New Orleans
New Orleans
Social Conditions in New Orleans
Seaport with party atmosphere
More musical organizations than any other music city
Center for black culture in North America, free blacks
Storyville - the red light district
Important contributions to the beginnings of jazz where early
jazz developed and flourished until closed in 1917
Named after Sidney Story who supported an ordinance that
confined this red-light district to a 38 block area
Closed down by the federal government during World War I
in 1917
“Jass” or “Jazz” ?
Congo Square
Congo Square was a large field in New Orleans
where slaves were allowed to gather on Sunday to
sing, dance, and play their drums in their
traditional native manner
Significance of Congo Square is that it gave original
African music a place to be heard, and where it “could
influence and be influenced by European music”
Name was later changed to Beauregard Square (1893)
Again changed to Louis Armstrong Park (1974)
Dixieland
Predominantly improvised music
Melody - the only fixed musical element
Everything else was improvised
Collective improvisation
• Patterns – memorized
• Rhythmic complexity
Dixieland format/structure of the music consisted of:
• Ensemble chorus
• Solo choruses
• Return to the ensemble
Dixieland
Instrumentation
Cornet (trumpet) played melody because of it being the
loudest instrument in the orchestra
Clarinet had a dual role:
• Play harmony
• Because more agile than cornet, it was used to create
momentum
Trombone: plays the harmonies
Banjo, tuba and drums: played the rhythm parts
No piano is used…in the early Dixieland groups
Influential Early New Orleans
Musicians
Charles "Buddy" Bolden
Considered to be the first jazz musician
Freddy Keppard
Had a chance to be the first recorded jazz musician
Joe “King” Oliver
The last trumpeter to be called a “king”
Most important figure of the “Early New Orleans” style
Mentor and teacher of Louis Armstrong
Sidney Bechet
Child prodigy - began
playing professionally at 6
Soprano sax/clarinet
The first to achieve fame
with the soprano sax
Helped move jazz horn
conception from collective
improvisation to dramatic
solo style
Sidney Bechet
Ragtime to BoogieWoogie
The Birth of Ragtime
Different views about Ragtime:
Is Ragtime jazz or not?
Ragtime - essential to jazz-”improvisatory feel” but not
improvised – hence not Jazz but rather a forerunner of Jazz
Ragtime development
Pianists not used in Dixieland band - they developed a solo style
of playing piano
A piano player was hired in place of a six or seven-piece band,
forcing the player to develop a technique that provided a full
sound
• Left hand-bass notes & chords; right hand-highly syncopated
melodic lines
Ragtime
Ragtime
By the end of 1800 Ragtime became very popular in
New Orleans. “Rag” referred to a kind of music that
sounded like a military march & rhythms borrowed
from African-American banjo music. To “Rag” meant to
syncopate.
Influence of the Ragtime
Some consider Ragtime the first jazz style, although
involved only limited improvisation. It was throughcomposed. Ragtime is consider the forerunner of Jazz.
Ragtime
Publishing Rags
Tin Pan Alley (New York)
“Rags” too difficult for the amateur pianists, had to be simplified
Controversy about who composed what rag
“Cutting” contests
Rag composed in a definite format showing European influence
Scott Joplin
The most prolific composer of
ragtime music
• Known as the “king of
ragtime”
• Schooled musician
• Published about fifty rags
(some say he composed 600)
Maple Leaf Rag The most famous Rag-sold hundreds of
thousands of copies in the first ten years
The Entertainer - One of the classics of ragtime, it
returned to top international prominence as part of the
ragtime revival in the 1970s when it was used as the
theme music for the 1973 Oscar-winning film The Sting.
Scott Joplin
Jelly Roll Morton
The best-known ragtime piano player
Piano-arranger-composer; possibly the
first jazz composer
His arranging practices for small groups
were imitated by early big bands
Claims that he originated jazz in 1902, as
well ragtime, swing and just about
everything in this area
Maple Leaf Rag –Jelly Roll plays
it with a different interpretation,
embellishments and swing feel
Jelly Roll Morton
Ragtime & Dixieland Merge
Piano players began to play with other musicians the two styles - Dixieland and Ragtime, began to
merge
Band recordings of rag tunes typically performed by
pianists
Stride Piano
Also known as New York ragtime (an extension of ragtime)
The distinctive technique was originated in Harlem during World War I
The name "stride" comes from the left-hand movement "striding" up and
down the keyboard.
Stride is one of the most difficult styles of jazz piano playing, takes years to
master, and is often confused with other jazz piano where the left hand
alternates.
Piano players no longer compelled to play alone
Features improvisation, blue notes, and swing rhythms which its predecessor
did not.
