Jazz


     When it comes to music, most people don't say they like it.
People say they like heavy metal, pop, rhythm and blues, or any
other type of music, since they have their own preference to what
type of music they like, not just enjoying the broad area of
music.  One of those types of music which many enjoy is jazz.
Actually right now jazz is really big and popular in Europe, and
is rising in its popularity in the USA through its many forms.
Jazz does have many forms, so many that some people wouldn't
consider just saying they like jazz, they would say they enjoyed
bebop, ragtime, blues, or other types of jazz.  Jazz has survived
longer than many types of music, and it has always influenced the
ways people involved in jazz compose or perform.  It has also
brought out many famous people.
     Although jazz is not the most influencing music currently in
the nation, its history proves  that it is a great form of music
with many origins, a multigenerational life span, numerous
styles, many legendary musicians, and its own creative,
independent interpretation.
     Jazz is over 100 years old, probably making it one of the
longest, lasting forms of music so far.  Jazz was not created by
Europeans, it was created by Afro-Americans who descended from
ancestors in Africa.  These Afro-Americans learned how to play
these European instruments well, including percussion or the drum
set, trumpet, cornet, saxophone, trombone, tuba, and many other
instruments.  They wanted to show what they were like to other
races, so they attempted to express themselves and their feelings
through music and the instruments which were so foreign to them.
A lot of the music which they played came from black folk music.
Jazz did have a part of it come from Europe.  The instruments of
course, and the basic beginning forms of music helped jazz to be
created.  Another part of jazz which is not of African origin is
improvisation, which is similar to interpretation but has no
melodic restrictions.  Improvisation began with the Greeks and
their music over 2,000 years ago, before the many emotional and
creative types of music were even composed.  At one time, baroque
and classical music used a lot of improvisation in their music.
It was very important, and composers such as Bach, Mozart,
Beethoven, and Liszt used it in their unique composing.  These
composers were also good at improvising themselves, and were
among the best in the world in their time.  Many types of music
are created from other types of music, and jazz is among the
many. Many people influenced jazz along its development, and it
was usually a performer or composer.  This includes Buddy Bolden,
Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, Duke
Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles
Davis, and John Coltrane.  There are even more jazz greats who
have contributed to jazz.
     The form of music we know as jazz has existed ever since the
late 19th century, and is still alive.  It consisted of many
different eras, each one with one or two different styles of
jazz.  Each era also had many good performers and composers which
made a certain era stand out.  Through the late 19th century to
about the early 1920s the form of jazz we know as New Orleans
Jazz, which included Dixieland jazz and ragtime.  The 20s and 30s
developed the Swing Era, which made many performers famous
through the first recordings.  The 40s and the postwar decades
led to bebop, also called bop for short.  Bebop's performers also
changed the way jazz was looked at.  The 50s through the 70s
created a few types of jazz which were very loose and had no
limits, but could be critized.  The 80s and to the present
developed a type of jazz which was more calm and smooth than
other types of jazz.  The present has brought back all the forms
of jazz, and now is experimenting with the many different
instruments from the orchestra, including the french horn,
bassoon, or violin.
There are so many styles in jazz that jazz could not be defined
clearly without ignoring one of its forms.  It included vocals,
ragtime, blues, New Orleans jazz, Chicago and New York City jazz,
Big Band, bebop, modal or free jazz, fusion, and modern jazz.
Vocals were definitely a style of jazz which performers could
easily express moods or feelings, since the instrument was the
human voice.  The singing of the performers had great freedom and
color, and could be expressed by many syllables.  Grunts,
vibrato, and the impersonation of instruments could all be done
by voice.  These many possiblities made this form of jazz very
popular by bringing out many famous singers, such as Ella
Fitzgerald.  Vocals can be put into any form of jazz, and make it
even better.
     Ragtime emerged near the end of the 19th century and
continued through World War I.  It combined many elements, such
as syncopated rhythms, harmonic contrasts, and formal patterns of
European marches.  It is usually played in the time signature of
2/4.  Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" made ragtime very popular
throughout the whole nation.  Other ragtime composers included
Thomas Turpin, James Scott, and Eubie Blake.  The piano and banjo
are the most common used instruments in ragtime.
     Blues was another popular form of jazz in the late 19th
century.  It was derived from the banjo music of black slaves and
was very popular among the southern part of the United States.
It developed all the way through the 1950s.  Blues worked its way
from vocals to the instruments such as the piano, electric
guitar, and saxophones.  Blues has been considered to be separate
from jazz but it is very similar in many aspects, including the
instrumentation and the use of vocals.  Many famous singers and
performers were created through the blues, such as Ma Rainey,
Bessie Smith, and B.B. King.
