What is Jazz?
“Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life.”
Art Blakey
“Jazz is an Afro-American musical idiom -- in which many Afro-American idioms have contributed: field hollers, spirituals, blues, cake-walks, rag-time, R&B, gospel , and Rock and Roll. All of these are closely related and have helped in the formation of
Jazz. It's important to note that these idioms are NOT Jazz, but closely related.”
Ira Gitler (B,7)
Jazz Music is an American art. (B,7)
It’s an art that has evolved and developed. (B,8)
“Jazz has an impressive reputation. It is so interesting that it is played and analyzed in hundreds of colleges. Almost every high school and college has at least one jazz band. Though it originated in America, jazz is so compelling that musicians on every continent have played it and today there is no city without it. The sounds of jazz have influenced the development of new styles in popular music and the work of symphonic composers. Jazz is so sturdy that the old styles are still being played, and new styles are always being developed – In fact, jazz is regarded as a fine art, not just a passing fad.” (G,2)
Two aspects that almost
all jazz styles have in common:
I. Swing
a. How it makes you feel
.It makes you want to move
Dance - the clapping of hands – tapping of feet
b. Musical characteristics
.Steady, constant beat/pulse
.An abundance of syncopated rhythms
Syncopating = accenting just before or just after a beat
Swing example
“Oh When the Saints”
1. European straight/classical in nature (lack of syncopation)
2. Syncopated version, filled with
- much syncopation
- makes you want to move
- performance is highly spirited conveying a lilting feeling.
A. “Off the cuff”
-Drew Carey – dictates a scenario - a context. Within the context the comedians use words and phrases improvising a story.
-Jazz musician’s context is a song/tune. They use individual & grouped together notes (chosen according to the chord of the moment) to improvise a musical story.
A song/tune is made up of bars/measures and are used to divide a song /tune up into smaller pieces.
“Oh when the Saints”
| 1 2 3 4 | = one bar/measure. Sixteen measures or 64 taps/beats
I. Blues = typically found in a twelve measure/bar form.
| 1 2 3 4 | twelve measures or 48 taps/beat
Riff Blue note call-and-response Scat
Singing-L. Armstrong
II. A A B A = Song form, 32 measure form or 128 taps/beats
“ Got Rhythm”
A - Melody, Measures 1-8
A – Repetition of first A, measures 9-16
B – New melody = Bridge, measures 17-24
A – Repetition of first A, measures 25 –32
(G,12)
More vocabulary:
Chord chord changes chorus comp or comping tempo
Vibrato
How to listen to Jazz
To appreciate music, the listener must be actively involved. Understanding and enjoyment go hand in
hand. Passive listening will not bring intelligent musical enjoyment. Rather,
such enjoyment is fostered through active participation that includes
understanding, careful listening, and emotional response. (B,11)
Listening tips (G,10-11)
1.
Imagine layers of
sound, one on top of another, all moving forward in time. Each layer can
rep0resent the sound of a different instrument.
2.
Try to notice
relationships between sounds
3.
Try to imagine a graph
of the solo line.
4.
Some people hum the
original tune to themselves while listening to the improvisations which are
guided by its chord changes.
5.
Try to divide the
sounds into the functions they serve i.e.
a.
Soloist role? (What
instruments)
b.
Accompanist role?
Supporting role to foreground material.
c.
Rhythm section
Guitar, Piano , bass , drums
Instrument Roles
Know
what different instruments sound like (use course demo CD)
Quick trip through Jazz History
1.
ODJB Original Dixieland Jazz Band – “Dixie
Jazz Band One-Step (1917)
Collective
improvisation Combo
2.
Maple Leaf Rag
3.
West End Blues
4.
Mead Lux Lewis
5.
Taxi War Dance
6.
Ko-ko
7.
Subconscious-Lee
8.
Gertrude’s Bounce
9.
Cloning
10.
Your Lady
11.
Birdland
MUS 1510 Vocabulary (Quiz)
Accompaniment-- Performing with another performer or performers, usually in a less prominent role (generally the R-Section, bass, piano and drums) 31
Arco--The technique of playing upright Bass with a bow. 21
Ballad--A simple song, usually romantic in nature that uses the same melody for each stanza.
