Grossmont College
Music 111
(section #8108)
The History of Jazz
Spring, 2009
T-Th, 11:00am – 12:15pm
Room 225
Instructor: Paul Kurokawa
Office: 222-A
Office Phone & Voice Mail: (619) 644-7260
Music Office: (619) 644-7254
E-Mail: paul.kurokawa@gcccd.edu
Blackboard: http://bb.gcccd.net/
Syllabus
Text: Jazz - The First 100 Years, 2nd Edition, by Henry Martin & Keith Waters, w/3 CDs
Student Learning Outcomes / Course Objectives:
This course will introduce the student to the development of jazz music from its nineteenth-century roots in
ragtime and blues through swing and bebop to fusion and contemporary jazz styles. Along the way, the
student will correlate these styles and events with parallel events in American history. We will also discuss
the roles that jazz and popular music have played in American culture and its subcultures. The student will
also be introduced to fundamental music concepts, notation and vocabulary as applied to the music studied.
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: 1) Identify several important jazz
musicians (including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker,
Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, as well as others), and
describe their role in the development of this genre of music, 2) Recognize and identify important jazz
recordings, 3) Distinguish among the various musical instruments used to create jazz, and explain their role
in the creation of this music, 4) Discuss the use of jazz techniques and observe how they are used in practice
(ie: in a performance of jazz), 5) Recognize various musical styles within the context of jazz and popular
music (New Orleans, Swing, Bebop, Third Stream, Avant-Garde, etc), and describe unique aspects of each of
these styles, 6) Correlate the development of jazz with societal changes, particularly in regard to race
relations, in twentieth-century America and abroad, and define the role of jazz in many of these important
changes.
Material Covered:
What Is Jazz?, Introduction to Music Fundamentals and Terminology, How to Listen to Jazz, What is Jazz
Improvisation, Roots, African-American Music, European Music, the Blues, Early Jazz, New Orleans Jazz,
Ragtime, Chicago Jazz, New York in the 1920's, the Harlem Renaissance, Harlem Stride Piano, the Big
Bands, Swing-Era Bands and Stylists, the Bebop Era, the Birth of the Cool, West Coast Jazz. Third-Stream
Music, Jazz Vocalists, Hard Bop, Funky Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz, Free Jazz, Mainstream Jazz in the 1960s,
Soul Jazz, Modal Jazz, Jazz-Rock, Jazz-Funk Fusion, Jazz Since the 1980s, Classicism and the Jazz
Repertory Movement, Acid Jazz, Neo-Swing, Crossover, World Music, Jazz to Come.
Grading Procedure:
Grading will be based upon four components:
1) Assignments
2) Exams
3) Concert Reports
4) Participation
A = 90 - 100%
[writing, viewing, and listening assignments at home and/or in-class]
[three exams, including final exam]
[Exams may include multiple choice, true/false, short answer and
short essay formats, and listening recognition]
[attend four live jazz performances / One-page written evaluation of each]
B = 80 - 89%
C = 70 - 79%
D = 60 - 69%
F = 0 - 59%
Attendance at all class sessions and final exam meeting is mandatory.
You may be dropped for excessive absences.
Any display of a lack of academic integrity, ie. cheating or plagiarism, will result in dismissal from the
course and, possibly, from the college.
Please behave in a manner that maintains a learning environment – one that respects other students and the
instructor.
Extra credit opportunities will be announced in class.
Participation in class discussions is encouraged!
Concert Review Guidelines:
Examples of what to include in your one-page concert reviews (4 per semester)
1. What instruments were played?
2. What tunes were played?
3. What era, or style, of jazz was represented? Dixieland, Swing, Bebop, Hard Bop,
Contemporary, etc.
4. Was there a lot of improvisation or very little?
5. Was the music highly arranged or dependent upon improvisation?
6. How well did the musicians communicate with each other?
7. Did the musicians communicate with the audience? If so, how well?
8. Did the improvisers trade fours, eights, etc.?
9. Did you enjoy the performance? Why or why not?
10. What distinguished this performance from others you’ve attended?
You don’t need to address all of these questions in every report, but please point out anything you observed
that is interesting. Look for something unique.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities who may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to notify the instructor
and contact Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSP&S) early in the semester so that reasonable
accommodations may be implemented as soon as possible. Students may contact DSP&S in person in room
110 or by phone at (619) 644-7112 (voice) or (619) 644-7119 (TTY for deaf).
