Many people consider jazz as the one true original American music. However, just as the country is a hodge-podge of different cultures, its music a mixture of different beats and melodies. In fact, jazz is a combination of African beat and European melodic influences. The combination is so unique only to America, which is why it cannot be considered as something that came from somewhere else. Jazz was first heard in the suburban areas in the south during the late 1800’s, in communities that were largely populated by Afro-Americans.
Because of its origins, the early popular jazz music artists were blacks. The genre was still at its inception stage with ragtime as its earliest form. The usual instruments used to create such music were banjo and piano. The popular artists then were Ernest Hogan and Tim Turpin, who published the Harlem Rag. By the end of the century, jazz developed further with the innovations created by Scott Joplin. Being a pianist trained in the classical music, he created a beautiful fusion of his specialty and ragtime. By the beginning of the 20th century, the blues came into being, with W.C. Handy as one of the most popular artists of such genre.
Big bands usually play jazz music during the early years. However, when swing music, another new jazz form, rose to prominence in the 1930’s, soloists became more popular too. Swing music highlights the skills of the trumpeter. Because of this, the trumpet player usually ends up becoming more famous than the other musicians in the band. During this time, the genre’s icons, such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington grew so popular that any jazz lover should know them and their music.
From the danceable swing music, jazz evolved further in the 1940’s to 1960’s with bebop. Bebop is known as the musician’s music because it gave emphasis on the talents of the instrument players. Every musician in the band was provided with moments to shine, from the piano, the base, to the wind instruments in the band. Among the top trumpeters were Clifford and Dizzy Gillespie. The most popular among the pianists were Thelonius Monk and Bud Powell. Even drummers gained recognition, with Max Roach as one of the more famous ones.
The 70’s saw the development of jazz fusion, a bold attempt to combine the elements of rock and roll with the classic jazz sound. These were the times when the jazz artists, such as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Tony Williams became very famous. Not only did they develop a new jazz sound. They also influenced even the rock and roll artists of the time, such Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Grateful Dead.
By: Jim Oneil
Rock and roll artists have a tendency to think that they invented the concept of rebellion. That before their genre came along, everything was goody-two-shoes and Miss Manners. What they forget is that the music industry has always been a place of innovation a source of social uproar. Even the waltz, when it was first introduced, was considered an outrage at first because of how close couples had to get to dance to it! Yes, rock and roll artists are just following in the industry’s grand tradition of scandal, a tradition that at no time has been more prevalent than in the era of swing jazz, or swing music. In its day, swing music was the ultimate revolution, a violent break from the Charleston of the previous decade. Swing music was characterized by a strong rhythmic drive and, and the bands that played it were anchored by equally strong rhythmic sections. Such sections tended to be led by drummers whose personalities were as big as their music, and a number of the jazz drummers of swing remain legends even today.
Sonny Greer (1895-1982) is best known for his work with the legendary Duke Ellington. A native of New Jersey, he eventually became Ellington’s first drummer in 1919 at the age of 24. Greer was not only a drummer; he also designed the instruments with the Leedy Drum Company. This job enabled him to put together a drum kit worth over $3000, the equivalent of nearly $36,000 today. This gentleman did his part to live up to the image of jazz music as a genre of debauchery. He was a heavy drinker and a pool-hall hustler and unfortunately, these qualities eventually led to a permanent estrangement between him and Ellington. He continued to work as a freelance drummer and briefly led his own band, but Greer’s association with Ellington marked the pinnacle of his success.
Gene Krupa (1909-1973) was known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style of drumming. He was a member of a number of bands, although the biggest name he ever played with was undoubtedly Benny Goodman. Krupa’s drumming is featured in the flagship of swing music, Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing.” His association with this song made him an immediate national celebrity. Although he, like Greer, had a falling out with his band leader and left the group as a result, his career did not falter. In spite of the occasional stint in jail due to possession of marijuana, Krupa continued to perform into the early 1970s.
William Henry Webb, aka Chick Webb (c.1905-1939) was a precocious child who saved up enough money from his paper route to purchase a drum set; he first played professionally at the age of 11. In addition to being a drummer, Webb was the long-time leader of his own band, which was the house band at the famous Savoy Ballroom. The Savoy often hosted “Battle of the Bands” contests, in which Webb’s band was pitted against the likes of the Benny Goodman and Count Basie Orchestras. The biggest name associated with Webb is Ella Fitzgerald, who he began to feature as a vocalist in 1935 when the singer was 18. After Webb’s early death (due to complications from a childhood bout of tuberculosis), Fitzgerald continued to lead his band for four years before leaving to focus on her solo career.
Bernard “Buddy” Rich (1917-1987) was billed as “the world’s greatest drummer” and was known for his power, speed, and experimentation with technique. He, like Webb, was drawn to drumming at an early age, and when he was 18 months old, he made his musical debut in vaudeville. He never received any formal drum education, and may have had more raw talent than any other drummer of his generation. During his career, he was associated with a number of famous names, including Tommy Dorsey, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
By: Victor Epand
So you have decided that you want to be a drummer but is at a loss as to which genre of playing style you want to master. Have you considered learning how to be a jazz drummer?
As you probably know, jazz is one of the most artistic and intriguing genre of music and especially so for the jazz drummer. Playing jazz music gives the drummer the opportunity to exhibit his amazing technical drumming skills and capabilities. However, most drummers choose not to take the time to learn how to play jazz drums properly which is partly due to its wide range of technicalities unlike most other forms of music.
Although jazz drumming seem to look very complicated, in reality, it is not that difficult to learn. The main difference is that most drummers are used to the 4/4 tempo of drumming where jazz is played with plenty of triplets and has a different feel from most other types of music. So the drummer may have to relearn some drumming techniques. Furthermore, most jazz pieces are relatively fast in tempo and thus most drummers also need to make improvements on their stick speed.
The first thing a new drummer needs to learn when playing jazz pieces is the basic jazz swing tempo or sometimes called the “swing groove”. A jazz drummer’s main role is to keep time for the rest of the band just like in any genre of music. The drummer should never overpower the rest of the band unlike when playing rock songs. To do this, simply use your hi hat and ride cymbal.
Ok. Let’s start with your hi-hat stepping on the 2 and 4 count to a piece of swing music. It is critical to keep this count over top of everything else that you play. Next, add ride the cymbal with a triplet tempo and feel. Practice these moves to perfection before going further with your drum lessons.
Now that you have mastered how to keep the swing tempo with the hi-hat and ride cymbal, let’s move on to the bass drum or sometimes called the kick-drum. Jazz drumming techniques are sometimes very subtle and because of this, the bass drum should not be too dominant. So do make sure that you do not play the bass drum too loudly. This again is unlike most other form of drumming. A good technique for this is keep your heel down when playing the bass drum. In this way, you are more in position control the strength of the kick more easily. A technique jazz drummers often use is the feathering the bass drum. This is done by lightly tapping the bass drum on the quarter or eighth notes.
You will probably know that is highly common for the bass drum to follow the bass guitar player. So you may need to know what kind of rhythm progression the bass player is playing and try to follow him. The bass drum should be played with more of a feel rather than powerful thumping like those in rock music.
The snare drum can be used to help as an accent for the band or can be used to play straight quarter notes.
Another common rhythm in jazz music is the shuffle and every jazz drummer must also master this form of drumming. Furthermore, since jazz music usually have musicians doing solo runs, the jazz drummer must also learn how to play drum solos. By developing these common jazz drumming styles, you will be playing jazz drums like a pro pretty soon!
By: Chris Chew