Boogie-Woogie (B, 59,61)

            Meade Lux Lewis

                        “Honky Tonk Train” 1927

            Pete Johnson

                        “Climbin’ and Screamin’” 1939

 

                                    Boogie-Woogie characteristics:

                                                - Riff oriented

-8 over 4, i.e. it feels like 8 beats to the measure.

-Rhythmic virtuosity

-Ostinato Bass

-Harmonic simple blues based

-Piano oriented

 

Generally for dancers, solo gigs, like ragtime not a lot of variation.

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How to recognize a New Orleans style Jazz:

                        -Collective improvisation

-Instrumentation-tpt, clar., Tbn/tuba/string bass, Banjo/piano, percussion

                        -Roles

trumpet = melody

clarinet = improvises around melody (above trumpet)

trombone = tailgating (1 and 3)Slides and smears

                        -Registers

                                                clarinet = upper register 

trumpet = middle register

trombone = lower register

 

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band “Dixie Jazz Band One-Step” (1917)(G, 34-35)

                                    Theme recognition?

                                                First Theme

                                                Second Theme

                                                Third Theme

 

Joe “King” Oliver

            1918 – Chicago

                        Chicago was the jazz center of the world during the 1920’s.

            1922-formed “King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band”

                                    -Best early New Orleans style ensemble.

-Personnel? The best New Orleans black musicians of the time.

 

                        *King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band “Dippermouth Blues” (1923)*

                                    Comparison to ODJB?

                                                -Looser, refined, excellent improvisation,

King Oliver’s contributions.

                                                                        -1-

Jelly Roll Morton (pianist/composer) (G-38) (B-45,46)

1.      He was the first important jazz composer. (“King Porter Stomp”)

2.      One of the first musicians to balance composition with improvisation while retaining the excitement of collective improvisation.

                        I.E. *Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers“Grandpa’s Spells” (1926)*

            Characteristics:

               Clean arrangement with:

-Typical New Orleans collective improvisation

-single instrumental melodies with accompaniment

-solo’s with breaks

-last melodic statement, emphasis on 2 & 4,           Swings! – Climatic ending

3.      Helped bridge the gap between the piano styles of ragtime and jazz by loosening ragtime’s rhythmic feeling and decreasing its embellishments.

(“Maple Leaf Rag” comparison?)

 

Other significant pianist who helped in the loosening up of a ragtime feel:

                                   

            James P. Johnson – Father of stride piano

                        “Carolina Shout”

 

            Fats Waller (pianist, composer)

1.      Some of his tunes remain among the most enduring in American music.

2.      Brought a lightness and springy quality to stride style.

“Carolina Shout” comparison to James P. Johnson

            Earl Hines

-Devised the “trumpet-style” of piano playing in which phrases are more “horn-like than pianistic.

                        Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five “West End Blues”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-2-

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) (G,46-48) (B,82-88)

              “Pops”  Dipper/satchel mouth (Satchmo)

 

1922- Left New Orleans to join Joe “King” Oliver’s New Orleans style band in Chicago.

1923-Records with King Oliver

1925-Records with Bessie Smith (G,50-51 Analysis)

                        -World’s most famous blues singer

-Influenced generations of singers both inside & outside the field of Jazz.

-“The Empress of the Blues”

-Unusually strong voice.

-Her simple, soulful performances appealed to millions

-She usually surrounded herself with first-rate jazz improvisers

“Sobbin’ Hearted Blues” (1925)

Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong

 

1927-28- Significant recordings made demonstrating a startling dramatic solo style.

                        “Louis Armstrong and His (Hot Seven” 1927) (Hot Five” 1928)

                                                -“West End Blues” (G, 44-45)

                                                -“Struttin’ with Some Barbecue”

                                                -“Hotter Than That”

                                                -Duet w/ Earl Hines “Weather Bird”

                                                -And His Orchestra “Sweethearts on Parade”

                                                                                 “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues”

 

Contribution to the evolution of Jazz:

1.      He was one of the first great soloists.

2.      One of the first Jazz musicians to refine a rhythmic conception which today is called “jazz swing feeling”

3.      His improvisations are well-paced economic statements. Spontaneous with a stamp of finality.

4.      He brought a superb sense of drama to jazz solo conception through:

a.      Careful pacing

b.      Double-time solo breaks

c.       High-note endings

5.      Master of embellishing/paraphrasing a tune’s melody. Even more he improvised original, melody-like lines that were compatible with a tune’s chord progressions.

This became the main approach for improvisation in the next fifty years of jazz history!

6.      Trumpet god.

7.      Influenced many popular singers:

-Louis Prima, Billie Holiday, and Bing Crosby

8.      Popularized scat singing:

George Benson, Al Jarreau & Bobby McFerrin

-3-

Bix Beiderbecke trumpet/composer (1903-1931) (G,49)(B64-65)

              -Most influential trumpeter of the 1920s aside from Louis Armstrong

                        -Compare contrast Armstrong and Beiderbecke.

                       

 

                       

                        -Cool thoughtful style.

-Composer, he blended ragtime with the French Impressionist music of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy.

                        “In a Mist”

                        “Flashes”

                        “In the Dark”

                        “Candlelights”

-1924 Recorded with Wolverine Orchestra

-1927 Recorded with the famous Paul Whiteman Orchestra.