Jazz is known as being one of the only styles of music created in America, though it is a mixture West African and Western music traditions. Jazz’s began in New Orleans, around the 1900’s, but its roots can be traced back hundreds of years earlier when slaves who were brought to America developed spirituals and blues in order to communicate with one another and express sadness, desires and religious beliefs. The music was passed along orally with each new generation making their own unique changes to the songs, which were often of a call and response form and unaccompanied by musical instruments.
Rhythms and melodies from the black community were combined with European compositions leading to the development of Ragtime music around 1895. “Ragging” a song meant dragging out certain notes and livening up music by rearranging notes. Ragtime and Jazz are similar but Ragtime music is predominantly sole piano music while Jazz music is played in ensembles.
Though jazz is closely associated with blues and ragtime, one of the most important elements of jazz music is that it is improvisational music–well-known notes and lines are a starting point for musicians to develop unique songs around. Early jazz musicians often could not read music but they thrilled audiences by bringing emotion, excitement and the unexpected to their pieces. While ragtime music was popular in restaurants, clubs or hotels, Jazz was mobile, versatile music played at funerals, parades, weddings, and at festivals.
The 1920’s were known as the Jazz Age as New Orleans jazz was brought to nightclubs in Northern cities such as Chicago and New York. It was more upscale than the music of New Orleans, and New Orleans Jazz distinguished itself as being a more folksy and spontaneous form of Jazz. Throughout the 20th century, many variations of Jazz music were popular including Dixieland, bebop, Big Band, swing, cool jazz, soul jazz and Latin jazz.
All forms of jazz music and the types of music that inspired it or have preceded it are celebrated during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The event began in 1970 as means of showcasing the musical heritage, arts, crafts and cuisine unique of New Orleans. The first Jazz Festival had a lineup that included Duke Ellington and Fats Domino and only about 350 attendees.
Quickly the Festival’s popularity grew and it now draws hundreds of thousands of visitors, world-renowned singers and the top talent of New Orleans and Louisiana. This year, artists including Rod Stewart, Jon Mayer, Harry Connick Jr. and ZZ Top are set to play in the event which will take place during the weekends of April 27-29 and May 4-6.
2007 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival attendees are invited to stay at the Hotel Maison de Ville in the French Quarter so that in addition to seeing the festival performances, they’ll be right by jazz clubs and bars where they can hear intimate performances by traditional and contemporary jazz artists who have been inspired by the earliest performers.
By: Carolyn Polinsky
Jazz is an American art form whose roots date back to the mid-19th century slave songs and chants. The early 20th century saw the art form blossom as instrumental music in the southern United States, mainly along the Mississippi river and specifically New Orleans, Louisiana.
Early instrumental jazz combos of New Orleans varied in instrumentation. More often than not, these early jazz groups generally consisted of trumpet, clarinet, trombone, tuba and drums. This instrumentation became what is known as the “dixieland” combo, making its way up the Mississippi river to Chicago where the music became popularized by jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong.
Dixieland combos can be thought of as groups that play “polyphonic” improvisational music. Each instrument is independent of every other instrument, with each player creating separate musical improvisations based on known melodies, or “tunes” of the day.
The players of these early jazz combos each had a separate role within the group. The trumpet player was depended upon to state the melody of the song, while the clarinet would improvise complex lines above him. The trombonists role was to improvise or “fill in” the middle register with lines and notes that were essential to the chord changes of the song itself. The tuba player (or bass player) generally laid down root notes (and 5ths) of each chord on beats 1 and 3 of each measure. The tuba served as the harmonic anchor for the group. Lastly, it was the drummers role to keep everyone together by keeping a steady beat throughout the entirety of the song.
As jazz music developed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, jazz combo instrumentation began to become more standardized. The jazz “quintet” and “sextet” became very popular during this time. The quintet consisted of trumpet and alto (or tenor) sax as the main melodic instruments while the rhythm section (piano, bass and drums) took care of rhythm and harmony.
The sextet added a trombone to form what essentially was a three horn front line, with rhythm section accompaniment. The extra melodic instrument of the sextet made it possible for the horns to add more harmonic depth to the sound of the group. Each instrument had a role not only as a melodic voice, but also as an integral component of the harmonic structure as well.
Modern jazz combos consist of a variety of instrumentation – 4, 5 horn combos are common place. As the group grows in size however, the name “combo” is replaced by “band” or “little big band”.
The jazz combo has provided a musical and creative outlet for countless musicians over the last 100 years. The jazz combo continues to provide jazz musicians the opportunity to work together to make music not only as a group but also to develop their own voice as individual jazz improvisers. It is, and probably always will be, the perfect vehicle for learning the art of jazz improvisation.
By: James P Martin
Jazz is known as being one of the only styles of music created in America, though it is a mixture West African and Western music traditions. Jazz’s began in New Orleans, around the 1900’s, but its roots can be traced back hundreds of years earlier when slaves who were brought to America developed spirituals and blues in order to communicate with one another and express sadness, desires and religious beliefs. The music was passed along orally with each new generation making their own unique changes to the songs, which were often of a call and response form and unaccompanied by musical instruments.
Rhythms and melodies from the black community were combined with European compositions leading to the development of Ragtime music around 1895. “Ragging” a song meant dragging out certain notes and livening up music by rearranging notes. Ragtime and Jazz are similar but Ragtime music is predominantly sole piano music while Jazz music is played in ensembles.
Though jazz is closely associated with blues and ragtime, one of the most important elements of jazz music is that it is improvisational music—well-known notes and lines are a starting point for musicians to develop unique songs around. Early jazz musicians often could not read music but they thrilled audiences by bringing emotion, excitement and the unexpected to their pieces. While ragtime music was popular in restaurants, clubs or hotels, Jazz was mobile, versatile music played at funerals, parades, weddings, and at festivals.
The 1920’s were known as the Jazz Age as New Orleans jazz was brought to nightclubs in Northern cities such as Chicago and New York. It was more upscale than the music of New Orleans, and New Orleans Jazz distinguished itself as being a more folksy and spontaneous form of Jazz. Throughout the 20th century, many variations of Jazz music were popular including Dixieland, bebop, Big Band, swing, cool jazz, soul jazz and Latin jazz.
All forms of jazz music and the types of music that inspired it or have preceded it are celebrated during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The event began in 1970 as means of showcasing the musical heritage, arts, crafts and cuisine unique of New Orleans. The first Jazz Festival had a lineup that included Duke Ellington and Fats Domino and only about 350 attendees.
Quickly the Festival’s popularity grew and it now draws hundreds of thousands of visitors, world-renowned singers and the top talent of New Orleans and Louisiana. This year, artists including Rod Stewart, Jon Mayer, Harry Connick Jr. and ZZ Top are set to play in the event which will take place during the weekends of April 27-29 and May 4-6.
2007 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival attendees are invited to stay at the Hotel Maison de Ville in the French Quarter so that in addition to seeing the festival performances, they’ll be right by jazz clubs and bars where they can hear intimate performances by traditional and contemporary jazz artists who have been inspired by the earliest performers.