All That Jazz: History
Courtesy of library.thinkquest.org
Beginnings: 1890-1932
Jazz Music emerged as a recognizable musical form around the turn of the 20the century. The roots of
jazz, however, extend backward over several centuries. Jazz music represents the "synthesis of many
cultural influences...that was achieved through the institution of slavery." Jazz music combines elements
of African music with elements of Western European music.
African music differs from European music both technically and sociologically. Technically, African
rhythms are more complex than those used in Western European Music. Often, several drummers would
play at the same time weaving a complex rhythm known as polyrhythms. Sociologically, African society
emphasized mass participation in musical performances to a far greater extent than European society did.
In an African performance, there would be a leader, drummers, and possibly other instrumentalists. The
audience would often participate by clapping in time and shouting a response to phrases sung by the
musicians. Slaves in the New World used these "response-cries" in their work routines and social and
religious activities. White Americans called them "field hollers. Jazz musicians would later apply the term
"call-response" to these plantation songs.
Western European Music also influenced the
development of jazz. European harmonies
from church hymns, folk songs, dances,
military marches and airs, and classical
compositions all affected the development of
jazz.
Essentially
Africa's
principal
contribution to jazz was rhythm, Europe's was
harmony, and both helped to furnish melody;
It was African Americans, however, who
combined the three to produce jazz.
The earliest "jazz bands" took root around New Orleans. Among these bands were those led by Joe
"King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton. These bands played a style of
music that would come to be known as Dixieland. Dixieland bands included cornets (or trumpets),
clarinets, "tailgate" trombones, tubas, banjos, and drums. Smaller Dixieland bands developed to play in
small bars and bordellos that existed in the seamier parts of New Orleans. In these bands, a string bass or
a piano would often replace the tuba.
The essence of Dixieland lies in its use of "collective improvisation". Collective improvisation uses the
three lead instruments, usually the horns, to improvise contrapuntal melodies above a steady beat from the
rhythm section. Within the improvisation, the players would follow certain patterns and formulas in order
to produce the "Dixieland sound." Although each instrument would be playing a slightly different
melody, they would all blend harmonically. If you would like to learn more about the "early jazz" style go
to "early jazz" in the interactive education section.
One of the most important early jazz bands was The Original Dixieland Jazz Band. They made the first
ever jazz recordings! Some of the most important "early jazz" artists were Joe Oliver, Bix Biederbecke,
Louis Armstrong, Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, and Fats Waller.
Jazz began to "swing" as musicians began to adopt swing eighths, the string bass, high hat cymbals, and a
looser, more rhythmic feeling. This change occurred gradually starting in the twenties with musicians
such as Louis Armstrong, and continued into the 40's. Bands of ten musicians or more played a lot of the
music that came out of this period. Because of this, the swing era is also often known as the big band era.
Some big bands didn't include a lot of improvisation. Other big bands such as that of Count Basie placed
great emphasis on improvisation.
Jazz music had been played as a form as entertainment since its inception. During the swing era, jazz
music developed into tremendous dance music craze. Jazz groups seldom performed just for listening.
Swing dancing was an extremely popular past time. During
this era, jazz achieved wide popular appeal. One of Count
Basie's recordings, One O’clock Jump, sold over a million
copies.
The Swing Era: 1932-1944
The beginnings of the swing era can be traced to
developments of larger bands by Fletcher Henderson in New
York, and Bennie Moten in Kansas City. Fletcher
Henderson along with his brother Horace and with Don
Redman created the pattern for swing arrangements.
Henderson helped establish the independent use of trumpet,
trombone, saxophone, and rhythm sections with the use of
soloists. A swing score generally has specific notes for each instrument to play in every measure. Then
the music arranger decides which measures will be used for solo improvisation. The score is then taken to
a music copyist who extracts the individual parts for the various instruments.
