Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Jazz and the african american culture
Jazz and the african american culture
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Jazz and the african american culture
Cool jazz was developed largely in Los Angeles and the surrounding West Coast areas. Unlike hard bop, cool jazz was more restrained, soft, and controlled. It was generally understated and was heavily influenced by classical music; utilizing the flute, French horn, and tuba. It was also different from bebop and hard bop in that it relied on prewritten arrangements. Some important people to recognize would be trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Dave Brubeck, and saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. Hard bop was the antithesis of cool jazz as it was characterized by a loud, fun, loose style that was often improvised and complex in form. Hard bop was considered a return to the music’s roots in blues music, making it more Afro-centric. There were two sides
Cool jazz as a music genre had more structure than its bebop counterpart. Most of the time, cool jazz songs were created and performed using written arrangements. This gives the songs a more consistent feeling. It also conveyed a feeling of relaxation, as with written arrangements, the musicians are more relaxed and tend to have less expressions when performing. This was one of the characteristics that made cool jazz gain its label “cool.”
Jazz as a general genre reached its peak in the thirties. Jazz was incredibly popular with both the Black community, and the white community; however, Jazz reached the adolescents the most. Jazz music was associated with the African American culture during this time of increible racial tension, subsequently the ‘teens’ of this generation began to tune into this genre for its rebelistic qualities. Popular forms of jazz music often included, Dixieland/’hot’ jazz, classical jazz, and bebop. The defining artist of hot jazz was Louis Armstrong. This music was characterized by collective improvised solos, around melodic structure, that ideally built up to an emotional and "Hot" climax. The rhythm section, which typically consists of percussion, bass, banjo, or guitar helps to support this crescendo, many times in the style of a
The popularity of jazz grew in the twenties, and its center changed from New Orleans to Chicago. From there it spread to Kansas City and New York. The end of WWI ushered in the Jazz Age in New York, and it came to be associated with the parties and wild behavior of the 1920’s (Verve). Music from this era is also sometimes called “The Chicago Style,” and includes artists such as Bix Beiderbecke on trumpet and Pee Wee Russel, Mezz Mezzrow, and Benny Goodman on clarinet.
His “hot bop” style was heard in places like the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre. Everyone from all over the country would come to see him. Armstrong recorded such works as I’m in the Mood for Love, and You Rascal You (http://library.thinkquest.org/26656/english/music.html). Another famous person during this era was Coleman Hawkins, a saxophone player. Hawkins is recognized as the first great saxophonist of jazz.
Swing, the predecessor of bop, was big, sweet, and hot. The performers were big bands, fronted by a charismatic bandleader, yet the success of a piece depended mostly on the unity of the ensemble as a whole, rather than on the showcasing of prodigious individuals. The requisite instrument was the saxophone, which was often smooth and mellifluous. Songs were old favorites, or simple jazz standards, that had been arranged to suit a large ensemble. Swing bands played in large venues, such as ballrooms, and to large audiences, who seized the opportunity to not just tap their toes, but to "jump, jive, and wail." The swing era became the most popular form of jazz, as it catered to audiences as a form of social and interactive entertainment.
Why was New Orleans the hotspot for Jazz? It was located on a seaport. Being on a seaport is beneficial because it provides tourists and is also where goods go through. Also, it provided the party-like atmosphere and still does so today. People in the 1920’s didn’t have the technological advances such as iPhones and television so the performance took place in a social setting such as local bars and red light district establishments. The music evolution of jazz provided not only the music itself but a reason to get up and dance. According to Gridley, “The evolution of new dances and the overall popularity of dancing were big factors” (40). This was a big factor in jazz because it provided a brass band feel.Brass bands influence from Europeans brought a model for jazz music such as the trumpet, trombone, tuba, saxophone, and clarinet. These factors wouldn’t have been possible without culture and also individuals.
