Showing posts with label Jazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jazz. Show all posts

Sunday, May 14, 2017

JAZZ: The Forbidden Music

There was a time in history when Jazz the music was banned during World War II when it was considered a plight for freedom against Hitler's Nazi regime due to what it represents. Jazz music is the product of America that was creatively invented by African American from culture, and all the elements of the American life that influenced this style of music.

English: King & Carter Jazzing Orchestra, Hous...
King & Carter Jazzing Orchestra, Houston Texas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jazz music is a symbol of freedom, hope and the ability of express ones self in through one of best art forms which is music. Meaning, African Americans fought oppression  since the beginning of slavery, and Jazz music represented that resistance.  Jazz music has a foundation of the basic rules of composition, but it has since expanded its way toward newer forms of music.

America who also gained their freedom from Europe joined showed their patriarchy by listening to the Jazz music on records and on the radio to encourage their fellow Americans to believe in their country, and the freedom it stands for. Hollywood, celebrity musicians and Jazz musicians even supported freedom by joining patriotic films to get their point across to the world. This act caused Hitler and Stalin to fear the effect Jazz music would have on all who listens who could easily be influenced by the idea of freedom, and patriotism.

In the year 1921 there were Americans who did not favor Jazz music or the Jazz dance. There were activist who stated that Jazz is a type of menace that is worse that alcohol, and that it would be better to wipe Jazz out of existence. In Germany, Jazz and all other American music was banned in the country before and after Americans joined the war. Stalin forbid the playing of Jazz music at the end of the 1945 war throughout the Soviet Union, and banned the use of saxophones. Jazz was called "the music of blacks by Hitler as a reason for the prohibition of Jazz music. Nevertheless, Jazz music was embraced by all who heard it around the globe.

In fact, It was adored by those who supported the resistance of such a war. In the area of Azerbaijan the year of the 1950's produced even more forbidden Jazz music into a new style of Jazz known as Mugam that came  from the Baku style of music. The sound of Jazz produces an atmosphere of relaxation and freedom that even spread to Algeria who wrote a form of Jazz that spread all around their country and in Europe known as Rai in the late 1960's. Though there were many haters of Jazz music who forbid the use of it those who understood loved it.



Those who did not like Jazz wrote books on it titled "Vo do do de o Blues" against Jazz and blues. Another title was "Anti rag time girl" about a lady who hates Jazz music. However,  when the underground clubs broke the law discreetly to make a home for jazz in Speakeasies they also spread the gospel of Jazz music all around the world.  



Sunday, April 23, 2017

ART BLAKEY

The beginning  career of jazz music legend Art Blakey was amazing. He took piano lessons at school. When he was in the seventh grade he played music full-time and was leading a popular band. Not too long after, he started playing drums in the style of such players as Ray Bauduc, Chick Webb and Sid Catlett. He taught himself how to play.

Le batteur américain de jazz Art Blakey en con...
Art Blakey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He played with Mary Lou Williams at Kelly's Stable in 1942. Next, with Fletcher Henderson for the next two years, and he toured with. Art then went to Boston to lead a big band, then joined Billy Eckstine's band in St. Louis. Art stayed with that band from 1944-1947.

Art was considered to be among jazz music's finest musicians such as Fats Navarro, Miles Davis and Dexter Gordon. In 1947 when Eckstine's band broke up, Art started the Seventeen Messengers. He would go on to have several other groups with this same name. He then went to Africa to learn all about Islamic people for over a year. By the 1950's he performed with Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Horace Silver.

After they performed together many times, he started another group with Horace which included Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley with the name Jazz Messengers. Horace left a year later.  He was the known leader of the band. The Jazz Messengers played hard-bop jazz music. The roots of which were blues music. Hard bop is a mixture of bebop with gospel and soul music. An example of this is his album Moanin' recorded on Blue Note Records in 1958. They fought hard to keep black people interested in jazz, when the ballroom  jazz music disappeared. Many young musicians during the years have been influenced by this style. Jazz musicians such as Keith Jarrett, JoAnne Brackcen, Woody Shaw , Donald Byrd, Delfeayo, Branford  and Wynton Marsalis.

In 1971 to 1972, Art world toured with the biggest names in jazz music such as Kai Winding, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. He also performed a lot at the Newport Jazz Festival. The best performance was when he was in a battling performance with Buddy Rich, Max Roach and Elvin Jones in 1974. Art continued to tour nonstop with help from Donald Harrison and Terence Blanchard, along with younger musicians such as Benny Green.

Art never thought of his music as similar to African style, although he did use some of their techniques such as using his elbow on the tom-tom to alter pitch. His trademark, the forced closing of the hi-hat on each second and fourth beat was created in 1950-1951, which many jazz musicians copied.