When the depression hit the U.S. in 1929, the entire music business suddenly failed. Some players, such
as Benny Goodman were able to find employment in staff radio jobs. Others, such as Louis Armstrong
and Duke Ellington left the United States for Europe. Some jazz authorities believe that the swing era was
launched in 1934 when Benny Goodman left the radio business to form his own band. However, by 1934
Duke Ellington as well as Fletcher Henderson had already formed large swing bands that played in the
Kansas City area.
Swing bands started to play a large part in people's lives in the late 30's as people tried to shake off the
depression by dancing. Large ballrooms were extremely common and therefore large bands were needed.
Bands of the swing era produced a much fuller sound than the sound produced by earlier Dixieland jazz
bands. This resulted from the use of two to three times as many players. Because there were more
players, swing music was organized in a homophonic construction. This resulted in the music sounding
less complex and more organized in its effect. Block chords used by swing bands are a prime example of
homophonic construction.
The swing era is dominated by the big bands that played to huge audiences during this period. Two of the
largest big bands were Count Basie's and Duke Ellington's. Benny Goodman also led several influential
swing bands. Within the big bands, there were also many distinguished soloists. Lester Young and
Coleman Hawkins were two extremely talented saxophone players who became well renowned for their
improvisational prowess. Ella Fitzgerald wowed crowds with her silky smooth voice and upbeat scat
singing.
The Bop Era: 1942-1958
Bop, also known as bebop or rebop is a form of jazz that
was created as a revolt against the restrictions on creative
freedom that were typical of the big bands of the swing era.
In many of the big bands, the solos were typically very
short. This upset many soloists, as there wasn't room for
experimentation. Bebop was a natural response to this. Most
bebop players turned to small combos where there was a lot
more room for innovative improvisation.
There is no defining moment when bop was born. Rather, many unrelated events helped with the birth of
bop. Bop developed in many locals including Kansas City and St. Louis. It solidified as a jazz form in
New York in the early 1940's. Bop first made its appearances in the playing of Charlie Parker, Dizzy
Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk. These three musicians played together and refined a very complex kind
of music.
Bebop improvisations are composed mostly of eighth-note and sixteenth-note figures, which seem jumpy
and include many twists and turns of melody. Also, it often includes large intervals between notes and
abrupt changes of direction with regards to the melody. Bebop musicians based their improvisation
around chord changes rather than just embellishing a melody. Often they enriched a piece by adding
chords to the chord progression. This is known as substitution. Sometimes they would also alter the
existing chords of a piece by flatting the 5 of the chord, or adding the 9 and 13 to the chord. This added
to the complexity of bebop improvisation. One popular method of writing bebop tunes, utilized by Charlie
Parker and many others, was to take the chord changes from an existing piece and write or improvise a
new melody over those changes. This allowed a rhythm section to play a tune that they might have never
heard before.
Bebop was not nearly as popular as swing had been. There are several explanations for this fact. One
explanation is that bop music was a lot more complicated than swing and therefore made it a hard music
for the public to appreciate. Where as swing musicians pieces would sound the same in concert as in
recordings a bop musician might never play a piece the same way twice. Another argument is that bop
lacked popularity because there weren't that many bop singers. The argument is that people relate more to
music with lyrics. Related to this argument is the fact that swing was popular dance music while bop was
not. All this resulted in the fact that when Charlie Parker died in 1955 he was nowhere near as well known
as Benny Goodman or Duke Ellington. In the long run, however, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and
Thelonious Monk, the three main figures in bop played a very significant part in the development of jazz.
Cool Jazz: 1953-1969
Just as bebop was a response to the limits of the swing era,
cool jazz was a response to the complexities of bebop jazz.
In the "cool era”, jazz musicians moved jazz closer to
classical music. Much more emphasis was placed on
arrangement and composition rather than complex
improvised solos. The term "cool" was actually invented
by record companies and journalists. Musicians of this era
disliked any labeling of their music and especially this one
as they thought that it made out that their style of music
was boring.
