Jazz Essay Research Paper JazzJazz is a

Jazz Essay, Research Paper

Jazz

Jazz is a type of music developed by black Americans about 1900

and possessing an identifiable history and describable

stylistic evolution. It is rooted in the mingled musical traditions of

American blacks. More black musicians saw jazz for the first time a

profession. Since its beginnings jazz has branched out into so many

styles that no single description fits all of them with total accuracy.

Performers of jazz improvise within the conventions of their chosen

style. Improvisation gave jazz a personalized, individualized, and

distinct feel. Most jazz is based on the principle that an infinite

number of melodies can fit the cord progressively of any cord.

The twenties were a crucial period in the history of music.

Revolutions, whether in arts or matter of state, create a new

world only by sacrificing the old. By the late twenties, improvisation

had expanded to the extent of improvisation we ordinarily expect from

jazz today. It was the roaring twenties that a group of new tonalities

entered the mainstream, fixing the sound and the forms of our popular

music for the next thirty years. Louie Armstrong closed the book on the

dynastic tradition in New Orleans jazz.

The first true virtuoso soloist of jazz, Louie Armstrong was a dazzling

improviser, technically, emotionally, and intellectually. Armstrong,

often called the “father of jazz,” always spoke with deference,

bordering on awe, of his musical roots, and with especial devotion of

his mentor Joe Oliver. He changed the format of jazz by bringing the

soloist to the forefront, and in his recording groups, the Hot Five and

the Hot seven, demonstrated that jazz improvisation could go far beyond

simply ornamenting the melody. Armstrong was one of the first jazz

musicians to refine a rhythmic conception that abandoned the stiffness

of ragtime, employed swing light-note patterns, and he used a technique

called “rhythmic displacement.” Rhythmic displacement was sometimes

staggering the placement of an entire phrase, as though he were playing

behind the beat. He created new melodies based on the chords of the

initial tune. He also set standards for all later jazz singers, not

only by the way he altered the words and melodies of songs but also by

improvising without words like an instrument (scat singing)

(Arnold12). Armstrong was a great musical architect. He brought a

superb sense of drama to jazz solo conception. During a period when

most improvisers were satisfied simply to embellish or paraphrase a

tune, Armstrong himself was a master at both. Armstrong^s command of

the trumpet was arguable greater than that of any preceding jazz

trumpeter who recorded.

In actuality, the revolution initiated by Armstrong took place

in fits and starts, and with little fanfare at the time. After

Armstrong^s departure from the King Oliver Creole Band, over a year

would transpire before he would record as a leader. And even when

those famous recordings were planned -the classic “Hot Fives”- the

record company considered enlisting a better known leader to front the

band. Most accounts stress that Armstrong^s talents may have been

neglected by the general public, but were amply recognized by the

musical community – ” his playing was revered by countless jazz

musicians,” runs a typical commentary – but even this claim is

suspect. Fletcher Henderson, Armstrong^s first major employer after

Oliver, made the trumpeter accept a cut in pay to join his band. Many

accounts suggest that Henderson, in fact , preferred the playing of

cornetist Joe Smith, And that Armstrong was hired only because Smith

was unavailable. Smith lacked Armstrong^s rhythmic drive, yet his warm

sound and ease of execution could hardly be faulted and may have been

better receive by the average dancehall patron. Henderson was not even

enthusiastic about Armstrong^s singing, an attitude that deeply

frustrated the new band member. Years later Armstrong would later

exclaim: ” Fletcher didn^t dig me like Joe Oliver. He had a million

dollar talent in his band and he never thought to let me sing.”

During the 1930s a new style of jazz emerged. It became the

most popular kind of jazz in the twentieth century. This style

began during the late 1920s and continued to the 1940s. Most jazz from

the 1930s and early 1940s is called “swing music,” and this time in

history is now known as “the swing era.” Big bands in the swing era

were made up of ten or more musicians whose instruments were grouped

into three categories called “sections:” rhythm, brass, and drums. The

brass section included trumpets and trombones. The saxophone section

was separated from the brass section because they originated from

instruments made of wood. In a big band the sax section contained from

three to

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