A major jazz musician and innovative in his drum style, he was unique and performed with power. The way he played was loud and aggressive. The jazz critics basically ignored what he did in the 1960's. American audiences  left him behind in the 1970's when rock music took over the scene.

He always made time for young jazz musicians, listening to them, and helping them with their jazz music careers.



Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The Different Styles Of JAZZ

Do you love listening to that smooth, toe-tapping music we call jazz? Do you love to dance with your significant other to the sounds of Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, or Duke Ellington?

English: Duke Ellington, a famous jazz musicia...
Duke Ellington, a famous jazz musician, poses with his piano at the KFG Radio Studio
(Photo credit: 
Wikipedia)

While it’s undoubtedly cool to use words like ‘Swing’, ‘Bebop’ or ‘Bossa Nova’ when describing a jazz style, not very many people really know the difference between Hot Jazz, Classic Jazz or Afro-Cuban Jazz. If you don't know the difference between one style of jazz and another, this article is for you. Read on if you want to up your cool quotient while discussing Hot Jazz:

Classic Jazz: More popularly called ‘New Orleans jazz’ because of its origins, classic jazz originated in the late 1800’s - early 1900’s with brass bands performing for dances and parties using an assortment of musical instruments including the trombone, saxophone, tuba, clarinet, cornet, guitar, bass, drums and cornet. At the time, musical arrangements varied significantly from one performance to another.

Hot Jazz: Pioneered by Louis Armstrong, hot jazz was characterized by improvised solos that built up to an emotional and ‘hot’ crescendo that was supported by bass, drums and guitar or banjo.

Chicago Style Jazz: If New Orleans was the birth place of jazz, Chicago was the breeding ground. Several young, dynamic players including Bud Freeman, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa and Eddie Condon significantly furthered jazz improvisations with a combination of high technical ability and harmonic, innovative arrangements.

Swing: During the classic 1930’s, most Jazz groups were Big Bands who played a robust and invigorating version of Classic Jazz. More popularly called Swing, for the first time jazz was used as dance music. Many of the most famous musicians the world has every heard were swing jazz musicians. The famous jazz swing players include people such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, The Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Miller, and Louis Armstrong, to name a few. Of course, the genre of ballroom dance called swing grew out of jazz swing music.

Bebop: Immortalized by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker who engaged in chordal improvisations, Bebop was a complete deviation from mainstream jazz that was typically derived from the melodic line.



Bossa Nova: Initiated as “Brazilian jazz” by Brazilian’s Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto, Bossa Nova is a blend of seductive Brazilian samba rhythms, classical European harmonies and West Coast cool. Adopting the Bossa Nova style, West Coast saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd gave this jazz form a huge boost in the United States around 1962.

Afro-Cuban Jazz: Also known as Latin jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz can be traced back to percussionist Chano Pozo and trumpeter- arranger Mario Bauza. Characterized by its highly infectious rhythms combined with Jazz improvisations, Afro-Cuban jazz is typically played using rhythm instruments including bongo, timbale, conga along with assorted Latin percussion instruments and is often accompanied by guitar or piano and joined by vocals or horns.

Now that you know what the different types of jazz music are, you can speak intelligently about the music that you love! So get out there and have some great jazzy fun!


Sunday, April 2, 2017

The American Influence Of JAZZ MUSIC

The Jazz music sensation began to rub off on other parts of the world which encourages the experimentation of melding their familiar sounds with the essence of Jazz.  In Europe's country in the Region of France  came the Quintette Du Hot Club de France who was responsible for the making of the early "Gypsy Jazz".

Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, M...
Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson and Timmie Rosenkrantz in September 1947, New York
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt created gypsy jazz  by mixing the style of French Musette which was used in the dance halls, eastern European Folk known as Jazz Manouche, and American swing of the 1930's. The sound was developed by instruments from the string family which are a steel string guitar, violin, and an upright bass. The atmosphere of the Jazz music is seductive with sudden unpredictable twists, and accelerating rhythms. The French artist Bireli Lagrene plays this unique music with old elements of the past.

Another style of Jazz music that allowed the musicians to express themselves freely was the invention of Avant-garde or free Jazz music.  Both of these styles stemmed from the Bebop era, yet produced a relaxed form of harmonic and rhythmic music in the 1940's and 1950's. The musicians John Coltrane, Dewey Redman, Charles Mingus, Sun Ra, Sam Rivers, Ornette Coleman and many more were the creators of the free Jazz music. Between the 1960's and 1970's the Latin musicians created the Afro-Cuban and Brazilian Jazz Music styles after Bebop musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Taylor cultivated it.