     New Orleans jazz was one of the first types of jazz to be
fully documented, and it came from New Orleans, Louisiana.  From
the early 20th century and up to the mid-1920s New Orleans jazz
was well known.  The instruments used were the cornet, trumpet,
clarinet, trombone, tuba, string bass, and rhythm secton.  Buddy
Bolden was one of the big figures in New Orleans jazz, and he led
some of the first jazz bands.  One of the first bands included
the Original Dixieland Jass Band, which was later changed to the
Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
     Chicago and New York City jazz was one of the first periods
of time where jazz was being experimented with, and many new
things were being discovered in music.  Throughout the 20s and
30s jazz piano was developed, it was called stride piano.  It was
called this for the hard-driving and highly technical soloing
with the piano.  Boogie-woogie is another piano style which
developed in Chicago and New York City jazz.  It related back to
a form of the blues, where the pianist solos with his right hand
while keeping a repetitive bass line in his right hand.  Chicago
and New York City jazz included one of the highest figures in
jazz, Louis Armstrong.  It also included a musician who was
considered very different in his style when compared to
Armstrong, his name was Bix Beiderbecke.  It also included Benny
Goodman, the famous clarinet player.
     The Big Band style of jazz can be explained easily, it
involved a big band of about 18-20 members.  It included 4
sections: the saxophones, trombones, trumpets/cornets, and the
rhythm section consisting of the piano, bass guitar, and drums.
It was invented during the 20s to the 40s, when jazz musicians
decided to have large groups play together.  In New York City a
man named Duke Ellington led a big band.  Ellington was famous
for his songs, which many are considered jazz standards.  Some of
his songs are "Sophisticated Lady" and "Koko".  In Kansas City
during the mid-30s a man named Count Basie also lead a band.  His
style involved improvisation to be used more than the melody, or
the "head" of the song.  Once again vocals were involved with
another type of jazz, Big Band.  This era was ultimately one of
the largest developing.
     Bebop is an exciting, energetic form of jazz which involved
big bands but was used a lot more in jazz combos.  Bebop totally
redefined the way to improvise in a song, and it is full of
creative and unique musical ideas, also called "licks".  Famous
people such as the saxophonist Charlie Parker, the trumpeter
Dizzy Gillespie, and the drummer Max Roach created bebop during
the 40s and the Postwar Decades, which was definitely a big leap
for jazz.  This style of jazz is less restricted, and
improvisation involved longer phrases, more choruses, and more
emotions.
     Modal jazz, also called free jazz, has no rules at all.  It
was created during the late 50s through the 70s.  Improvisation
has ultimate freedom and so does the songs.  A famous trumpeter
named Miles Davis helped created modal jazz by arranging songs so
certain parts of each song would be kept in the same key, chord,
and mode for up to 16 measures.  This allowed the improvisor to
have more freedom.  John Coltrane, a tenor saxophonist and
composer, had participated in the bebop period by composing the
complex and famous song "Giant Steps".  Later he composed songs
which were for modal jazz, such as "My Favorite Things".
     Jazz began to fall in the late 60s when younger audiences
were exposed to soul music and rock.  Jazz musicians developed
fusion, a combination of jazz and rock, to gain back the interest
of the nation.  Once again Miles Davis participated, totally
changing his style to record and play in fusion bands.
     From the 80s to the present all forms of jazz are coming
back, each one influencing the other.  People such as Pat Methany
have composed songs which involve ideas from bebop, swing,
fusion, and other mixtures of the many styles of jazz.  Currently
the most influencing form of jazz is bebop.  These many forms of
jazz will never disappear as long as their musical ideas are
implemented into new songs.  Of those who contribute the most to
jazz, the musicians themselves have done the most.  Buddy Bolden,
the first jazz legend, contributed to jazz by leading the first
jazz bands and influencing many others to lead bands or compose.
He was considered the first jazz trumpeter, and he was a very
driving, rhythmic, and emotional player who was an inspiration to
all jazz musicians.  Benny Goodman contributed to jazz by helping
to start the Swing Era of jazz.  He played clarinet in the big
bands he lead, and he improvised amazingly.  He went from rags to
riches very quick, and other than jazz he appreciated classical a
lot.  Louis Armstrong contributed to jazz by being one of the
first virtuoso improvisors.  He also sang very well, with the
perfect attitude and tone for each song he sang in.  Art Tatum
was a very famous soloist who played the piano.  He helped
develop stride piano. Tatum accomplished much in his life, with
many recordings.  What made him famous was for his virtuosity on
the piano, just like Louis Armstrong was on the trumpet.  Billie
Holiday was a leading singer among many in the 1930s.  She was
very talented in taking regular songs and jazzing them up or
making them "blue".  She worked with many famous people such as
the saxophonist Lester Young and the composer Count Basie.  Duke
Ellington was one of the most respected figures in jazz.  He was
a composer, conductor, and pianist in the 20s through the 60s.
