What is Jazz?

Like the spirituals, jazz is also a type of folk music. “The origins of jazz around the turn of the twentieth century . . . were in the music of the slaves who were brought from Africa and combined their rhythms and melodic patterns with familiar tunes of the day” (Crossroads in Music, p. 250).

Below you can listen to Louis Armstrong and his ensemble performing “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Notice how this old spiritual song is incorporated into the jazz style. Also notice the call-response method used when Louis Armstrong sings and his back-up vocals responds. This is the same as we experienced while listening to the spirituals, Gospel, sometimes in the blues, as well as in Rhythm & Blues.



Jazz had also a close relationship with blues music. Listen to Ella Fitzgerald, probably the most celebrated jazz singer, performing “I’ve Got a Right to Sing the Blues.” In what way is this song similar to traditional blues? In what way is it different?



Towards the end of the 1800s marching bands were very popular, especially in New Orleans “where military musicians returning from service in the Civil War revived a strong military band tradition established by the French founders of the city” (Crossroads in Music, p. 111). Small bands started to play for different occasions, such as at funerals, parades, and dances. “They were also found as entertainment in the bars and brothels of New Orleans' famed red-light district, ‘Storyville.’ The music of these bands reflected many influences: French, Spanish, Creole, African, blues, and the banjolike rhythms of ragtime, which was just developing” (Crossroads in Music, p. 111).

From this “jazz” developed and had three elements (Crossroads in Music, p. 111):

1. A lilting beat called “swing.”
2. A characteristic rhythm called syncopation in which “offbeat” accents break up the regularity of beat that characterized most classical music.
3. Improvisation.
   

Of the three, improvisation is the most important. Tom Zarecki explains that a “unique characteristics of Jazz is that no two performances of a song are ever the same because the performers literally ‘make up’ [improvise] the notes they will be playing when it's their turn to solo . . . In other genres like Country, Pop, or Rock, the audiences want the live performer to duplicate their recording as exactly as possible. Not so with Jazz. People love Jazz performers because the audience knows (and automatically expects) that they will get a unique performance each time.”

“Players would improvise individually in brief passages and also collectively. Instruments were chosen from among those used in the marching band… Being the loudest, the cornet (or the trumpet) played the melody in an embellished or ornamented fashion. The clarinet added a secondary part, an independent melodic accompaniment sometimes called an obbligato. This was played above the melody of the cornet. Since the clarinet is a very flexible instrument capable of great technical facility, this obbligato was often highly elaborate. The trombone added a harmony part below the cornet, usually playing longer notes than those of the melody and adding melodic interest when the cornet was resting. In a marching band this harmonic element would be called a countermelody. These three instruments were called the front line because they stood out front, near the audience. The remaining three instruments were called the rhythm section: the tuba, which supplied the bass part; the banjo, which played chords in rhythm; and drums, which provided the beat” (Crossroads in Music, p. 111, 112).

Swing Jazz

Of all the styles of jazz, Swing jazz (or "Big Band" jazz) is the most fixed (i.e. does not have as much improvisation). However, "the most popular jazz style of the twentieth century was swing, named after the lilting yet driving rhythm associated with jazz. This style is based on large ensembles of ten or more musicians (Big Bands) who played written arrangements that incorporated improvised solos . . . In addition to a vocalist or two, these bands included three sections of instruments: brass (trumpets and trombones), woodwinds (saxophones), and rhythm (piano, brass, drums, and sometimes guitar). Their repertoire included popular ballads as well as songs usually associated with jazz that are called jazz standards” (Crossroads in Music, p. 129, 130).

One of the most popular “big bands” were the Bennie Goodman Orchestra and one of their most famous songs are “Sing, Sing, Sing,” which has also become a “jazz standard.” Ironically, although the title of the song is “Sing, Sing, Sing,” it contains no lyrics and nobody singing. Notice the ample use of brasses and a very clear syncopated rhythm.



Please watch the two YouTube-video clips below. “Swing” is discussed as part of the “This is Jazz”-series.





Some Examples of Swing

Following are some examples of famous swing artists.

Billy Holiday performs “Summertime” in the following video. This song is a lullaby. The tune seems almost a little sad – as if it could be a blues song. There is also mention of "cotton" which is a typical slavery / folk song image; think, for example, of Lead Belly's "Pick a Bale of Cotton." However, the lyrics are cheerful. The "cotton is fine" and life is “easy,” because “daddy’s rich / And your mamma’s good lookin’.” This is the opposite of typical blues music. The instruments are also quite busy (the density is moderately high) with lots of improvisations.



Ella Fitzgerald, known as “The First Lady of Jazz” performs “I Want to Be Happy,” in the YouTube-video below. Note how long the intro is – played predominantly by the “horns”, before the vocalist starts singing. Then notice how short the vocalist’s part is in the overall song. Fitzgerald finishes her part even before the middle of the song is reached. The voice is just one of the instruments that get a turn to have a solo in jazz music. This is quite different from many other music genres where the vocals are the dominant instrument of the song and the other instruments are used primarily for accompaniment, with occasional interludes. As a typical jazz song, “I Want to Be Happy,” shows how the vocals in jazz music is not necessarily the most important. Many other instruments have solos throughout the song.

Try to list every instrument that has a solo in this performance.



Some recent examples of current artists performing Swing shows that Swing Jazz is still a popular genre. Below are Robbie Williams and Harry Conick, Jr.