Evolution of Jazz, Essay Example

Introduction

Originated in the early 20^th century, jazz is a style of music that developed in the areas of the Southern United States of America, within the black communities.In this very special form of music that has a blend of the traditions of Europe as well as Africa, when it comes to the traditions that make this up.Much American popular music has been incorporated into jazz since its inception and development.The use of the word “jazz”, in the context of music was done in the early 1915.It has forced documented in the context of music in the city of New Orleans on the day of 14 November, 1916(Smith, 1991).

Intellectual Views

Along the course of development many independent local communities and varying areas has developed jazz to suit their culture and the regional traditions. Some of the very renowned jazz in the earlier part of the 20^th century include the new oak Orleans jazz, Kansas City jazz, big band swing etc. In the later part of the century other new types of jazz like west coast jazz, Avant-guard jazz, cool jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz, free jazz, modal jazz etc. developed and thrived.Other different jazz forms are ethno jazz, acid jazz, punk jazz; smooth jazz, Indo jazz, jazz-funk etc.Jazz is such a kind of music form that is always gives scope for development and evolution. Within the over 100 year history of jazz, it has expanded and spanned the vastness of music as we know it(Hodeir, 1980).

And such is the vastness of this genre of music, that it is very difficult to give a proper definition of it.It has been born out of a conflict between European music and the African music in the United States.It is a kind of music which gives scope for different time periods in history as well as includes the different qualities that good music should always have a like improvising, swinging, development of the voice of an individual, group discussion, scope for possibilities of other kinds of music.

A master artist will definitely play the same tune in different ways and never repeat it twice.Melodies can be varied and altered as the performer wishes according to his or her experience.Therefore in this way interacting with the musicians or audience members is possible.As it is that jazz is a music that is marked mainly by quill operation and interaction between the composer and performer and is a direct result of the combined effort and creativity.Therefore it is mandatory that equal value is given to both the composer as well as the performer.

Know the Jazz

A section for rhythm always accompanies the jazz soloist.Chorus is played and the complimentary rhythms support the song outline and the soloist in performance.Later on during the era of swing, the famous bands were banking more on the kind of music that was arranged.The arrangements could be either written or heard.Their arrangements could also be memorized. In earlier times music was memorized more often as jazz musicians could not read music notes.Much later the very idea of chord progression was abolished by a style of jazz known as modal jazz.In the avant-garde jazz, in addition to permitting the abandoning of scales, rhythms and chords, and actually they demand the doing of so(Parsonage, 2005).

When slavery was aborted in America, the opportunities for education was presented in front of the African Americans were no longer victims of up the cruel custom that had been going on.There is not too much of opportunities tea for employment as far as the main working sector was concerned.Therefore the African American turned their attention to entertainment are finding work as well as their pleasure at the same time. It is around this point of time that the blues came to the fore.A musical form as well as a genre of music, blues, was forced originated in communities of African Americans in the southernmost places of United States.They were developed from work songs, field hollers, chants etc. in the end of the 19^th century.The pentatonic scales that were in use by the Africans were a big reason for blue notes’ development in jazz(Koenig, 1965).

A very significant impact on the jazz music in the very early 20^th century was done by the New Orleans music.Jazz was played two of the city’s bars and brothels.There were also a large number of the bands for dancing, bands for marching that were performingon a funeral procession or gathering.These funerals for mostly arranged by the communities who were European in nature or maybe African or American.The very instruments that were being played in these dance bands or the bands for the processions were the brass and the reeds and drums.These instruments are tuned in to the European 12-tone scale.It was these musical instruments that would go on to become the very fundamental instruments required for playing jazz. They included the musicians their coming from New Orleans.It was these musicians that would play the role of the pioneer in the development of early jazz. Jazz was gaining popularity for the first time as they traveled through the Black Communities in the south as well as in the western and northern cities of United States of America(Sturm, 2010).

The most significant African based rhythmic technique used in jazz was the rhythmic feeling of ragtime known as “swing”.It is one of the things of the most intense of feelings.It is a rhythmic momentum of the jazz music that cannot be touched or seen.It is an intangible thing what can be felt with the deepest of feelings.Swing is a thing of such mystery that no comparison can be drawn to it.And leases can’t be done about it.The only thing to that can be left for people to do is argument.Swing successfully superimposes the subdivisions that are present in the beat in the basic pulse structure.Along with Afro American music, the Caribbean music that is African in origin also as the element of swing.But it can be concluded safely that the element of thing is far more vivid and dominant in the African American music than they are in Afro Caribbean music.

A significant influence of the New Orleans Brass Brands, is the contribution of the horn players in the world of jazz.It also helped the poverty stricken black kids to get some relief.Louis Armstrong was talk to play trumpet by the leader of Camelia Brass Band.On having learned playing trumpets, Louis Armstrong made the New Orleans style of trumpet very popular indeed and then later went on to expand it.He is also one of the key men that are credited to have turned the attention of jazz in favor of swing.The techniques of for them in the swing of jazz were put down into code in a way no more significant by Louis Armstrong himself.He also helped in the expansion of the solo vocabulary of jazz.The earliest to release a record of jazz was the band named Original Dixieland Jass Band. It was their release named “Livery Sable Blues” that was the first recorded release ever in jazz in the year 1917(Smith, 1991).In the following years advances were made in the recording of jazz music and their release by several other bands with popularity.Louis Armstrong, who was a trumpeter, began to play solo on the high.The music was separated from the other instruments.Interesting enough that would set the trend for the next decades to come as the idea behind jazz.

