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 Early Brass Bands in New Orleans Early Jazz Bands Buddy Bolden and his band St. Charles Ave, 1910 Colored Waif s Home 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