Jazz Heritage
African and European Influences
The basic premise of this chapter is that jazz did not develop from any one musical
culture
Emphasis is placed on the fact that the rhythmic feel of jazz came from Africa, but other
aspects of jazz derive from European music
One tradition is predominantly literate and reflects that interest in its performance
practice
Another tradition works through an expressive language typical of the oral tradition
Jazz began with a blending of African and European musical cultures
African Influences
Music was by far the most vital and demonstrative form of expression in the life of
Africans. Everything was done to the rhythm of their music.
The art form was passed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next and
was a means of preserving tribal traditions, ambitions and love.
In Africa, music was for a whole community, and everyone from youngest to oldest
participated.
The drum served as one fundamental means of coordinating the movements.
African slaves brought these traditions to the United States and nurtured them
Slaves did not intentionally invent a new music at this point
Rather, the new music arose unconsciously from the transplantation of the African
culture and the African Americans’ struggle for survival
African Rhythms
Common misconception about the origins of jazz is that its rhythms came from Africa –
only the emphasis of rhythm
Rhythms used by jazz performers – simple, far removed from the complex pattern
combinations used by the natives in Africa
African drumming banned by the law
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patting juba - slapping the hands, knees, thighs and body in a rhythmic display.
Like many forms of North American body percussion it developed as the slaves'
response to the banning of drums
ring shout - religious dance performed by African-American slaves, performed
with hand clapping and a shuffle step to spirituals
Call and Response
Call and response - performance style with a singing leader who is imitated by a chorus
of followers.
In jazz, a “call” is usually by a solo singer or solo instrumentalist and is followed by a
“response” from one instrument, or an ensemble
Call and response pattern can be traced directly to African tribal traditions
“Trading fours” – alternating solos between the musicians in a jazz group (usually
between the group and the drummer)
Later on in jazz music “trading fours” became an essential element of the arrangement
European Influences
The melodic feature of jazz is inherited directly from European music. The diatonic and
chromatic scales used in jazz are the same as those used for centuries by European
composers.
The harmonic sonorities also derive from European sources: polkas, quadrilles, hymns
and marches.
Musical forms of Europe became standard in jazz works.
Most jazz is constructed in a theme and variations form.
Creole Music
Segregation movement ten years after the Civil war
Creoles – people with African American, French and Spanish ancestry
Ostracized from white society and joined the ranks of the African Americans
The combinations of these musical talents resulted in an early form of jazz:
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Conservatory-trained Creoles
Spontaneous oral tradition of African Americans
Interchange of musical expression
The Creoles contributed harmonic and formal structure to this early jazz music
The Creole music was a blend of the oral tradition and the European musical tradition
Early Slave Music
Field Hollers (Cries) - American slaves were often not allowed to talk to one another in
the fields while working
Singing was permitted while working
American slaves established communication between themselves by field hollers (cries)
The whites could not understand this garbled singing
Outstanding elements of the field hollers was the bending of a tone
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Bending of tone is an over-exaggerated use of a slide or a slur
o In general, a tone is bent (slurred) upward to a different tone or downward
to another pitch
Works songs
Were sung without instrumental accompaniment
Work songs were associated with a monotonous, regularly recurring physical task
Some work songs would include grunts, groans
Work songs placed emphasis on rhythm and meter
Minstrels (plantation songs)
Minstrels were shows (entertainment) performed by the slaves for the white people
The whites enjoyed these shows so much that they would imitate the slaves by putting on
the same kind of show and black make-up
Beginning in the 20th century, traveling minstrel shows were the main form of
entertainment for both races
These shows featured the top blues singers of the day, such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey,
and others
Religious Music
Hymns of Scottish and English origins
Spirituals
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Around 1800 - The Great Awakening
Often called “hymns with a beat”
The first original songs were created by Protestant African American slaves on
American soil
Excellent blend of African and European cultures
Contribution to the popular song and vocal jazz
Gospel
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Song whose lyrics recount passages from the scriptures
Important that the audience actively respond to the performer
Fisk Jubilee Singers, Mahalia Jackson
Marching Bands
After the Civil War, African Americans were able to make some instruments and buy
pawned or war surplus instruments
Marching band was a big influence on African Americans
Funeral bands
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Cornet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, banjo, drums
After the burial ceremony, a couple of blocks from the cemetery, the band would
break out into a jazz type of march such as: “When the Saints Go Marching In”