Part 3 The Growth of Vernacular Traditions Chapter 12: The Jazz Age America’s Musical Landscape...

Part 3The Growth of Vernacular

TraditionsChapter 12: The Jazz Age

America’s Musical Landscape 5th edition

PowerPoint by Myra Lewinter MalamutGeorgian Court University

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Part 3: The Growth of Vernacular Traditions Chapter 12: The Jazz Age

2© 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Jazz Age As Americans danced into the beginning of the

twentieth century, saloons and dance halls rang with the sounds of

Ragtime

The two-step

Various Latin dances



The Jazz Age The new dances replaced sedate ballroom dances played by string

orchestras of an earlier time, and consisted of Fast tempos Syncopated rhythms Dance band timbres

Dance rhythms became more complex

Solo instrumental lines became more independent

Instrumental timbres varied

This new music, called jazz (by 1917) was just as exciting for listening as it was to dance to



The “Jazz Age:” The 1920s The roots of jazz lie far earlier than the 1920s

But in the 1920s the new music came to wide public attention

There were performances and recordings of numerous tremendously talented musicians who would dominate the field for decades to come

The term “Jazz Age” came from the popular writer F. Scott Fitzgerald

This term described the decade of dance marathons, speakeasies, a stock market boom, Babe Ruth….



The Jazz Age: Roots The roots of jazz include

White European marches, hymns, popular dances

Creole and Caribbean influences

Stirring, hot rhythms, dramatic percussive effects, distinctive vocal and instrumental performance techniques derived from black Africa

Ragtime

Jazz styles vary widely in mood, instrumentation, tempo, artistic intent



The Jazz Age: Characteristics Jazz generally

Is regular in meter Involves blue notes =

Flexible tones, slightly above or below the normal pitch The musician “bends” (lowers or slightly raises) the pitches

Producing fluid, emotionally expressive melodic lines Is improvised to a greater or lesser extent

Jazz rarely entered the popular mainstream Yet it reached an enthusiastic segment of the popular music

audience Jazz belongs to America’s art music tradition as well



Blues The basis of jazz, mainly an instrumental music,

is the blues

The origins, although stubbornly obscure, derive from African American traditions and date from sometime in the nineteenth century

After the Civil War, slaves and newly emancipated blacks sang the blues

Freedom led to lives often more, rather than less difficult



Blues: Origin Away from plantations and in need of

money, African Americans became migrants, went to prison, or held laborious jobs digging ditches or laying railroad lines

In new distress, sometimes they expanded field hollers into simple emotionally laden solo songs

They were singing the blues



Country or Rural Blues This new kind of solo song, introduced by blacks, was

Folklike in sound Highly distinctive in character and form

Most early, rural or country blues addressed every aspect of life, especially Work Love—unrequited, betrayed, gone wrong

Blues singers Expressed troubles in an unaffected, straightforward manner

Without sentimentality Often with wry or whimsical humor



Blues: Form Early blues form:

One line of text sung three times to a familiar or improvised melody

Later The custom was to sing the first line twice and add a

conclusion or response in the form Statement, repeat, response Each stanza had three lines

Each line had four measures or bars Thus, the form is called twelve-bar blues

A A B



Twelve-Bar Blues The only purely American contribution to

musical form

Hard times here, worse times down the road.Hard times here, worse times down the road.Wish my man was here to share the load.



Blues: Melodic Characteristics Blue notes

Glissandos Expressive slide between pitches

Vocal and instrumental Derived from black African singing

The African custom of treating the third, seventh, sometimes fifth, and less often sixth scale degrees as neutral or ambiguous tones



Blues: Harmony

Provided a strong, simple, and distinctive harmonic framework for the blues musicians to improvise around

Line 1: stays tonicLine 2; IV goes to ILine 3: V goes to IV goes to I



Blues: Improvisation The asymmetrical, strictly tonal, textually simple

form beautifully served the improvising musician in several ways

Vocal and instrumental timbres were limited only by the performer’s imagination and availability of instruments

Possibilities abounded for subtle rhythmic adjustments over the solidly steady beat



Text, form, melody, and harmony supported the improvisation: A line of text took about 2 ½ bars to complete, with time for

Improvisation on accompanying instruments Scatting or scat singing = Half-spoken, half sung nonsense

syllables

Repetition of the first line gave time to plan the response

Melodies could be embellished and colored by Scoops, slides, blue notes, other effects

The basic harmonic patterns allowed variety, the simple chords supporting without getting in the way of creative ideas



The Evolution of Rural Blues Evolved from intensely personal introspection to a form of shared

entertainment

Sung around campfires in the poorest living quarters to ease spirits after a day’s work

An instrument accompanied the voice, answering the singer and filling out a line with its own melodic interest

This call and response effect is an African tradition essential to blues

Chords and structured regularity of blues reflect white customs, but were subject to the performer’s interpretation



Listening Example 40Hellhound on My TrailComposed and performed byRobert Johnson (1911-1938)Listening Guide page 199

Meter: QuadrupleTempo: SlowForm: Twelve-bar bluesThe bluesy mood fits the impassioned nature of the text; the varying

length of the lines indicates the informality and improvisatory nature of country blues. Hear blue notes and melodic embellishment.

