Monday, March 30, 2009

What is more American than Jazz???



Fun find. I am researching on the innovation of Miles Davis and his “Jazz Fusion”. I found a cool website, check it out http://www.jazzfusion.tv/ . Also PLEASE check out Wikipedia, tons of great information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis. I am doing my presentation on April 7th, Check out this stuff before hand.
Small bit of Jazz history, ease everyone into it rather than me just list tons of information on jazz. Jazz actually began in the late 19th century down in New Orleans, Louisiana. This new sound used elements from Blues and Ragtime, among other influences. What made Jazz such a unique and interesting style was its intense use of improvisation. This was the first time a genre in western music used improvisation. Was it??? Yet it felt completely natural. Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians. European classical music during around 1920 was being "turned upside down" by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, the United States was starting to develop its own distinct and separate musical form. At this point, jazz was not the product of a handful of composers or formal creative innovators. Instead, it was a relatively unsophisticated folk‑music. During the 1920s, large groups of jazz musicians began to play together, forming the big bands that became so popular in the 1930s and early 1940s, (the swing era). The development of the big band can be majorly credited to the achievement of Duke Ellington and his revolutionary song, "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing". This soon became the new word for music played with a happy, relaxed beat. What is more American than Jazz??? Jazz is an American form of music, and it's history occupies a much smaller span of time. The terms "Jazz" and "Jazz Band" first surfaced in the year 1900. Some say this occurred in New Orleans, although similar music was played at the same time in other places. Was New Orleans this birthplace of jazz? After World War I, Jazz music had evolved and was helped by the development of the recording industry. The small dance band ensemble grew into the larger orchestra known as the "Big Band". The music of the Big Bands became known as "Swing." Two of the more famous Swing band leaders were Tommy Dorsey and Harry James. In the late 1940s and through the 1950s, a different kind of Jazz became popular. This music, played by a very small ensemble, was much more complex . Its rich harmonic changes and melodic counterpoint were not conducive to dance. It became known as "Bop," with Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie being the early proponents. In the last twenty years there has been a combination of Jazz with popular music of the US and Latin America. This modern Jazz music has been called "Fusion." Present performers include Pat Metheny and Chic Corea. There has also been a return to the sound of Bop in the last ten years by such musicians as trumpeter Winton Marsalis and his brother Branford, a saxophonist.

1 comment:

  1. I forgot to add some fun interesting information from Miles Autobiography "I had gotten into musical theories of Karl Stockhausen, a German avant-garde composer, and an English composer who I had met in London in 1969. Through Stockhausen I understood music as a process of elimination and addition. Like "Yes" only means something after you have said "No" I thought the theorists would love to know that Miles Davis was influenced by Karl Stockhausen.

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