Student Code of Conduct:
Students are expected to respect the college learning environment, thereby making this college a great place
to learn. Please refer to the Student Code of Conduct in the Grossmont College Catalog for a delineation of
expectations from the student. Also: Please turn off your cell phone.
Academic Integrity:
Cheating and plagiarism (using as one’s own ideas, writings or materials of someone else without
acknowledgement or permission) can result in any one of a variety of sanctions. Such penalties may range
from an adjusted grade on the particular exam, paper, project, or assignment to a failing grade in the course.
The instructor may also summarily suspend the student for the class meeting when the infraction occurs, as
well as the following class meeting. For further clarification and information on these issues, please consult
with your instructor or contact the office of the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs.
Additional Academic Support:
Students are referred to enroll in the following supervised tutoring courses if the service indicated will assist
them in achieving or reinforcing the learning objectives of this course:



IDS 198, Supervised Tutoring to receive tutoring in general computer applications in the Tech
Mall;
English 198W, Supervised Tutoring for assistance in the English Writing Center (Room 70119); and/or
IDS 198T, Supervised Tutoring to receive one-on-one tutoring in academic subjects in the
Tutoring Center (Room 70-229, 644-7387).
To add any of these courses, a student needs an instructor’s referral and signature, and may obtain Add
Codes at the Information/Registration Desk in the Tech Mall.
All Supervised Tutoring courses are non-credit/non-fee. However, when a student registers for a supervised
tutoring course, and has no other classes, the student will be charged the usual health fee.
Important Dates:
Last date to drop and receive a fee refund
Last date to drop with no grade being issued
Lincoln Day
Washington Day
Last date to apply for a CR/NC grade option
Spring Break
Last date to drop with a "W" grade issued
Memorial Day
Final Exam week
Commencement
February 9
February 9
February 13
February 16
February 27
April 6-11
April 24
May 25
May 26 – June 2
June 3
Music 111 - History of Jazz - Spring, 2009
Outline of Topics and Chapters
January 27
What Is Jazz?
Introduction to the Fundamentals of
Music and Music Terminology
February 3
How to Listen to Jazz
What is Jazz Improvisation?
February 10
February 17
Instruments of Jazz
Roots
Ch. 1, pp. 2-33
African-American Music in the Nineteenth Century. The Preservation of African
Traditions. European Music in the Nineteenth Century. Written vs. Head Arrangements.
The Problem of Transcribing African-American Music. Early African-American Music. Blue
Notes and Syncopation. The Blues Scale. Minstrelsy. Ragtime. Scott Joplin. James Scott.
Joseph Lamb. Artie Matthews. The Blues. Pioneers of the Delta Blues. Gertrude "Ma"
Rainey. W. C. Handy. Blues Form. Bessie Smith. Characteristics of Early Jazz Singing.
February 24
March 3
Early Jazz and New Orleans Jazz
Ch. 2, pp. 34-57
The Shift from Ragtime to Jazz. New Orleans. Why Did Jazz Arise in New Orleans?.
Charles Buddy Bolden. Sidney Bechet. Jelly Roll Morton. The Evolution of the Jazz
Band. The Advent of Jazz Recording. The First Jazz Recording. The Development of
Instrumentation and Some Important Players. Cornet. Trombone. Clarinet. Bass/Tuba.
Banjo/Guitar. Drums. Piano. The Exodus from New Orleans.
Chicago Jazz
Ch. 3, pp. 58-79
The Migration North. King Oliver and the Creole Jazz Band. Louis Armstrong.
Armstrong's Classic Style. The Chicagoans and Bix Beiderbecke.
March 10
March 17
New York in the 1920's
Ch. 4, pp. 80-101
The Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Stride Piano. Piano Rolls. James P. Johnson. Fats Waller.
Beginnings of the Big Bands. Fletcher Henderson. Duke Ellington's Early Career. Bubber
Miley and Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton.
March 24
March 31
The Swing Era: The Principal Big Bands
Ch. 5, pp. 102-135
A Decade of Swing. The Big Band in the Swing Era. Terms Associated with Big Bands. The
Changing Role of the Rhythm Section. Territory Bands. Kansas City. Mary Lou Williams.