I got to keep movin’. Blues fallin’ down like hail.I got to keep movin’. Blues fallin’ down like hail.And I can’t keep no money with a hellhound on my trail.

If today was Christmas Eve, and tomorrow Christmas Day,If today was Christmas Eve, and tomorrow Christmas Day,I would need my little sweet rider (lover) just to pass the time away.

You sprinkled hot-foot powder (a voodoo spell?) all around my door.You sprinkled hot-foot powder all around my door….



Classic Blues Classic Blues = Blues conceived primarily as entertainment

Performed in theaters, clubs, and on commercially distributed recordings

Classic blues performers often had a band backing them up

Piano assumed increasing importance

More professional, more stylized, more universal than the earlier primitive or rural blues

Classic blues found a wide audience among white as well as black Americans



Blues Singers Rural blues singers were men, including

Huddie Ledbetter Blind Lemon Jefferson

Early classic blues singers were mostly women

The great blues lyrics were written from a woman’s viewpoint Most lyrics concern love—especially “love gone wrong”

1920s: Theatrical performance had become acceptable for women (white or black)

The field offered new social and economic opportunities



Blues Singers: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (1886-1939) Considered the mother or the queen of the blues

Born Gertrude Pridgett, known as Ma Rainey Madame Rainey

Ma Rainey was one of the most imitated and influential classic blues singers and composers

She established a link between early rural blues and sophisticated blues performances recorded for commercial distribution

Taught Bessie Smith



Blues Singers: Bessie Smith (1894-1939) The most famous of the classic blues singers

“Empress of the blues”

Her performances:

Imbued with intense personal feeling

Embellishing melodies, bending tones to communicate the deepest emotions

Of the great classic blues recordings, Bessie Smith’s earned the most money for her recording company, Columbia Records



Listening Example 41Lost Your Head BluesPerformed and probably Composed by Bessie Smith, voicewith trumpet and piano Listening guide page 201

Form: Twelve-bar bluesMeter: QuadrupleTempo: Moderately slow Harmony: Based on the I, IV, and V chordsHear expressive slides and blue notes in voice and trumpet

I was with you, baby, when you didn’t have a dime.I was with you, baby, when you didn’t have a dime.Now since you got plenty money, you have throwed your good gal down.

Once ain’t for always, two ain’t for twice.Once ain’t for always, two ain’t for twice.When you get a good gal, you’d better treat her nice.

When you were lonesome, I tried to treat you kind.When you were lonesome, I tried to treat you kind.But since you’ve got money, it done changed your mind….



Urban Blues Professional publishing and recording industries

recognized the commercial potential of the blues

1912: Blues were published as sheet music

White composers started to write blues

The word “blues” appeared in titles of pieces Including some that weren’t blues at all

1920s: Blues race records mass produced Race records = The unfortunate industry

term for recordings intended for an African American audience

Phonograph



Urban Blues: For a Mainstream Audience Blues composers adapted the twelve-bar form to appeal to a

mainstream (white) audience Intended for performance by professional musicians, so-called

urban blues could be more complex in form than earlier rural blues sophisticated in harmony than earlier rural blues

Form The three-line form was retained, but…

One or more verses were in four- or eight-line form

Became popular, with close connections established between instrumental jazz and urban blues



Urban Blues and Jazz The great blues singers made some of their finest

recordings with the outstanding jazz musicians of their day

Instrumental jazz and urban blues shared Folk or popular heritage Regular beat Subtle rhythmic variations Versatile blue notes Fluent improvisation



Urban Blues:W. C. Handy (1873-1958) William Christopher Handy

African American bandleader and composer

Called himself “father of the blues” Led blues into the world of commercial popular music

Played cornet in a minstrel troupe when young

Later formed his own dance band When the band moved to New York, Handy began writing

and publishing urban blues



Listening Example 42St. Louis BluesBy W. C. HandyPerformed byBessie Smith, vocalsFred Longshaw, reed organLouis Armstrong, trumpetListening guide page 204

Form: Modified twelve-bar bluesMeter: QuadrupleTempo: Slow

I hate to see the ev’nin sun go down.I hate to see the ev’nin sun go down,Makes me think I’m on my last go-’round.