One of the defining elements of cool jazz was the different tone quality that musicians aimed for. The
tonal qualities of cool jazz can be described as calm, subdued, soft, or light. One of the most obvious tonal
differences in this era from the eras preceding it was the use of a much more delicate attack. Cool players
also played with little or no vibrato. Unlike bop musicians who utilized the whole range of the instrument
and often focused on the extremes of the instrument, cool jazz musicians tended to use the middle
registers.
Cool jazz ensembles were usually composed of three to eight players. These ensembles often utilized
instruments that had not previously been used in jazz ensembles. These instruments included the flute, the
French horn, the oboe, and the cello. Another important instrument that worked its way into jazz was the
flugelhorn. Miles Davis, one of the leaders of the swing movement, used the flugelhorn quite often. In
addition to introducing new instruments to jazz, the cool era also introduced new formats for
compositions and new meter signatures. Musicians no longer only played in 4/4 or 2/4 time. Meters such
as 3/4, 5/4, and 9/4 became more common. Some musicians even adopted some classical forms such as
rondos and fugues. These musicians moved even closer to traditional classical music and their type of
jazz has been categorized as "third-stream music."
Some important artists of the cool era, and beyond, include Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck and
Charles Mingus.
New Trends
Following the trend of experimentation that was
so evident with bebop and cool jazz, jazz
musicians continued to experiment with new
forms and new sounds. Their experimentation
evolved into several different forms of jazz
including free jazz, acid jazz, and avant-garde jazz.
It is hard to call this period any one particular
name. Hard bop and free jazz styles were part of
the new trends in jazz that developed from 1959
to 1970.
The hard bop style obtained its name because it was more driving and less relaxed than cool jazz. In
addition, hard bop was also called funky due to its rollicking, rhythmic feeling. The funky style had many
ties to gospel music and during the period was often called soul. Funky was a style that utilized highly
rhythmical melodies and less complex harmonies than were used during the preceding era. Musicians
created a style that can be described as happy or lacking tension. Funky jazz used bop elements, but they
were much simplified. The playing style of funky jazz musicians stands in strong contrast to the
measured and controlled expression of cool jazz artists. Funky jazz borrowed elements from the African
American churches of the day. The scale used in funky jazz was very similar to the scale, which had been
used in early blues and had been refined through its use in church music. The predominance of blues
notes during this period resulted in many players actually playing pieces in minor keys. Important artists
in the genre included Sonny Rollins and Cannonball Adderly.
The other style of music that developed during this period was free jazz. Free form jazz developed as a
conscious effort to break away from its musical predecessors. The main difference between free jazz and
what had come before was that free jazz efforts operate in a medium that is not defined by the same
harmonic and rhythmic forms used by earlier jazz styles. The essence of free form jazz is that it doesn't
use a strict structure for playing a piece and improvising. Rather it allows the musicians to react to one
another during their performance. In a sense, artists in a free jazz performance talk to one another through
their instruments. With free jazz, the finished song was important,
but so was the way in which it was created. Free form jazz, out of
all jazz genres, proves to be the most spontaneous and thus
include the most improvisation. Two very important members of
the free jazz movement were John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.
Today, jazz is alive and well. Pop groups such as Squirrel Nut
Zippers have helped jazz reenter the main pop scene. Many artists
continue the tradition left to them by the likes of Louis
Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, and John Coltrane. As
jazz musicians of the 90's have looked back to the heroes of the
past, particularly from the bop era, a new generation of jazz stars
has emerged. Many of these artists aren't interested in creating a new genre of jazz, but rather they want to
support a revival of an earlier jazz era. The main difference between the current jazz stars and those of
yesteryear are that today's jazz stars are mainly the trained at formal music schools such as Berkelee.
Some of today's stars include Joshua Redman, Terrance Blanchard, and Joe Lovano. One of the most
influential jazz musicians today, and a leader in the jazz world through his work at the Lincoln center, is
Wynton Marsalis.