Count Basie. Benny Goodman: The King of Swing. Ellington after the Cotton Club.
Swing-Era Bands and Stylists
Ch. 6, pp. 136-169
Influential Big Bands of the Swing Era. Cab Calloway. Jimmie Lunceford. Chick Webb.
The Casa Loma Orchestra. McKinney's Cotton Pickers. Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey.
Glenn Miller. Artie Shaw. Swing-Era Stylists. Clarinet. Benny Goodman. Saxophone.
Coleman Hawkins. Lester Young. Lester Young's Use of Formulas in "Shoe Shine Boy".
Trumpet. Roy Eldridge. Trombone. Jack Teagarden. Piano. Earl Hines. Teddy Wilson. Art
Tatum. Bass. Jimmy Blanton. Drums. Jo Jones. Gene Krupa. Guitar. Charlie Christian.
Composers/Arrangers. Benny Carter. "All of Me," a Benny Carter Arrangement. Vocalists.
Billie Holiday. Ella Fitzgerald. Swing-Era Style Features.
---------- April 7 - Spring Break ---------April 14
April 21
The Bebop Era
Ch. 7, pp. 170-199
Revolution vs. Evolution. Characteristics of the Bebop Style. The Early Forties: Jamming at
Minton's and Monroe's. Big Bands in the Early 1940s. Jazz Moves to 52nd Street. The
Architects of Bebop. Charlie Parker. Dizzy Gillespie. Bud Powell. Thelonious Monk.
Other Bebop Artists. J. J. Johnson. Dexter Gordon. Bop-Style Big Bands in the Late 1940s.
Bebop-Era Melodic Features.
April 28
May 5
The Fifties and New Jazz Substyles
Ch. 8, pp. 200-237
Jazz and the New Substyles. Miles Davis and the Birth of the Cool. Other Cool Stylists.
Gerry Mulligan. The Modern Jazz Quartet. Dave Brubeck. Stan Getz. Lennie Tristano.
Jazz on the West Coast. Third-Stream Music. Piano Stylists. Vocalists. Hard Bop and
Funky Jazz. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Horace Silver. Charles Mingus. Clifford
Brown-Max Roach Quintet. Sonny Rollins. Miles Davis in the 1950s. Cool and Hard Bop
Melodic Styles.
The Sixties Avant-Garde
Ch. 9, pp. 238-269
Avant-Garde Jazz and Black Activism. Voices of Discontent. Ornette Coleman and Free
Jazz. John Coltrane. Cecil Taylor. Chicago: AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Other Avant-Garde Stylists. Black Artists Group and the World Saxophone Quartet. Sun Ra.
Eric Dolphy. Free Jazz Styles.
May 12
Mainstream Jazz in the 1960s
Ch. 10, pp. 270-291
Miles Davis in the Sixties. Pianists. Bill Evans. Herbie Hancock. Chick Corea. Keith Jarrett
and ECM Records. Soul Jazz. Cannonball Adderley. The Blues in Soul Jazz. Jimmy Smith
and Jazz Organists. Guitarists. The Hard Bop Legacy. Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard.
Wayne Shorter. Joe Henderson. Other Blue Note Artists. Modal Jazz Melodic Styles.
Jazz-Rock, Jazz-Funk Fusion
Ch. 11, pp. 292-321
Synthesizers. The Appeal of Rock and Funk. The Fusion Music of Miles Davis. Other
Fusion Pioneers and CTI Records. Lifetime. Mahavishnu Orchestra. Herbie Hancock and
Head Hunters. Chick Corea and Return to Forever. Weather Report. Pat Metheny. JazzRock, Jazz-Funk Styles.
May 19
Jazz Since the 1980s
Ch. 12, pp. 322-353
Classicism and the Jazz Repertory Movement. Complete Jazz Recording Reissues. Live
Performance. Wynton Marsalis. The Blakey Alumni. Other Traditionalists. Big Bands.
Fusion Since the 1980s: Digital Technology and the Popular Connection. Other Pop Jazz
Stars. Acid Jazz. Neo-Swing. The Avant-Garde, Crossover, World Music, and Jazz to Come.
Jazz and Feminism. Jazz Abroad. Crossover, Postmodernism, and World Music. Possibilities
for the Future.
May 26
Final Exam – [Tuesday, May 26, 11:30am – 1:30pm]