History of Pop music - JAZZ
TASK: Choose either Early Jazz (Dixiland), Ragtime, Swing, BigBand or
Rock’n’Roll and make a poster to show the main features of your chosen style
Use:
 Pictures (from the web/ magazines/ drawing)
 Key words of each style
 The dates of each style
You can use the information below as your starting point and also complete
searches on the internet.
Early Jazz (Dixieland)
At the turn of the century, the people of New Orleans were from many
different cultures. The city had been a French territory during the 1700's with
a short period of Spanish rule. French and Spanish settlers shaped New
Orleans' culture. In the 1800's settlers from England, Ireland, Scotland,
Germany and Italy migrated to this prosperous city.
As new settlers arrived in the New Orleans' seaport,
musical traditions from all over the world began
coming together. African American musicians merged
European traditions with the blues, ragtime,
marching band music and many other elements to
create a new style of music known as "jazz." It
combined elements of the blues, military marching
brass bands and dance music.
Musicians played in small bands performing for parties and dances in the late
1800's and early 1900's. Many of the musical instruments had been salvaged
from the Confederate War which included the clarinet, saxophone, cornet,
trombone, tuba, banjo, bass, guitar, drums and occasionally a piano.
Musical arrangements varied considerably from performance to performance
because the solos would be improvised. This lively new music combined
syncopation (off beat) of ragtime with adaptations of popular melodies, hymns,
marches, work songs and the Blues. The mid 1990's saw a strong resurgence in
the Classic form.
Listen to the ‘Basin Street Blues’ at
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:0nfyxcrrldte
Ragtime
Rhythms brought from a musical heritage in Africa were incorporated into
cakewalks, coon songs and the music of "jig bands" which eventually evolved into
Ragtime. Circa 1895, the first Ragtime song was published by Ben Harney. The
music, vitalized by the opposing rhythms common to African dance, was vibrant,
enthusiastic and often extemporaneous. Ragtimes were mostly written for and
performed on the piano.
One of the key influences for Jazz styles, early Ragtime music used marches,
which reflected the military influence, waltzes and other traditional song forms
but the strongest feature is the syncopation (off beat). A
strong onbeat bass part would be played with the left
hand and the tune would be played on an off beat, played
with the right hand. Syncopated notes and rhythms
became so popular with the public that sheet music
publishers included the word "syncopated" in advertising.
In 1899 one of the most important ragtime
musician/composer Scott Joplin published the first of
many Ragtime compositions that would come to shape the
music of a nation.
Listen to a Ragtime ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ at
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:3bftxqtkldhe
Swing
Derived from New Orleans Jazz, Swing was exciting and mostly fast. Swing was
also dance music, which served as its immediate connection to the people.
Although the music was written for bands, Swing also offered individual
musicians a chance to improvise tunes which could at times be very complicated.
The 1930s marked the worst financial crisis in United States history, the Great
Depression. Men and women struggled to find jobs in order to feed their
families. During these tough years, people did not have money to spend on
record albums and dance clubs. Radio continued to be the centre of
entertainment in America. The swing style of the 1930's and 1940's was played
on the airwaves night after night. For listeners, this exciting music made the
Great Depression more bearable. It reminded them of what America could be.
In the meantime, Kansas City seemed to escape the hardships of the Great
Depression. As cash flew through the city's gambling hot spots, saloon owners
profited from the sale of illegal drugs and alcohol. This wide-open nightlife may
be the reason that jazz was able to thrive in the
city. A looser, more spontaneous, infectious
brand of swing was played in nightclubs across
the city. Unemployed jazz artists fled there to
find jobs. Soon Kansas City's jazz scene grew as
exciting as New York's or Chicago's.
Key features of the style include clear Riffs being used, 12 bar blues
sequence and a walking bass
Listen to ‘All the Things you are’
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:hbfyxbraldae
Big Band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble (group) associated with playing jazz
music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until
the late 1940s. Big bands evolved with the times and continue to today. A big
band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25
musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets,
trombones, singers, and a rhythm section. In
contrast to smaller jazz combos, in which most of
the music is improvised, or created spontaneously,
music played by big bands is highly "arranged" , or
prepared in advance and notated on sheet music.
The music is traditionally called 'charts'.
Improvised solos may be played only when called
for by the arranger.
Paul Whiteman and Band, 1921
Listen to ‘Caravan’ by Duke Ellington at
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:0bfoxctkldke
Rock’n’Roll
During the 1950's, Americans began to turn to television as their
entertainment. As a result, dance halls -- where jazz bands once played -- began
to close all across the country. The Milton Berle television program helped to
introduce America to Elvis Presley and his fresh, energetic sound. This newer
style of music -- rock 'n roll -- became the hottest sensation for a new
generation of teenagers. With entertainment like television, movies and rock
and roll, jazz faced new competition and shrinking audiences.
Despite the shift in jazz's popularity, talented musicians
continued to produce complex and powerful music and take jazz
in new directions.
Rock’n’Roll combines Blues, Gospel and Country music. In the
earliest rock and roll styles of the late 1940s and early 1950s,
either the piano or saxophone was often the lead instrument,
but these were generally replaced or supplemented by guitar in the middle to
late 1950s.
Elvis Presley
Listen to Elvis Presley ‘Hound Dog’:
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:jbfuxc9rld0e