The name cool jazz is derived from of the music critics believe the sub dude feelings of Miles’s playing.It was also partly due to the recording of The Birth of the Cool in the year 1949.In the sixties the notions of improvisation of the east as well as the west was combined by saxophonist John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.They began to think over the idea of improvisation and in a collective basis from the early jazz years.On the other hand Miles Davis did the ground breaking experiment of making a hybrid of jazz with rock.This was termed as fusion.His work was taken further by groups like Mahavishnu Orchestra and weather report.Then again in the nineties and late eighties jazz came back into its own to the very roots that was in New Orleans.That have and when Marsailes Brothers and Harry Connick Jr., who was a pianist, phone come and the success that styles of neo-traditional ones in jazz.Even to this day the property that jazz inherited from the very beginning, that is changed and innovation have persisted.In this new world cross pollination continues to happen with new age, rap music, rock, punk, mainstream tom pop and much more(Sturm, 2010).

Emotional Views

Just a few weeks ago on one weekend, while surfing on YouTube, I accidently landed on a Jazz song. It was “Sentimental Mood”. At first thought I opted to cancel the play mode, but later on I don’t’ know what made me come back to the same page. It was breathtaking and very soothing. I heard the same piece of song over and over again. Particularly I the phrase “You make my paradise complete” was awesome. It was so touching and close to my heart.

This piece is beautifully sung by Ella. Her voice was very sultry and rich with expertly controlled riffs and melodies. The lyrics are about how a lover makes her feel sentimental as she thinks about him. The only accompaniment in the song to her singing is a guitar, so the piece is simple but engaging. Her voice is enough to carry the listener to the end of the song without being bored.

I got a warm feeling from listening to this piece. I particularly enjoyed her melodic and rich sound and the dynamics she uses to give the song fluid movement. It is not just a monotone. She makes me feel like getting a warm cup of cocoa, putting on some of her records and listening with my eyes closed. In this song, she really makes me feel how much sentiment she has for the person she is singing about. Great song!

The piece of song had used a lot of musical instruments. The various musical instruments that were used were cellos, basses, flutes, piccolo, oboe, violins, English horns, bassoons, trumpets, French horns, timpani, trombones, triangle, contrabassoon, tuba etc.

I heard the performance with tremendous interest and attention. The most imaginative and the most frequently performed work was with the pieces of piano and describing the paintings in the sound.

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was popularly known as “Queen of Jazz”. She was honored with the title of “First Lady of Song”. American by nationality, her tone had a sense of purity with excellency over intonation and phrasing. She was an expert in scat singing.

The appreciation

It must be said that the performance was quite brilliant. The sound that the various musical instruments made created an aura such that melody flowed like a river to the rhythm. The music was also in a great harmony as far as the combination and the blending of the various instruments are concerned. The tempo was like allegro, andante, lento and largo. There was also the element of improvisation that was clearly present in the music and the various dynamics such as volume increase and decrease, its loudening and softening in the various phases were distinctly evident.

Quite a few days that does this concert in jazz, I had the opportunity to attend another concert. It was back in the year 2010 in the evening that I found myself in the McCarthy Auditorium, in the rule number 6120 listening to a very special jazz show. The responsibility of coordination was in the hands of Dr. Tim Buchholz. There were performers that were present from vocal assembles, that are two in number and were different from each other. The famous song “Blue Skies” was the opening song of the concert. The beginning was done with the vocal and a slight auxiliary percussion could be noticed. The drum rhythm could also be made out that started the whole show. The piano and then the electric guitar and then the bass guitarist tool join into the music. Regina and Chantell were the two soloists that started and made the stage their own. They showed off their chops in the front stage. Just as the solo performance finished, they joined back to the band into the vocal part of the song and then completed the song as one single united band. The opening of the next performance was marked with the playing of a piano. Then a performance of three man solos. The vocals gently given a started singing their own parts in the section of rhythm. Now this performance was definitely entertaining to say the least. Now after the performance, the three artists john back to the entire group to sing it together for the loss part of the song. A huge round of applause greeted them was the performance was finished. A buzz around us would be felt as that of oz was going on. The sound of the various instruments along with the great voice of the artists made the crowd go crazy, and applaud the band off to the end of the performance, with a standing ovation. I was left quite in an awe offer the performance got over. It was only when that the third performance started when I came into the real world again. Dr. Buchholz is one of my own favorite stars in the jazz industry. The choir made the temple of the song a little bit worse than it would have been if it were without them. It was around this time that I started thinking about leaving the concert because I had some work at home that I needed to finish. However, the imprint of this jazz performance is always going to be there with me in my memory, as well as in my dreams.

References

Hodeir, A. (1980). Jazz, its evolution and essence. New York: Grove Press.

Koenig, K. (1965). Jazz in Print (1859-1929): An Anthology of Early Source Readings in Jazz History. London: Pendragon Press.

Parsonage, C. (2005). Evolution of Jazz in Britain, 1880-1935. California: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.,.

Smith, M. P. (1991). New Orleans Jazz Fest: A Pictorial History (2nd ed.). London: Pelican Publishing.

Sturm, F. (2010). Changes over time: the evolution of jazz arranging. New Michigan: the University of Michigan.