Gillespie and Taylor was influenced by the music of Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians Chico O'farrill, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo, Xavier Cugat, Mario Bauza and Arturo Sandoval. Jazz music expressed in a Latin interpretation was termed Bossa Nova with origins in Samba music which is a mixture of Jazz, classical and pop music from the 20th century.  Bossa is a moderate sound of music with Classical harmonic structure from Europe, Samba polyrhythm's from Brazil and cool music. The tempo of such a work is about 120 beats per minute. The instruments used in this particular sound is nylon stringed guitar, piano, high hat tap of eighths, tapping on the rim of the drum like Sade's "Sweetest Taboo", and a vocalist.  The sound produced is a new relaxing sound where the acoustic sound of the guitar can lull one to sleep with it's easy melodic line.

Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim became popular in the sixties with this style of music. The influence of Jazz music returned to the place of its origins in the religious music known as Urban Contemporary Gospel from the spirituals music. Much of spiritual music sung by southern slaves in the past has a haunting dark and mournful sound during the 1800 and 1900's. The churches know as the sanctified or holy churches took a more happier approach by encouraging member to sing speak their  personal testimonies as they celebrated with song and dance.



The sanctified artist Arizona Dranes  who was a traveling pastor made recordings that would fit in many musical categories such as  blues, and  boogie-woogie with the use of Jazz instruments. At the time the Jazz instruments used with religious themed music were percussion and brass instruments.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Jazz Gets Contemporary With ACID JAZZ

I think anyone and everyone that likes music, or who has a particular musical genre preference, can admit that sometimes the same music gets stale. You hear the same songs over and over again and begin to feel your passion slowly slip away. For me, this means that it is time to search for new avenues. So, the question that is presented to you here is do you need to update your jazz selection?

Erykah Badu
 Erykah Badu (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Many people may not realize how much jazz has to offer. There are so many branches that your search may possibly be endless. An excellent contemporary category of jazz is acid jazz. Do not underestimate the awesome power that acid jazz possesses.

Now, you may be wondering, “What exactly is acid jazz?” Acid jazz combines different musical elements and instruments to create a unique blend of jazz, electronic and even hip hop at times. This does not mean that the genre lacks the same soul you would find in traditional jazz tunes. Just the opposite! In fact, Roy Ayers and Donald Byrd are credited as precursors to the acid jazz movement.

Even though the genre possesses a variety of instruments, including many that are electronic, artists still play live shows. This allows more room for creativity and free flowing sound since the songs are easy to manipulate while performing. Traditional jazz instruments are still incorporated in this genre.

One accredited artist that fits this category and is held in high esteem is Jamiroquai. As a prominent figure in the acid jazz community, Jamiroquai began their journey as artists in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. The most famous of their songs, “Virtual Insanity,” hit the charts and was a number one across the globe. Other notable artists that fit into this category that can be mentioned are Erik Truffaz, Erykah Badu, Incognito, and Groove Collection.

While this genre is thought by many to be genius, it is difficult for traditional jazz listeners to dig into these futuristic sounds. The argument is that acid jazz does not possess the same soul and groove that traditional jazz offers. Others dare to say that acid jazz offers just the same things as classic jazz since its forerunners were one in the same. Instead of debating, just let your ears settle the argument for arguments’ sake. Of course we are all allowed to have our own opinions, but it never hurts to keep an open mind and consider new avenues. If you were or are a fan of jazz-funk, jazz-house, and jazz-fusion, you will love exploring this genre further. Take a look at different artists to explore the variety of sounds that is this wonderful musical creation.


For more information or for questions on buying or selling used Jazz, Acid Jazz and any other genre of music CDs, visit www.used-jazz.com. If you have any questions please email at customerservice@secondspin.com.


Sunday, March 5, 2017

JAZZ as DANCE

While few people understand the true origins of Jazz as a music form, fewer people still understand the origins of jazz as a style of dance. Jazz is very much a fatherless child. More than that however, jazz as music and dance seem to have many mothers despite the fact that they have no father. By this I mean that there are many influences to this colorful form of music and dance though no one influence is notable enough in the new creation to be considered the 'father' or 'mother' for that matter of jazz.

English: Jazz dancers adapted from flickr phot...
Jazz dancers adapted from flickr photo by Alvaro Arriagada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Though jazz has many supposed birth places it really only has one true home and that home would be New Orleans. Much like the music this city is famous for, New Orleans is a city without a father too. New Orleans was a melting pot in the truest sense of the word before we had any real clue what it meant to be a melting pot. From the influences of the French, Spanish, German, English, and of course the population of former slaves and black free men and women, New Orleans was the perfect place for this blended and mixed style of music and dance to call home.

It is no wonder that jazz dance emerged as the result of jazz music. There are simply no adequate dance steps for the delightful music we have come to know over the years as jazz. For this reason something new and a little bit off the main path was needed in order to keep time and pace with the new music that was emerging.