The jazz side of Fusion Jazz gives it a sense of sophistication and complexity from the improvisations among the musicians. The rock side of Fusion Jazz gave it the power and the hard yet simple rhythms that came from the electric guitars and basses from rock music. This style also incorporated more straight rhythms, such as eighth notes, instead of the previous swing style. Because of the wild popularity of rock music after Hard Bop jazz, the composers and performers of Jazz music wanted to get into the fad and capitalize off of it, thus the creation of Fusion Jazz. This plan worked, to an extent. Many true rock fans who did not consider themselves fans of regular, older styles of jazz enjoyed Fusion jazz more than “classic” fans of jazz. Many people do not even consider Fusion jazz to be “real” jazz music. However, many forget that Jazz music was created because people wanted to be able to interpret music however they please, not have it be constricted to the rules or guidelines of other genres. Miles Davis again holds an important role in this style of music, and created one of the most well known and important fusion jazz records, “Bitches Brew”. Other notable artists of the time and style include Chick Corea (keyboards), John McLaughlin (guitar), and Whether Report
Soul Jazz was derived from hard bop. It integrated influences from gospel, blues, and rhythm and blues. It was made for music in small groups. Soul Jazz had repetitive grooves, non-complex improvisation, and melodic hooks. A large influence of this style was Horace Silver, who had funky and gospel included piano vamps. (A Passion for
Miles Davis was a key player in the evolution of modern jazz. In the 1940’s he participated in the bebop craze, then initiated the cool jazz era in the 1950’s. Bebop involved a higher register and note fueled playing while Miles favored the middle register, with longer and less frequency of notes, and a
To understand the genesis of Jazz one must also understand the setting of its origin, New Orleans. The city was founded by the French in 1718, then in 1763 the city ceded to Spain and remained under Spanish control until later being returned to the French in 1803, and then was immediately sold to the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans was also heavily populated by African slaves making up 30% of the total population of the city at this time; so New Orleans was experiencing a lot of cultural diversity and was being shaped and molded by the many different fashions of people who lived in the city. These different social groups along with their culture also brought with them their deep rooted musical traditions, the fusion and combination of these traditions would give rise to what we know today as modern day Jazz. Jazz is a genre of music that could only have formed in America; it draws from many different cultures and art forms creating a cocktail of traditional European and African music, mixed with a blend of Spanish tinge, with a strong base of blues filtered through the American experience.
In the 1920s a new kind of music rose in New Orleans. Different from the ballroom songs popular in that day, former slaves and their families created this new music called jazz, which spread like wildfire. Many artists influenced the growth of this great type of music including Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Louis Armstrong played as one of these great men. Growing up in a poor section of the “Birthplace of Jazz”, Armstrong taught himself to play the trumpet, also known as the cornet. Louis Armstrong was the most influential jazz trumpet player to walk this earth due to his own created style of jazz including many songs that are still used today.
Heroin was originally synthesized in 1874 by a man named C.R Alder Wright. Created as a solution to opium, a drug that had plagued many American households. It was originally produced for medical purposes evidently becoming highly addictive. Heroin “... was originally marketed as a non-addictive substance” (“History of Addiction”) which inevitably increased its popularity. It became especially popular in places of poverty. Heroin became a solution to struggle. So common it was almost as if heroin was a prescribed medicine for hardship. Known as “[a] treatment of many illnesses and pain” (“A brief history of addiction”) but later revealed that it caused more harm than good. Being so easily accessible it became immensely common among musicians.
In the early 1900’s African American musicians from various European cultures created a new style of music, known as Jazz. New Orleans is known as the birth place of Jazz with the French and Spanish migrants shaping early New Orleans’ culture. Settlers from other European countries including Italy, England and Germany combined Blues, Ragtime and Big Band Music to create what we now call Jazz.
Jazz was used in many ways when it first came on to the scene; it was used as an instrument of revolution and also as a way to get over sickness whether it were physical or mental. The United States was not the only country to experience Jazz when it really came to life in the 1920’s. Jazz began to reach out to other European countries including Germany before the rise of Nazi power throughout the country. It was a genre that could be used as a revolt against certain powers and can be seen in Josef Skvorecký’s “Eine Kleine Jazzmusik”, a story written to depict the ways Jazz touched certain people. Another way in which Jazz was utilized occurred in the United States, depicted in Haruki Murakimi’s “Nausea 1979”, as a way to heal sickness and loneliness. Both stories are written in a different way, one as an actual story and one as an interview. They show the different uses of Jazz, but also how it influences people the same way. One influencing a revolution and the other influencing the health of a man.
Jazz comprises of a wide range of music from the ragtime to the present music listened to by many people. The music evolution has taken roughly 100 years and jazz has been put in this particular evolution as one of the music styles today. In the definition of jazz, there is no actual definition of jazz because it a composition of very many music styles hence making it hard to get the required definition that would describe it fully. Attempts being made to define jazz have a basis of traditional music that have similar characteristics as jazz but not real jazz. Using the American or African music examples, the researchers argue that the definition is very broad and wide. Ernest Berendt one of the researchers says that jazz originated from America in the process of confronting Negros with Europeans in terms of music. This can then be termed as a tool of identity between the two groups of people due to the racist and discrimination aspects that faced America. This was now a tool that could identify the two groups to bring about national integration and understanding among the members of America. In America jazz has incorporated time as a special factor and is now referred to as swing. Swing means spontaneity and vitality of the production of music which has an improvisation role to play to the listeners. This particular jazz music contains a particular manner of phrasing which acts as a mirror to an individual and the personality of the musician performing that particular jazz music on stage. The early jazz musicians include Double Bassist Reggie Workman, saxophone player Pharaoh Sanders, and drummer Idris Muhammad who were performing in 1978 hence dating back to early jazz performance and presentation.