Essay Preview: Jazz
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When it comes to music, most people dont say they like it. People say they like heavy metal, pop, rhythm and blues, or any other type of music, since they have their own preference to what type of music they like, not just enjoying the broad area of music. One of those types of music which many enjoy is jazz. Actually right now jazz is really big and popular in Europe, and is rising in its popularity in the USA through its many forms. Jazz does have many forms, so many that some people wouldnt consider just saying they like jazz, they would say they enjoyed bebop, ragtime, blues, or other types of jazz. Jazz has survived longer than many types of music, and it has always influenced the ways people involved in jazz compose or perform. It has also brought out many famous people. Although jazz is not the most influencing music currently in the nation, its history proves that it is a great form of music with many origins, a multigenerational life span, numerous styles, many legendary musicians, and its own creative, independent interpretation. Jazz is over 100 years old, probably making it one of the longest, lasting forms of
music so far. Jazz was not created by Europeans, it was created by Afro-Americans who descended from ancestors in Africa. These Afro-Americans learned how to play these European instruments well, including percussion or the drum set, trumpet, cornet, saxophone, trombone, tuba, and many other instruments. They wanted to show what they were like to other races, so they attempted to express themselves and their feelings through music and the instruments which were so foreign to them. A lot of the music which they played came from black folk music. Jazz did have a part of it come from Europe. The instruments of course, and the basic beginning forms of music helped jazz to be created. Another part of jazz which is not of African origin is improvisation, which is similar to interpretation but has no melodic restrictions. Improvisation began with the Greeks and their music over 2,000 years ago, before the many emotional and creative types of music were even composed. At one time, baroque and classical music used a lot of improvisation in their music. It was very important, and composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt used it in their unique composing. These composers were also good at improvising themselves, and were among the best in the world in their time. Many types of music are created from other types of music, and jazz is among the many. Many people influenced jazz along its development, and it was usually a performer or composer. This includes Buddy Bolden, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum,
Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. There are even more jazz greats who have contributed to jazz.
The form of music we know as jazz has existed ever since the late 19th century, and is still alive. It consisted of many different eras, each one with one or two different styles of jazz. Each era also had many good performers and composers which made a certain era stand out. Through the late 19th century to about the early 1920s the form of jazz we know as New Orleans Jazz, which included Dixieland jazz and ragtime. The 20s and 30s developed the Swing Era, which made many performers famous through the first recordings. The 40s and the postwar decades led to bebop, also called bop for short. Bebops performers also changed the way jazz was looked at. The 50s through the 70s created a few types of jazz which were very loose and had no limits, but could be critized. The 80s and to the present developed a type of jazz which was more calm and smooth than other types of jazz. The present has brought back all the forms of jazz, and now is experimenting with the many different instruments from the orchestra, including the french horn, bassoon, or violin.
There are so many styles in jazz that jazz could not be defined clearly without ignoring one of its forms. It included vocals, ragtime, blues, New Orleans jazz, Chicago and New York City jazz, Big Band, bebop, modal or free jazz, fusion, and modern jazz.
Vocals were definitely a style of jazz which performers could easily express moods or feelings, since the instrument was the human voice. The singing of the performers had great freedom and color, and could be expressed by many syllables. Grunts, vibrato, and the impersonation of instruments could all be done by voice. These many possibilities
made this form of jazz very popular by bringing out many famous singers, such as Ella Fitzgerald. Vocals can be put into any form of jazz, and make it even better. Ragtime emerged near the end of the 19th century and continued through World War I. It combined many elements, such as syncopated rhythms, harmonic contrasts, and formal patterns of European marches. It is usually played in the time signature of 2/4. Scott Joplins “Maple Leaf Rag” made ragtime very popular throughout the whole nation. Other ragtime composers included Thomas Turpin, James Scott, and Eubie Blake. The piano and banjo are the most common used instruments in ragtime. Blues was another popular form of jazz in the late 19th century. It was derived from the banjo music of black slaves and was very popular among the southern part of the United States. It developed all the way through the 1950s. Blues worked its way from vocals to the instruments such as the piano, electric guitar, and saxophones. Blues has been considered to be separate from jazz but it is very similar in many aspects, including the instrumentation and the use of vocals. Many famous singers and performers were
created through the blues, such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and B.B. King.
New Orleans jazz was one of the first types of jazz to be fully documented, and it came from New Orleans, Louisiana. From the early 20th century and up to the mid-1920s New Orleans jazz was well known. The instruments used were the cornet, trumpet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, string bass, and rhythm secton. Buddy Bolden was one of the big figures in New Orleans jazz, and he led some of the first jazz bands. One of the first bands included the Original Dixieland Jass Band, which was later changed to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
Chicago and New York City jazz was one of the first periods of time where jazz was being experimented with, and many new things were being discovered in music. Throughout the 20s and 30s jazz piano was developed, it was called stride piano. It was called this for the hard-driving and highly technical soloing with the piano. Boogie-woogie is another piano style which developed in Chicago and New York City jazz. It related