Feelin’ tomorrow like I feel today,Feelin’ tomorrow like I feel today,I’ll pack my grip and make my getaway.

St. Louis woman wears her diamond rings,Pulls a man around by her apron string.‘T’wan’t for powder and this store-bought hair,The man I love wouldn’t go nowhere—nowhere.

I got the St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be.He’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me.



New Orleans Jazz Musical instruments from Civil War military bands became

readily and cheaply available

Black musicians began playing them in their own manner Improvising freely on favorite tunes

New Orleans:

Small brass bands played for parades, concerts, funerals For funerals: a famous tradition that survives today

After solemn procession music to and from the cemetery—waiting for an interval—the band breaks into joyous music compelling mourners’ healthy return to everyday life



New Orleans Jazz: The Bands The bands’ instrumental techniques became more individual

Tempos became faster Mood became more high-powered and intense

Some of the musicians knew how to read music Most did not, and improvised freely on familiar tunes

Small bands called combos of black musicians provided indoor entertainment The hot new dance music combined with the steady beat and

stirring tempo of European march and dance tunes, with… complex syncopations of black African and Caribbean effects



New Orleans Jazz:The City of New Orleans New Orleans offered a rich cultural climate with music…

Popular French, Spanish, Creole, and black tunes Serious and comic opera Marching, dance, and concert bands

The city generously nourished the new vernacular sound With the notorious Storyville red-light district, gambling saloons,

bordellos, dance halls offered job opportunities for jazz musicians

New Orleans produced a large number of astonishingly talented jazz musicians



New Orleans Jazz: Combos Consisted of three to eight players

Clarinet, cornet, trumpet, trombone, rhythm section Rhythm section included banjo, tuba, drums Later combos playing indoors added piano, and sometimes

replaced tuba with string bass

Musicians improvised around a popular tune The rhythm section marked a beat, a straight four-to-the-bar These early performances were collective improvisations with

soloists taking turns improvising complex variations on a melody

Other musicians provided rhythmic and harmonic support

ONE two three four



New Orleans Jazz: Louis Armstrong (1900-1971) A cornetist, Armstrong

Played in King Oliver’s band as a boy

Formed his own band in the early 1920s Called the Hot Five; later, the Hot Seven

Made important jazz recordings including his wife’s composition “Hotter Than That” (Listening example 43)

Armstrong switched to trumpet

Developed amazing virtuosic techniques



Louis Armstrong As an instrumentalist

Expressive, technically brilliant solo improvisations The wide emotional range of his playing greatly expanded

musicians’ and listeners’ concept of what jazz was all about

Armstrong also sang Scatted creatively, humorously, expressively

Finding sadness, humor, or elation in a song, he let it issue forth as a purely natural, purely human statement

Personalized his performances as no one had before, taking the music and making it his own



Listening Example 43Hotter Than ThatBy Lillian Hardin Armstrong (1898-1971)Performed by Lillian Hardin and the Hot FiveListening Guide page 207

Meter: QuadrupleTempo: FastInstruments: Cornet, trombone, clarinet, piano, banjo, guitar

Notice how the cornet, trombone, and clarinet take turns improvising while the other instruments providerhythmic accompaniment. Armstrong’s cornet solosdominate. In his scat singingArmstrong “plays” his voice like another instrument,revealing a seeminglylimitless range of creativeand expressive techniques.



Chicago Jazz 1920s:

Authorities shut down New Orleans’s lucrative Storyville district

Many outstanding jazz artists moved to Chicago Chicago: The new performing and recording center for jazz Chicago had a large population, thriving speakeasies,

fledgling recording opportunities Along with jobs in railroads, stockyards, mills

Jazz musicians from all over the country were attracted to Chicago



Chicago Jazz: Dixieland Young white musicians in Chicago became enamored of the

sounds of the New Orleans combos

In sincere flattery attempted to imitate them

Dixieland: The term for this white imitation of New Orleans jazz

But the term Dixieland came to be applied to all early jazz

Musicians distinguished between New Orleans Dixieland and Chicago Dixieland



Dixieland Chicago combos added a saxophone to the New

Orleans instrumentation

They replaced the banjo with a guitar

Big city tension and drive characterized Chicago jazz

Chicago jazz began and ended with more complex improvisations than New Orleans musicians used

Emphasized the role of soloists to a greater degree This new style contained a marked backbeat



Before the end of the roaring twenties… The heart of jazz shifted again, to New York City,

where there were Numerous combos Many jazz pianists

Kansas City jazz was another important regional jazz style that was already evolving Reached its peak in the next decade