As a style of dance, jazz was much more 'brazen' than dances in the past had been and in some circles considered to be singly unseemly. Polite society certainly had no interest in this particular form of dance. The good news for those who enjoyed this style of dance is that there were plenty of places in which jazz, as a form of dance and music, was readily embraced. You had to go off the beaten path a little in order to find it but for many it was well worth the effort.

Jazz music and dance was popular for quite a while and then seemed to go underground except in cities such as Memphis, New Orleans, Kansas City, and St. Louis where it was an ingrained part of the history and culture. We have seen a reemergence of this once popular style of music and dance in recent years however with some notable musicians bringing back the swing and 'big band' sound that went hand in hand with jazz as both a music form and a style of dance.

You should understand however, that when it comes to jazz dance, much like the music, there are no definitive rules that you must follow in order for it to be jazz. There are no rigid dance steps that must be adhered to for the 'jazz' effect. Jazz dance is often confused as 'tap dance' because tap music was often set to jazz music. It is important however to realize that jazz isn't limited to tap dance and that other styles of dance fall under the rather large umbrella of 'jazz dance'.



Some of the more common jazz dances include: Black Bottom, Boogie Woogie, the Cakewalk, the Charleston, the Jitterbug, the Lindy Hop, and swing dancing. Each of these styles of dance seems to be making a rather remarkable comeback in popularity over the course of the last two decades and are very interesting to watch, as well as in which to participate should you ever have the opportunity.

If you have considered jazz dance lessons for you or your children, I hope you will decide to indulge. Not only is the music for this type of dance excellent and uplifting but also the style of dance in and of itself is quite fun and enjoyable. There are very few styles of dance that can compete when it comes to allowing artistic license, going with the flow, and simply dancing for the sheer joy of dancing. As an art form and as a form of entertainment jazz music and dance are tops in my book.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

JAZZ MUSICIANS and the Art of Transcribing Jazz Solos


English: Head and shoulders portrait of jazz m...
Head and shoulders portrait of jazz musician
Louis Armstrong. (Photo credit: 
Wikipedia)
Every great jazz musician has, at one time or another, transcribed jazz solos from recordings.  Since jazz is an art from that is aural in nature, it makes complete sense that listening and copying the improvisations of earlier jazz masters helps one become a more consistent and skilled jazz improviser.

Transcribing a jazz solo involves the repetitive listening and notation of a recorded jazz solo.  To get maximum benefit from the process, the person studying the solo through transcription should memorize and internalize every note and every inflection played by the improviser.  "Transcribing" refers to the activity of notating on paper the exact notes and rhythms played by the improviser.
Evolving Technologies of Transcribing Jazz Solos

Charlie Parker could arguably be called the most influential jazz artist of the 20th century. His inventive jazz improvisations changed the face of jazz and ushered in one of the most exciting eras of jazz: the bebop era.

Charlie Parker was born with a huge amount of natural talent, but that does not mean Charlie never worked hard at his honing his craft.  History reveals that Charlie spent almost a year early on in his music career memorizing - note by note - the jazz solos of Lester Young from 78 RPM recordings.
Before jazz became widely available on 78 RPM recordings, musicians relied on listening and learning in "real time".  The only way to learn jazz improvisation in the early days of jazz was to listen to live musicians and pick up what you could from what they played.  Once played however, the music was gone forever.

I Remember Charlie Parker
I Remember Charlie Parker
(Photo credit: 
Wikipedia)
During the 1920s, artists such Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and many others began recording their music and jazz improvisations onto 78 RPM acetone discs.  This leap in technology opened the door for future musicians to "study" the improvisations of their jazz predecessors.

The 1950s saw the introduction of reel to reel tape machines and ultimately cassette tape recordings. Magnetic tape made it possible for jazz musicians to forward and rewind the tape to exact locations of solos and specific passages of a solo.  No longer did musicians have to "drop the needle" on worn out discs to learn a solo or tune.  Some cassette tape players were made specifically for musicians, allowing them to slow down parts or all of a recording at half or quarter speed.  This proved to be helpful, but slowing down analog tape created problems with pitch and fidelity that was annoying to say the least.

In recent years, computers have assisted jazz musicians transcribe recordings in ways that were once considered impossible.  Inexpensive or free computer programs have made it possible to slow down fast passages without changing fidelity or pitch.  Other advantages of computer assisted transcription include the ability to change key, precise looping of passages for ease in learning, and even help with notating pitches that are played.

    By James P Martin
    Transcribing and studying great jazz solos can be one of the smartest and beneficial activities any jazz musician can undertake to help hone his or her craft.  Even with the marvels of modern technology, the process still takes time and effort however.  Don't forget to use the knowledge and skills you acquire from transcribing jazz solos to performing with live musicians.  Nothing will replace the experience of playing jazz with others!
    PDF big band, combo and vocal charts by top jazz writers are available at http://www.pdfjazzmusic.com - all for less than twenty bucks.
    Article Source: EzineArticles