Piano was considered a part of the jazz band
Increased tempos
The relax feeling of the ragtime gave way to the virtuoso displays and
improvisation not present in early ragtime
Stride Piano
Differences between stride piano playing and ragtime
Stride player not concerned with Ragtime form
• They played popular tunes of the day and any other kind
of music that appealed to them
The original ragtime - composed; stride players
were often very proficient improvisers
The feeling of stride music was intense - pianists
played faster and with much more drive than the
more relaxed ragtime players
Great Stride Piano Players
James P. Johnson
One of the originators
of the stride style of
jazz piano playing.
“The Father” of Stride
Piano
"Charleston” - became one of the
most popular tunes and arguably
the definitive dance number of the
Roaring 1920s.
James P. Johnson
Great Stride Piano Players
Thomas “Fats” Waller
One of the most popular performers
of his era and most entertaining and
exciting stride piano player.
Critical and commercial success in
his homeland and in Europe.
Student of James P. Johnson
A prolific songwriter, with many
songs he wrote or co-wrote still
known to modern audiences
Sold many of his compositions for
relatively small sums, and as they
became hits, other songwriters had
already claimed them as their own.
Thomas “Fats” Waller
Thus many standards are alternatively, controversially attributed to Waller.
Great Stride Piano Players
Art Tatum
His recordings are still some of
the best stride piano
“God is in the house” remark
made by Waller when Tatum
entered a club where Waller was
playing
Most versatile piano player in the
history of jazz
Almost completely blind
Introduced advanced harmonies
Art Tatum
into jazz
Received a Grammy Award from the
One of the most influential jazz
National Academy of Recording Arts
musicians of all times
and Sciences (1974)
Boogie-Woogie
Characteristics
The origin of the term boogie-woogie is unknown
Came into prominence during the Great Depression (early 1930s)
Jazz faced a situation in which a full style of piano playing was
needed as a substitute for hiring a band
Left hand-ostinato (short musical pattern repeated throughout); right
hand- improvising without strongly defined melody, emphasis on
melodic blues licks (patterns).
Syncopation & polyrhythms, fast tempos
Originated as solo piano style and was extended from piano, to three
pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and
even gospel.
Whilst the blues traditionally depicts sadness and sorrow, boogiewoogie is associated with dancing.
Important Boogie-Woogie Performers
Albert Ammons
“The King of Boogie-Woogie”
Pete Johnson
Albert Ammons & Pete Johnson “Boogie Woogie Dream”
Meade “Lux” Lewis
“Bush Street Boogie”
“Honky Tonk Train Blues” - his best known work
“Piano Boogie” - notice the “Rock ‘n Roll” bass line
Chicago
Center of Jazz in the 1920's
Out of New Orleans
Jazz moved to Chicago in 1916 and
then to New York in 1917
New opportunities, new jobs
Musicians go wherever the audience goes
Jazz musicians relocated North in the new
jazz centers: Chicago, New York, Kansas city
Chicago
Chicago was a very prosperous city
Many opportunities for employment
Gangsters
Prohibition
Influence on Jazz musicians
Recordings were done in NYC and the
outskirts of Chicago
Chicago Style
Saxophone was added
Guitar replace the banjo
Elaborate introduction and ending were common
Individual solos more important than the collective
improvisation
Ease and relaxation in playing style gave way to tension and
drive
The 1920’s brought many professionally trained instrumentalist
into jazz
Until the 1920’s jazz was mainly an African American art form
Chicago style used large numbers of white player with formal
musical training into the jazz world
White New Orleans
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
- Nick LaRocca - trumpet-leader
- Their attitude towards the African-Americans
- Billed as “The Creators of Jazz” ???
First jazz recordings
ever in 1917
“Livery Stable Blues”
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Louis Armstrong
One of the most important
players in jazz history
Defined contemporary jazz style
One of the first players to
improvise well-constructed
solos
Considered by many as “The
Father of Jazz”
Time Magazine cover – the
first jazz musician on the cover
of Time magazine ( Feb 21, 1949)
Louis
Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Studied with Joe “King” Oliver and was Oliver’s protégé
Considered the greatest trumpet player who ever lived
Had great musical tone, stamina, range, creativeness and
technique
Provided a repertoire of solo phrases and concepts that
became the basic jazz vocabulary
Introduced Scat singing
Influential to future vocalists as his trumpeting was to all
instrumentalist
Considered one of the best jazz singers
Amazed his audiences with his playing style
Concerned with pleasing his audiences
Became great as a showman and even a comedian
Bix Beiderbecke
Trumpeter, from Davenport
Iowa
First great white jazz improviser
Cool, subtle laid back sound
Less instrumental technique than
Armstrong
Greater harmonic depth than
Armstrong
Bix Beiderbecke
Later Developments
By the end of the 1920s, jazz had again
moved…..This time the move was from
Chicago to…New York