Bass-- An instrument that looks like a very large violin; also called bass violin. The string bass is played either by plucking the strings (pizzicato) or by bowing (arco). 22
Big-Band-- an ensemble of ten or more players
Blue note-- A pitch somewhere between a major third and a minor third (a bent note). 51,52, 54-58
Bridge --The name given to the third 8-bar section in the most common form, AABA. also known as the B section, in AABA. 33
Call and Response-- A musical pattern common to much jazz and African music in which a "call", is usually followed by a solo singer or instrumentalist, is then followed by a response from one instrument, an ensemble, or the assembled participants in a ritual. In a religious ceremony, the congregation may respond to the call of the preacher.
Chord--- The simultaneous sounding of three or more tones.
Chord Changes-- A series of successive chords; also called a chord progression. 18
Chorus-- The main body or refrain of a song as distinct from the verse, which comes first. Very often an arrangement contains many choruses played by individual instrumentalists.
Collective improvisation--A situation where all members of a small group improvise simultaneously.
Combo-- A small instrumental group consisting of 3 to 7 players.
Comping -The rhythmic pattern used by a keyboard or guitar as they accompany soloists. 20
Pizzicato-- A manner of playing the bass by plucking the string rather than bowing.
Repetition-- Presentation of the same musical material in two or more parts of a composition.
Ride-Cymbal---- The cymbal suspended over a drum set, usually to the player’s right, struck by a stick held in the drummer’s right hand. Used for playing timekeeping patterns called ride rhythms. 3
Ride Rhythm - The pattern a drummer plays on the ride cymbal to keep time, the most common being ching-chick-a-ching-chick-a. 3
Riff - A short pattern of sounds repeated and played by a soloist or group.
Samba - A dance of Brazilian and African origin. It has a two-beat feel (or duple beat), which creates a lively tempo.
Scat Singing - The use of nonsense syllables while improvising vocally.
Swing - The feeling projected by a jazz performance, which successfully combines constant tempo, syncopation, swing eighth notes, rhythmic lilt, liveliness and rhythmically cohesive group playing. 43
Syncopation - Accenting a normally weak beat or the weak part of a beat (accenting just before or just after a beat).
Tempo - Refers to the speed of the underlying beat. The speed is determined by the number of beats counted over the span of sixty seconds.
Two-Beat Style - A rhythm section style that emphasizes the first and third beats of each four-beat measure, often leaving the second and fourth beats silent in the bass; sometimes called boom-chick style.
Contrast-- The introduction of new material
Double-Time-- when the music gives you a sense of moving twice as fast 35
Ensemble--a collection of various instrumentalists that will vary in size
Form-- denotes the order of things to come (i.e. 12 bar blues form, AABA song form, Through composed form). Blues=19 AABA song form= 33
Front-Line--musicians appearing directly in front of the Audience and in front of the rhythm-section
Harmony-- musical combination of tones and chords or fundamental chords to a key
Head arrangement-- a band arrangement that was created extemporaneously by the musicians and is not written down
Hi-Hat-- the sock cymbal makes "chick-chick" sound. 2
Horn—a general label for any wind instrument.
Improvisation-- to perform and compose at the same time
Intonation-- to match a pitch (i.e. in tune or out of tune)
Jam-session--a musical get-together where improvisation is stressed and prewritten music is rare
Laid back-- an adjective used to describe a feeling of relaxation, slowness, or laziness, when a performer plays the music a little later than expected
Lick - a phrase or a fragment of music
Measure-- unit of time or a metrical unit in a composition
Meter--type of group (of beats) arranged in groups of 3, 4, 5, etc..
Pizzicato-- method of plucking the string rather than bowing. 22, 27
Rhythm-Section-- a group of players whose job is to accompany
Rhythm-- arrangement of sound in time: it encompasses beat, tempo, and meter
Stop-Time-- when the accompaniment stops or breaks up the existing time. 34
Two-beat style--a rhythm section style that emphasizes every other beat
Vibrato - The pulsating effect produced by small, rapid variations in pitch. Most jazz uses vibrato for warmth and interpretation in imitating the human voice. 46-49
Walking Bass - The bass part that was originally introduced
in boogie-woogie in ostinato form. It concisely spells out the notes in the
chords being used and is usually played in eighth notes. 38, 23
Select Aural Sounds-Demonstration Compact Disc (Gridley)
-Drum Set Sounds Tracks 1-15
-Rhythm Section Sounds (Piano, Bass, Drums) Tracks 16-32
-Piano Techniques 37-42
-Bass Techniques 21-25
-Rhythm Guitar 88