Empress of the Blues” • Most popular female blues singer ofthe 1920’s and 1930’s • Made 160 recordings, accompanied bysome of the finest musicians around, including • Louis Armstrong • James P. Johnson • Fletcher Henderson “Back Water Blues”

  9. New Orleans Jazz • The earliest jazz bands began in New Orleans • Louis Armstrong • Joe “King” Oliver • Fats Waller • Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton • New Orleans became a center for jazz due to… • Blues tradition passed down by slaves • Hand-me-down instruments • Melding of cultures

  10. Dixieland • Evolved from New Orleans jazz • Instrumentation included: • Cornets/trumpets • Clarinets • Trombones • Tuba/string bass • Banjos • Drums • Combined brass band marches, ragtime, and blues • One of more famous Dixieland bands = Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars

  11. Dixieland “Livery Stable Blues” • Uses a lot of collective improvisation • Melodies are improvised by lead instruments over a steady beat given by the rhythm section • Each instrument plays a slightly different melody; blends harmonically into Dixieland sound

  12. Louis Armstrong • 1901-1971 • Trumpet player and singer • Working by age 7 for wealthy family • Raised money in this job to buy his first cornet • At age 12, Armstrong was put in a reform school for delinquency after firing a gun to celebrate the new year • Received first musical instruction, became the leader of their brass band • After two years, returned home and started playing on street corners with a quartet • Also played in parades, dance halls, riverboats, etc. “Stardust”

  13. Louis Armstrong • Eventually moved to Chicago to joinKing Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band • First recordings made in 1923 • Gradually grew more famous through records and performances, moved around New York, Chicago, Europe • Had wide popular appeal that transcended race issues of the time, as both a singer and a trumpet player “Ain’tMisbehavin’” “Musket Ramble”

  14. George Gershwin • 1898-1937 • Composer and pianist • Appealed to both popular and classical audiences • Some of his most famous works: • I Got Rhythm • Summertime • Rhapsody in Blue • They Can’t Take That Away From Me • An American in Paris • Porgy and Bess

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