In a previous post we discussed Swing (aka Big Band) Jazz. Swing Jazz is only one example of jazz music. There are many styles of jazz. The following list will give you a quick overview of the more common jazz styles.
Dixieland
Dixieland jazz is the type of jazz associated with the early days of jazz in New Orleans, with its marching brass bands. The tone is usually cheerful. The orchestration often includes the trumpet that plays the main melody and the trombone that plays the counter-melody. A clarinet usually improvises on the chords, which is often provided by a banjo and piano. Rhythm is provided by a tuba and/or drums. Dixieland jazz usually has a strong one-two-one-two rhythm (2/4 measure).
Hot Jazz
In between New Orleans’ Dixieland and Swing Jazz there was Louis Armstrong and his “Hot Five” and “Hot Seven” – ensembles consisting of five or seven members. Louis Armstrong and his “Hot Five” and “Hot Seven” was so influential that his style of jazz became known as Hot Jazz, and the music created by them is considered some of the best jazz music in jazz history.
The song “Heebie Jeebies” has one of the first examples of scat singing.
Swing Jazz (Big Band Jazz)
We discussed Swing Jazz in our main discussion on "What is Jazz?"
Bebop
Because Big Band Jazz (Swing) tended to be somewhat fixed (not much improvisation) it created in some jazz musicians the need for more freedom. Bebop (sometimes just called “bop”) is in a sense a reaction against Big Band Jazz. Bebop has smaller ensembles and more improvisation. Crossroads in Music (179) explains that Bebop “…employed complex harmony and required great technical facility of its players. Its tempos were very fast and discouraging to a swing era audience that loved to dance. However, for musicians who loved to listen, it was a very exciting style. The characteristic ensemble was a quintet with two players (usually sax and trumpet) on the frontline and a three-piece rhythm section. Typically, the opening and closing of a song featured the ‘horns’ (wind instruments) playing in unison. Between the opening and closing, lots of space was provided for improvised solos.”
Cool Jazz
Many people found Bebop’s melodic complexity too confusing. Cool Jazz is a reaction against the intensity of Bebop. Cool Jazz is easier to listen to, with more emphasis on “subtlety” with some influence from classical music. (Crossroads in Music, p. 181, 182.)
In the excerpt below from “The Subject is Jazz,” Billy Taylor explains “Cool Jazz.” Below that is a YouTube-video with Miles Davies giving a typical Cool Jazz performance.
Hard Bop
Again in reaction to Cool Jazz came Hard Bop, which is basically a return to Bebop. However, Hard Bop is not merely a repetition of Bebop; instead it incorporates Gospel and blues music to give it a more emotional feel (Source: Air Judden)
The “Hard Bop Saxophone Quartet” performs “Gospel Fever!” below.
Third Stream
During the 1950’s there was a movement to fuse jazz and classical music. This resulted in what is known as “Third Stream.” George Russell was a major player in this movement.
Modal Jazz
Some jazz musicians became tired with the typical structure of jazz that consisted of 32 measures and specific chord progressions. Modal jazz was an attempt to move away from this form so that the soloists can freer to improvise more, based on scales rather than chords. Read this page for a more detailed explanation. Modal jazz is also sometimes related with blues and Cool Jazz. Loren Schoenberg describes Modal Jazz in the video below.
Free Form Jazz
Free From Jazz focusses on extreme improvisation. This style of jazz seems somewhat haphazard, with very high tonal and rhythmic density, and is sometimes described as “angry.”
Bossa Nova Jazz
A fusion of Latin Bossa Nova music and Cool Jazz results in Bossa Nova Jazz. This is a popular type of jazz and was especially common in the 60s.
Fusion & Jazz-Rock
Fusion Jazz refer to the fusion of jazz with other styles, specifically rock music; aka Jazz-Rock. A good example would be Tony Williams’s “Lifetime” album. The main difference between Fusion and Jazz-Rock is that "Fusion" is primarily instrumental, while "Jazz-Rock" includes a lead vocalist. Fusion and Jazz-Rock were especially popular in the 70s and 80s.
Neoclassicism
Crossroads in Music (p. 266) describe Neo-classical jazz as “the application of modern techniques to older styles and structures. For the most part, the return is to the chord changes, acoustic instruments, and structure of bebop with the addition of modern performance possibilities such as collective improvisation, variable formal structure, rhythm, and meter and the use of modal, tonal, or chromatic melodies.”
Acid Jazz
Acid Jazz refers to the fusion of Jazz with dance music.
Showing posts with label Jazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jazz. Show all posts
Scat Singing
Scat singing is a type of singing in Jazz where the singer makes nonsense syllables with the voice in an improvised fashion, mimicking instruments like the trumpet or clarinet.
One of the early jazz songs that is a precursor to scat singing is the folk song “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” by Ella Fitzgerald. The words “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” do not have any meaning. It is merely used for its sound quality, to rhyme with “basket.” Children used to sing this song while playing the "Circle Game." Notice the call-response in this song. The “responses” are given by both the backing vocalists and the brass instruments.
