Jazz development In the early 20C, the following were popular providers of entertainment: Marching bands, Ragtime, European dance bands, Black American music such as the blues African and European folk forms. Cheap supply of band instruments were made available to black musicians after troops stationed in the area during the American civil wars were disbanded. The black musician s influence has been felt strongly in the marching bands, as he musicians began to jazz up the marches by adding syncopated rhythms, bending notes and improvising upon the melodies. New Orleans When international travel tended to be by ship, seaports were often rich with cultural traditions, such as New Orleans in the south of USA. New Orleans has often been credited as being the birthplace for jazz. It was a thriving place, a meeting place for many cultures, particularly French, Spanish and Creole (mixed race descent of French-Spanish settlers and black slaves). The transient populations promoted the abundance of wine, women and song. Jazz bands were employed to entertainment revellers of nightclubs, dance halls (particularly the red light area, Storyville ) whereas the bars and brothels engaged jazz and blues pianists. Typical jazz bands featured six musicians: Front line: Back line (rhythm section): cornet, clarinet and trombone piano or banjo, double bass and drums Rhythm section: stabile force behind a pop/jazz band, the instruments holding together the main musical elements of harmony and rhythm. Dixieland Jazz The clean up of Storyville and similar places forced musicians to seek alternative places for employment, Chicago being a popular choice. One such musician was Louis Armstrong. Born 1901 in New Orleans, at the age of17, he was a cornet player with a leading jazz band. As work became scare, he moved to Chicago. After an initial recording, his band became famous, hence the start of his international career. 1920s saw a positive explosion of recordings that promoted the appreciation of jazz music (e.g. West End Blues ) The Original Dixieland Jazz Band made jazz popular to white audiences, to the extent that it was seen as a threat to classical music. Inevitably, Jazz became popular with the youth. Blues and Jazz
The Age of the Dance Band: The Swinging 30s By the end of the 1920s, small jazz band units were superseded by larger commercial dance bands and jazz orchestras. The 1930s swing era featured swing bands of fifteen or more players, divided into brass, reeds and rhythm sections. Arrangements were notated or memorised, thereby restricted the possibilities for solo improvisation. The swing band thrived upon the dance crazes, particularly catering for young audiences. Some arrangers were regarded as serious composers and orchestrators (e.g. Count Basie and his distinctive tight but bluesy style). This style of music was also heavily supported by the radio Bebop ( bop ) Swing bands remained popular even after the Second World War. Inevitably, musicians began to react to the restrictions upon improvisation. An influential minority, spearheaded by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk, produced music of a more complex and exploratory nature. This style became know as Bebop, featured: - Smaller groups Turning away from commercialised and increasingly white-dominated domains of the swing band Artistically conscious Gave rise to the genre termed as modern jazz Influences of Jazz The contribution of jazz to the development of popular music must never be undermined. Even though it has its own history and subsequent progression, it plays a vital role in popular music. A clear example of this is The Kansas City (Count Basie) style of band blues was an amalgamation (or fusion) of jazz and city blues and a precursor of the 1950s R&B). Tenor sax
solos that became commonplace in rock n roll and R&B records had their roots in this fusion music. The 12 bar structure was often employed for guitar improvisations (e.g. BB King and Buddy Guy, typical Blues guitarists; Jimi Hendrix, rock guitarist). As inspiration of improvisation, the 12 bar blues chord progression is still exercised today by many up and coming rock bands. Urban Blues Other black American folk forms have come and gone. However, the blues have resisted extinction and fashionable trends, as illustrated by its adaptation to urbanisation. Many musicologists have considered such adaptation as the musical context for modern pop music (the new wave of white pop music which started in the 1950s) Urban blues are considered to be rather raucous; the musicians actually had to play loud to be herd over the noises of the clubs, bars and dance halls. As expected, urban blues also communicated the struggles of black musicians making a living in the hostile large cities. In the 1940s-50s, there were two major types of urban blues music:- 1. Down-home, earthy style, related to country blues, despite being performed on electric instruments in urban settings. Example include Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf; musicians converging upon Chicago, still retaining the former home sounds of the Delta. Some musicians, like Elmore James exploited the slide guitar. 2. The more citified style, often termed City Blues incorporated a wide range of styles:- Rhythm and Blues : dance-hall band blues; music for entertainment and dancing (examples: Ike Turner, Fats Domino, Louis Jordan) Hard-swinging blues of Kansas city and St. Louis Style that placed more importance on the guitar as the solo instrument, with a front-line role, often ahead of the singer s worth. The guitar line (not performed with a bottle neck) would be lyrical/melodic, high in tessitura and incessant in presence. The performer would improvise over a 12 bar structure, manipulating a sustained tone, often ringing. Such solos were jazz-like in appeal and nature and they gave rise to the later rock concept of the solo lead guitar. Chicago blues initially appealed only to the black communities that comprised of migrants from the South. Blues records were even referred to as race records. It wasn t until 1960, with white audiences already enjoying Little Richard and Fats Domino, looking for more earthy sounds, that down-home urban blues became as important to rock as the city blues. Under the Pye record label, British teenagers swooped in on blues records. Groups like the Rolling Stones adopted many urban idioms in to their own musical fashions. BB King was the last urban blues guitarist to make an impression in rock/pop music, drawing attention away from the vocalist to the lyrical and melodic lines of the guitar. The emphasis upon the guitar gave hope to many teenagers, not gifted enough to sing, yet keen to emulate the performing prowess of their heroes.