Jazz in America : The Sounds of Freedom Introduction**

jazz too blends elements of African, Caribbean, and western European culture and is a democratic music where the individual expression of its creator is a treasured attribute. Jazz is deeply rooted in an oral tradition and this is one reason why its earliest years are shrouded in controversy. The vibrant immediacy of jazz is difficult to capture in music notation making jazz more ephemeral than many other kinds of western music. Syncopation is the effect of displacing the emphasis so that the strong beats are undermined and the weaker beats strengthened.the frequent use of syncopation is an aspect that instantly identifies the jazz sound. Improvisation is the ability to compose and perform instantaneously, essentially "making up" music on the spot. When a vocalist creates an improvisation, it is called scat singing. In scat singing, singers use nonsense words or syllables that can often sound like musical instruments. One of the most common structural forms in jazz is that the improvised section comes in between two statements of the main tune. The tune, or head as it is usually called in jazz, is a generally straightforward performance of the composed music. When the improvisation takes place, the basic elements of the head continue (a sequence of chord progressions, bass lines, etc.) but now the melodic line is replaced with an improvised one. This section is often of indeterminate length but generally lasts as long as it takes for each musician to make an improvisation over one pass of the composed tune. Even without a drum set, the music has a very strong sense of beat but it seems to float above that beat. SWING* is a feeling and a trait that distinguishes performer from performer. The upright bass playing pizzicato (plucking the strings rather than bowing them as in classical music) is commonly heard in jazz. Called WALKING BASS* occurs when a bass plays equal note values (usually quarter notes) in every beat in an unsyncopated manner.

Trading*

commonly heard call and response variation. Musicians take musical phrases and split them so they are

shared amoungst themselves.

Jazz Begins
Dawn of 20th century in New Orleans, a flourished community of musicians who were hearing diverse music: marches, opera, religious music, slave music (field hollers and spirituals), west african dance in Congo Square. These musicians found employment in the red light district, outside French Quarter known as Storyville and created jazz together. It was often called "ragtime", which today refers to highly polished and notated music. King of ragtime : Scott Joplin classically trained pianist and composer who wrote opera called Treemonisha. Strictly notated, no improvision. Purists do not qualify it as jazz, however syncopated rhythm accompianed people dancing. "Maple Leaf Rag." 1899 most famous composition, selling more than half a million copies by 1909. But ragtime eventually gave way to stride piano. Revival of his music happened when used in "The Sting." The Entertainer made top 100 and Joplin awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

The Golden Age of Jazz

Prohibition era: speakeasies, flappers, and the Charleston is the Golden Age of Jazz. Roaring Twenties immortalized in F. Scott Fitzgeralds "The Great Gatsby" brought jazz to forefront of American music and introduced it to world. Excitement generated classical composers like Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Aaron Copeland to compose jazz inspired music and introduced saxophone to the classical orchestra.

The Harlem Renaissance

After WWI, center of culture shifted from Europe to New York. Imaginary boundary placed on 110th Street in New York was Harlem. Black artists like : Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and James Weldon Johnson gravitated towards. The best in Harlem was Cotton Club. Pianist, director, composer become most pre-eminent musicians in 20th century American music: Edward "Duke" Ellington
"Duke" self taught and his intuition for harmony and orchestration is unparalled. "Dukes" MOOD INDIGO: mood setting vignette w/ lush orchestration and understated character. Melancholy of trumpet (Arthur Whetsol), Smooth Trombone Sound (Joe Nanton), and rich warm Clarinet sound , later inspired many black and white band leaders to form own big bands.

Blues music

Golden Age: era of legendary women. "BLUES"

singers like Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Mamie Smith, Alberta Hunter, and Bessie Smith.

Mamie Smith, first black women to record a song. 1920 Crazy Blues started a craze. It sold more than 800,000 records.
Theatre Owner's Booking Assosciation founded to give black performers public spaces to perform.

Some Blues Characteristics

BLUE SCALE; most identifiable trait. Has African Origins, though not fully substantianted. Many non-western cultures have pitches that lie outside of the twelve tempered notes of western music and

expressivity of these pitches, when especially applied to third and seventh scale degree, BLUES FEEL. Standardized harmonic plan. Popular 12-bar blues, focus on chord producing instrument (piano or guitar) and notice the lock into harmonies.

Lyrics are typically comments of relationships, often

suggestive. Lyrics sung in two bar trades with instrumental breaks. Lyric heard over measures 1 and 2 and measures 3 and 4 will be traded with instrument (usually guitar.)

Blues refer to: special kind of scale, sequence of relatively fixed harmonies, standardized lyrical pattern, type of performance style, state of mind.

High Society and Hot Jazz

High Society Jazz exemplified by Paul Whiteman. Self proclaimed "King of Jazz". Classically trained violinist and thought jazz could be improved by creating professional arrangements of tunes played by dance orchestra. Whiteman is responsible for commissioning "Rhapsody in Blue" from George Gershwin in 1924 for a famed "Experiment in Modern Music" concert held in New York's Aeolian Hall. Commercially popular, Whiteman's recording of "Whisperings" sold one million copies by 1928 but many feel isn't really jazz. Virtuosic style of trumpet playing, stage prescense, and unorthadox singing voice: champion of early jazz: Louis Armstrong. Born 1901, made jazz hot. Hot Jazz was fast, brilliant improvisions, had an energy that high society dance bands lacked. Jazz moved from New Orleans to mississipi,

into Saint Louis and Chicago, and was full light of American popular music. October 1929, New York stock market crashed, impact lasted till 1930s. Great

Depression and lifestyles of Roaring

Twenties came to a halt. People now listened to radio broadcasts of drama and comedy instead of heading out.Technology for massproducing music was improving. However humble it may be, there is no place like home. Mid-decade big band music dominated the airwaves. Jazz was mainstream popular music in american for first time. Performers like Tom and Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and others were idolized by American Public. And when US joined WWII big bands enlisted and went with them.