Course Outcomes:
- Explain what Jazz Music is and narrate how the Jazz Music Genre came to be.
Name some artists who have popularised the Jazz Music Genre.
List out some key characteristics of Jazz Music.
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Jazz Music Genre
Origin of Jazz Music:
Jazz originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jazz developed uniquely in the United States, not in the Caribbean or in South America where other slaves were sent.
Jazz grew from the African American slaves who were prevented from maintaining their native musical traditions and felt the need to substitute some homegrown form of musical expression. Although slaves who played such instruments as the violin, horn, and oboe were exploited for their musical talents in such cities as Charleston, South Carolina, these were exceptional situations. By and large the slaves were relegated to picking up whatever little scraps of music were allowed them.
Generally has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions from the 1920s – Jazz age. The word jazz is believed to be related to jasm, a slang term dating back to 1860 meaning “pep, energy”
Its first documented use in a musical context in New Orleans was in an article in 1916. Furthermore, Black slaves came from diverse West African tribal cultures with distinct musical traditions. Thus, a great variety of Black musical sensibilities were assembled on American soil.
The music that eventually became jazz evolved out of a wide-ranging, gradually assimilated mixture of Black and white folk musics and popular styles, with roots in both West Africa and Europe.
Its customary instrumentation (e.g., banjo or guitar and percussion), derive primarily from West African traditions, whereas the European influences can be heard not only in the harmonic language of jazz but in its use of such conventional instruments as trumpet, trombone, saxophone, string bass, and piano.
Defined as a “form of art music which originated in the United States through the confrontation of the Negro with European music”.
Jazz Music Characteristics:
Jazz differs from European music in that jazz has a “special relationship to time defined as ‘swing’
Jazz involves “a spontaneity in which improvisation plays a role” and contains a “sonority and manner of phrasing which mirror the individuality of the performing jazz musician”
- swing and blue notes,
- complex chords,
- call and response vocals,
- polyrhythms and
- improvisation.
Definition (Travis Jackson):
“it is music that includes qualities such as
- swing, improvising,
- group interaction,
- developing an ‘individual voice’, and
- being open to different musical possibilities”
Classical Vs Jazz Music
Classical music performance is evaluated more by its fidelity to the musical score, with less attention given to interpretation, ornamentation, and accompaniment.
In contrast, jazz is often characterized by the product of interaction and collaboration, placing less value on the contribution of the composer, if there is one, and more on the performer.
The jazz performer is primarily or wholly a creative, improvising composer—his own composer, as it were—whereas in classical music the performer typically expresses and interprets someone else’s composition.
Musical Instruments:
- Piano
- Trumpet
- Saxophone
- Banjo
Artists:
- Miles Davis
- Louis Armstrong
- Duke Ellington
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Charlie Parker
- Billie Holiday
- John Coltrane