[JPL] Jazz For Dummies

[Dr. Jazz]

17dd3bce.jpg



<http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle//WileyCDA>Home > 
<http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle//WileyCDA/Section/id-100012.html>Beyond 
the Classroom > 
<http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle//WileyCDA/Section/id-100049.html>Arts 
& Music > Digging the Roots of Jazz

17dd3c1c.jpg


<http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle//WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0471768448.html>
17dd3c3b.jpg
  Digging the Roots of Jazz
Adapted From: 
<http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle//WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0471768448.html>Jazz 
For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Although jazz is performed by musicians of many colors and mixes elements 
of many kinds of music, it's essentially African-American music. Interwoven 
with jazz's history is the history of the black experience in America. 
However, European music and blues also influenced jazz.


Adapting West African traditions

Essential elements of jazz arrived in America in 1619 with the first 
Africans brought as "cargo" by Dutch sailors who landed in Jamestown, 
Virginia. Various African musical elements that eventually surfaced in jazz 
came from areas where slaves were taken along the West African coast, known 
as the Ivory Coast or Gold Coast, stretching from Dakar in the north to 
Congo in the south, and including Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, Dahomey (now part 
of Benin), and the Niger delta. Many of the Africans sold into slavery 
weren't commoners but, instead, were kings and priests who led tribal 
rituals and musical performances. Among the tribes raided for slaves were 
the Yoruba, Ibo, Fanti, Ashanti, Susu, and Ewe; many of these musicians 
eventually became leading performers in both black and white cultures in 
the New World.

Various traders preferred slaves from particular regions and tribes, and 
the traditions of those slaves influenced the music in the traders' home 
regions. For example, the French acquired Dahomeans. Thus, Dahomeans who 
worshipped vodun (spirit) and the snake god, Damballa, brought rituals to 
New Orleans that became known as voodoo ­ elements of which appeared in 
early blues and jazz. Various bluesmen referenced mojo hands and black 
cats, and jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton blamed a voodoo curse for ill 
health and a declining career.

In Africa, music was a vital part of daily life and members of a community 
all participated. African musicians played a variety of string, percussion, 
and wind instruments, but after these musicians landed in America, they 
adapted to a new array of drums, fiddles, trumpets, French horns, and other 
instruments. Musicians found themselves relocated within a musical culture 
partially based on formal notation instead of the unwritten and improvised 
traditions of Africa, where griots ­ resident tribal poet-historians ­ sang 
and told tales that preserved tribal history, arts, philosophy, and mythology.

Much of the adaptation to the new musical setting occurred in white 
churches, where slaves were taught to read music from hymnals and song 
books and where they often performed alongside white people at services. 
The harsh change was difficult for African musicians who found their music 
restrained or redirected along Euro-American lines, yet the blending of 
African rhythms, melodies, harmonies, and improvisation, with more formal 
Euro-American music, was at the heart of the invention of jazz.
17dd3c99.jpg


Even in the early stages, the impact of African musicians on American music 
began to emerge. Here are key elements:
    * Call and response: like when a preacher or dance leader shouts a 
statement, and his audience shouts back; when instrumentalists have a 
"conversation" consisting of traded musical "statements"
    * Improvisation: embellishment around a song's primary melody
    * Pentatonic scales: five-tone scales later used as primary scales in 
blues
    * Polyrhythms: the overlapping of different rhythmic patterns
    * Swing or forward momentum: a sense of urgency created by relentless 
rhythmic drive
    * Syncopation: rhythmic accents around the underlying beat


Borrowing from European classics

European musical traditions also make up a vital part of jazz. Elements 
like swing and improvisation found their way into jazz from Africa, but 
jazz's major instruments, including the piano, saxophone (invented in 
Belgium about 1840 by Adolphe Sax), and assorted horns came to jazz by way 
of Europe.

Largely because of the availability, popularity, and portability of 
violins, slaves received training in classical music and performed a range 
of music that also included dance and folk. In the 1700s, slaves sometimes 
accompanied their owners to colleges such as William & Mary for musical 
education. This classical training eventually turned up in jazz. Violin 
found its way into jazz in the '20s, playing the same sorts of melodies and 
solos as saxophonists and trumpeters.

Blacks who worshipped at some churches in East Coast cities often received 
training in European music including classical. During the 18th and 19th 
centuries, some congregations (and choirs) were interracial.
17dd3c99.jpg


Contrary to the common belief that jazz was created primarily by uneducated 
blacks with roots in blues, folk, and field chants, African Americans had 
the ability to read music and to play classical and other styles of music 
well before the inception of jazz. Jazz pioneers such as Scott Joplin, 
Jelly Roll Morton, and James P. Johnson brought sophisticated musical 
knowledge to their music.

While jazz musicians brought classical elements into jazz, classical 
composers borrowed from African-American music. This transferring of styles 
proves that even before the invention of jazz and before African-American 
music was valued by American universities, concert halls, and arts patrons, 
the quality and originality of black music had already captivated the 
leading artists of classical music.

In turn, classical composers such as Bartok and Debussy inspired jazz 
bassist and composer Charles Mingus. These classical composers utilized 
folk music in their creations. Mingus, in the '50s and'60s, composed 
ambitious suites such as "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" (1963) that, 
like pieces by Bartok and Debussy, combined a variety of influences (blues, 
jazz, folk, classical) into an elaborate piece that explored various themes 
using an 11-piece ensemble.

 From Joplin and Johnson, to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Gil Evans, 
and, today, Maria Schneider, some jazz composers have brought a knowledge 
of classical arranging, composing, and musical theory to their masterful 
jazz compositions.


Adding some blues

Jazz partially builds on the blues, and some jazz directly grows on a blues 
foundation, utilizing the structure of the traditional blues known as 
12-bar blues.
17dd3c99.jpg


The tradition of call and response, and more simply improvisation, is a big 
part of jazz. In good blues, jazz, and gospel, players listen intently to 
each other's playing, and have an almost intuitive connection ­ an uncanny 
sixth sense felt between musicians. Here are some examples:
    * In the gospel church, the preacher sings out a line of sermon, and 
his congregation tosses it back to him.
    * In blues and jazz, one musician plays or sings something, and another 
player throws it back in slightly new, altered form, adding a new variation 
to the theme and exploring a song further.
    * Still another player may take a swing at the musical phrase, even 
adding a new melodic run.

Some of the earliest jazz musicians were vocalists who branched into jazz 
from roots in blues. Some notable singers give jazz its bluesy beginnings:
    * Ida Cox
    * Ma Rainey
    * Jimmy Rushing
    * Bessie Smith
    * Mamie Smith
    * Jack Teagarden
    * Ethel Waters
    * Louis Armstrong
<http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle//WileyCDA/Section/id-100099.html>Copyright 
© 2006 & Trademark by <http://www.wiley.com>Wiley Publishing, Inc. All 
rights reserved. Please read our 
<http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle//WileyCDA/Section/id-100065.html>Privacy 
Policy.


Dr. Jazz
Dr. Jazz Operations
24270 Eastwood
Oak Park, MI  48237
(248) 542-7888
http://www.drjazz.com
SKYPE:  drjazz99