In the following song Ella Fitzgerald sings “Take the A-Train” in a composition by the great jazz pianist Duke Ellington. Listen to her great improvised scat singing. Although there is improvised scat singing, the melody is still relatively easy to follow. An interesting feature of this song is how Ella Fitzgerald improvises the lyrics. Listen to the second time you hear "Can't you hear those engines drumming." Instead of singing the next line which is "All aboard, get on the 'A' train" like the first time round, she sings another line and and starts to mix the lyric lines in an improvised fashion. This is another interesting characteristic of jazz, that even the lyrics can be improvised. Scats singing is probably the ultimate form of vocal improvisation.
In the following song “How High the Moon,” the melody is rather difficult to follow. The melodic contour is much more complicated, leading into a very complicated melody during the scat singing. Notice how Fitzgerald mimics the complicated obbligato of the clarinet, and later the timbre of the cornet. In this performance she also clearly moves between moments of improvised singing (playing around with the words of the lyrics) and pure scat singing (saying no words, only singing nonsensicle syllables).
In the next video you can listen to Sarah Vaughn singing scat alongside Wynton Marsalis playing the cornet. Notice how the two instruments (voice and cornet) perform together, sometimes as counterpoint melodies, other times in a caller-response fashion. Also notice how Sarah Vaugh “copies” the trumpet at times.
The title of this song is “Autumn Leaves.” There are no lyrics, only scat singing. One can probably interpret the scat as a vocal interpretation of autumn leaves blowing around in the wind. Close your eyes and listen to the song again, while imagining leaves blowing in gusts of autumn wind.
One of the early jazz songs that is a precursor to scat singing is the folk song “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” by Ella Fitzgerald. The words “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” do not have any meaning. It is merely used for its sound quality, to rhyme with “basket.” Children used to sing this song while playing the "Circle Game." Notice the call-response in this song. The “responses” are given by both the backing vocalists and the brass instruments.
In the following song Ella Fitzgerald sings “Take the A-Train” in a composition by the great jazz pianist Duke Ellington. Listen to her great improvised scat singing. Although there is improvised scat singing, the melody is still relatively easy to follow. An interesting feature of this song is how Ella Fitzgerald improvises the lyrics. Listen to the second time you hear "Can't you hear those engines drumming." Instead of singing the next line which is "All aboard, get on the 'A' train" like the first time round, she sings another line and and starts to mix the lyric lines in an improvised fashion. This is another interesting characteristic of jazz, that even the lyrics can be improvised. Scats singing is probably the ultimate form of vocal improvisation.
In the following song “How High the Moon,” the melody is rather difficult to follow. The melodic contour is much more complicated, leading into a very complicated melody during the scat singing. Notice how Fitzgerald mimics the complicated obbligato of the clarinet, and later the timbre of the cornet. In this performance she also clearly moves between moments of improvised singing (playing around with the words of the lyrics) and pure scat singing (saying no words, only singing nonsensicle syllables).
In the next video you can listen to Sarah Vaughn singing scat alongside Wynton Marsalis playing the cornet. Notice how the two instruments (voice and cornet) perform together, sometimes as counterpoint melodies, other times in a caller-response fashion. Also notice how Sarah Vaugh “copies” the trumpet at times.
The title of this song is “Autumn Leaves.” There are no lyrics, only scat singing. One can probably interpret the scat as a vocal interpretation of autumn leaves blowing around in the wind. Close your eyes and listen to the song again, while imagining leaves blowing in gusts of autumn wind.
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):
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.
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):
- A lilting beat called “swing.”
- A characteristic rhythm called syncopation in which “offbeat” accents break up the regularity of beat that characterized most classical music.
- 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.
Don't Miss Out
Since this course focuses not only on the music, but particularly also on the lyrics of songs, we often pass over many important artists that contributed to certain music genres – especially in the genres of blues, rhythm & blues, and jazz. Since many of these key musicians did not produce lyrics, we unfortunately have to skip them to stay focused on our aim in studying “Poetry in Music.” I would nevertheless advise you to look into some of the key contributors to modern music. One place to start would be in New Orleans.
A very important hub for modern music has always been New Orleans, especially with regard to blues and jazz. A good place to start to get better acquainted with the music that grew out of New Orleans would be David Shore’s five part radio program called “New Orleans – A History of Contemporary Music.”
For a taste of current bands in New Orleans you may want to consider visiting the New Orleans Website Directory.
A very important hub for modern music has always been New Orleans, especially with regard to blues and jazz. A good place to start to get better acquainted with the music that grew out of New Orleans would be David Shore’s five part radio program called “New Orleans – A History of Contemporary Music.”
For a taste of current bands in New Orleans you may want to consider visiting the New Orleans Website Directory.
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