As he led famous jazz bands, usually big bands, he composed many
jazz standards, such as the song "Take the A-Train" and
"Sophisticated Lady".  Ellington went to Carnegie Hall and
conducted the first 9 annual concerts.  Count Basie was another
popular bandleader, but from the 30s to the early 80s.
     His band was always known for being a big band with many
good soloists, such as the saxophonist Lester Young.  He was also
a great pianist, whose style was thought to be elegant and
graceful.  Charlie Parker was the ultimate king of bop, the style
created in the 40s.  He was a saxophonist with a talent for
improvising.  There was a story once that when he first started
playing, Parker decided to play with a band.  Parker really
messed up during the performance and everyone ridiculed him.
Even the drummer threw his symbol at him.  So Parker went home,
practiced 11 to 15 hours a day for 3 to 4 years, and came back to
the same place he performed that embarrassing night.  Parker blew
everyone away.  His improvising was creative beyond anyone's
imagination, and so were the songs he composed.  Usually he
played very fast songs, and Parker himself played so fast that no
one could see his fingers.  He had totally redefined improvising
in jazz.  Dizzy Gillespie was another bopper like Charlie Parker,
but he played the trumpet.  Dizzy improvised exactly in the same
style as Parker, and the two of them often were in a combo
together.  Miles Davis was a man of many styles.  He was first
influenced with bebop, and he improvised on the trumpet with a
"cool" style soon to be copied by many other musicians.  Later in
his life he was influenced by rock, and he helped develop fusion.
John Coltrane was a tenor saxophonist and composer.  Appearing
famous in the 50s and 60s, Coltrane was known for his awesome
soloing on the tenor sax and the complexity of the songs he
wrote.  He wrote the songs "Giant Steps" and "A Love Supreme".
Interpretation of jazz has been questioned many times.  What
distinguishes it from other types of music?  It could be
explained in this quote:  "The conventional symbols could, in
other words, indicated in a general way what should be played,
but could not indicate (precisely) how it should be played"
(Pleasants 32).  This means that what is shown as music on the
paper is not exactly what should be played.  You are allowed to
change the music a little, speed it up or slow it down, or
articulate it different.  One important factor in jazz is rhythm.
The musicians do not always play directly on the beat or tempo.
Players can be "on top" of the beat, which means ahead of the
beat, or play "laid back", which is to play behind the beat.
Improvisation is another factor of jazz which separates it from
other styles of music.  The standard way to improvise in jazz is
to keep the original melody in mind while improvising and invent
a new melodic line.  "Free form" or "free improvisation" is when
a person's improvising is only restricted that he/she improvises
related to the musical sounds of the other musicians.  Basically
when improvising you are allowed to play anything you want to, to
show off your talent and abilities to please the audience.
     Another important factor of jazz is syncopation.
Syncopation is to place an accent or extend the note value of a
weak beat.  Syncopation may give a song better feeling and
movement, basically improving the feel of the song.  The form of
jazz, when related to notes, scales, and modes, is very complex.
Songs can be in any key, including any pitch of any octave, and
the song may be built on many complex music scales and modes.
Chord progressions, where certain chords are played in order, can
also be complex, such as the II-V-I progression.  Jazz has
unlimited  possiblilties since it is not so restricted to certain
scales, notes, or sounds.  Jazz's interpretation can only go so
far, since it splits into many different styles.  Here is another
person's idea of jazz:  Jazz, then, is not a composer's art.  The
particular melody and harmonies which formed the basis of a
performance, improvised or arranged, are of secondary importance.
Rather jazz is the art of the performer, the performing ensemble,
the arranger.  And the quality of the art is dependent upon their
creative ideas. (Ulrich 449)
     Jazz still has a even better future to come, and it will
develop into a even greater influence than it is now.  Jazz will
never have an echo, where people reminisce about the old times.
It has survived for a very long time, and the musicians and
styles of jazz will continually change the interpretation of jazz
itself.  People will even to have to get more specific when they
say they love jazz, but variety is good.  Variety in jazz allows
many to express their feelings and musical ideas.  Without it,
variety in the world of music would drastically reduced.