Jazz Piano Jazz pianists, whose instrument sounded its own

harmonies Could practice independently of others Enjoyed greater opportunity than other jazz

instrumentalists for individuality Developed distinctive styles influential in the transfer from

ragtime to jazz

Jelly Roll Mortin; Duke Ellington; Art Tatum (1910-1956); Earl Hines (1903-1983)



Jazz Piano: Jelly Roll Mortin Mortin combined ragtime and boogie-

woogie techniques Produced his own inimitable jazz piano style

Rhythms looser and melodies less embellished than ragtimeBoogie-Woogie = Piano blues = A popular piano style with form and harmony of blues, but a faster tempo and dance beat. Unlike writtenragtime pieces, boogie-woogie or piano blues was freely improvised, with a syncopated melody in the right hand and a rhythmic left-hand ostinato. This eight-to-the-bar accompanying pattern (subdividing the four beats of a measure into eight pulses, in the pattern LONG-short-LONG-short-LONG-short-LONG-short) resulted in complex cross rhythms, with brisk tempo and driving intensity-- made boogie popular to dance and listen to.



Listening Example 44Shout for Joy

By Albert Ammons (1907-1949)Listening guide page 209

Meter: Duple

Form: Twelve-bar blues

Accompaniment: The jumping “eight-to-the-bar” left-hand ostinato nearly compels a rhythmic response from the listener—as well as a probable happy smile

This lively example of boogie-woogie starts with a four-bar introduction reminiscent of the familiar “Westminster Chimes”

Hear eight three-line verses

Over the pounding beat, thepianist’s right hand plays joyous melodic improvisations



Jazz Pianists: Jelly Roll Mortin

Spoken of as the first jazz composer The most innovative “hot tune” writer until Duke Ellington

Earl Hines (1903-1983) Played with a swinging, flexible style usually associated with

band instruments, not piano

Art Tatum (1910-1956) One of the most admired pianists in jazz history Combined his gifts for complex, ingenious harmonic changes

and powerful technique with elements of the piano style called stride



Stride Piano Retained the regular left-hand metrical pattern of

ragtime Alternating low bass notes on one and three with

midrange chords on two and four under an improvised melody in the right hand

James P. Johnson (1894-1955)--The “father of stride piano” Furthered the transition from ragtime to jazz Played more dissonant, loosely structured, more strictly

improvisational, more highly syncopated than other jazz piano music of the 1920s



Listening Example 45Carolina ShoutBy James P. JohnsonListening guide page 210

Meter: DupleForm: After a four-measure introduction, the piece goes

through five strains followed by a cascading four-bar coda, or ending section

Johnson composed other kindsof music as well, including “The Charleston,” which flappers joyously danced through the roaring twenties, but he is best remembered for his great stride compositions such as this one

A shout was a form of religious dance popular on plantationsthrough the nineteenth century in which slaves expressed according to African customtheir new Christian fervor



Fats Waller (1904-1943) Studied jazz piano with James P. Johnson

Developed his own legendary jazz piano style More driving, intense, virtuosic than Johnson’s

One of the great jazz entertainers; a stride piano player

Composer of hundreds of tunes But rarely wrote out his pieces in full

Wrote a simple melody line and fragmentary additional notations None of Waller’s published compositions or piano rolls is

considered representative of the performances Waller would have realized from the same pieces



Sweet Jazz Throughout the 1920s a tame but attractive music

called sweet jazz reached a wide audience

The Paul Whiteman Orchestra, the most popular dance band of the era, brought this new music style to audiences

Whiteman was classically trained

He admired jazz, yet was unable to improvise His band played his jazzy arrangements of popular and even

classical melodies



Sweet Jazz and Paul Whiteman Whiteman: For a time, called the “king of jazz”

But his music bore only a marginal relationship to real jazz Most of the notes were written on sheet music The musicians didn’t improvise Jazzy timbres, syncopated rhythms suggested a jazz flavor

Sweet jazz introduced the art of the arranger An arranger writes arrangements

Arrangement = In jazz, a written musical score that Includes most or all of the notes to be played.



Coming in the 1930s… Sweet jazz soothed troubled audiences during the Great

Depression

Real jazz—hot, and mostly black—went underground during that era

But during the 1930s

Jazz found a popular audience

Big band music came into its own

Part 3 The Growth of Vernacular Traditions Chapter 12: The Jazz Age America’s Musical Landscape...

Documents

Transcript of Part 3 The Growth of Vernacular Traditions Chapter 12: The Jazz Age America’s Musical Landscape...