Jazz History

1. Music & Society
Jazz in brief
www.musicstudentinfo.com
Chris Baker

2. Birthplace of Jazz New Orleans

3. The Birthplace Of Jazz
• Americas only indigenous art form
• The only music genre native to the US
• Jazz (originally spelled Jass)
• Started New Orleans, near the end of the 19th Century

4. Jazz Congo Square
On Sundays, New Orleans slaves met at Congo Square for
trading, worship, dancing, singing, and music.
These traditional West African rhythms eventually evolved into
Ragtime, the precursor of Jazz.

5. Congo Square

6. Congo Square

7. Jazz Ragtime
• Ragtime was set in traditional song forms such as waltzes.
• Its defining characteristic was syncopation.
• Ragtime’s popularity lasted from about 1893 to the
beginning of World War I.
• The most famous ragtime composer was Scott Joplin, who
published the first of his many ‘rags’ in 1899.

8. Jazz Syncopation
Syncopation is a general term for "a disturbance or interruption
of the regular flow of rhythm": a "placement of rhythmic
stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur."

9. Jazz Is Born Buddy Bolden
• Buddy Bolden first bandleader to play what ultimately was
called Jazz.
• By the end of the 19th Century.
• Self-Proclaimed “King” of the Coronet
• Known for his loud, clear tone and freewheeling style.
• No recordings of his playing have survived.

11. Red Hot Jazz In The Red Light District
• Many early jazz musicians got their start working in
bordellos in New Orleans’ infamous Storyville District.
• After Storyville was closed in 1917, many of these
musicians made their way to Chicago, spreading Jazz
northward.

12. Storyville

13. L-R Jelly-Roll Morton Louis Armstrong & Joe “King” Oliver

14. First Jazz Recording
• In 1917, “The Original Dixieland Jazz Band” a white group,
made the first jazz recording, Livery Stable Blues.
• Freddy Keppard, a black bandleader, had been offered the
chance to make the first jazz record, but refused because he
was afraid others would copy his style.

15. Jazz Swing
• Swing originated in Kansas City and Harlem in the late 1920s
• Became a national craze
• The average big band had 15 members
• Music was often written to showcase soloists
• Venues such as the Cotton Club and the Savoy were packed
every night
• Swing’s popularity lasted into the mid 1940s

16. Duke Ellington The King Of Swing
•Edward Kennedy Ellington
•Born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C.
•Formed his first group in 1917.
•He and his group won national fame when they were broadcast
live from the Cotton Club in 1923.

17. Jazz The Cotton Club

18. Duke Ellington

19. Jazz The Ellington Band
• Played everywhere from New York to New Delhi, Chicago to
Cairo, and Los Angeles to London. Ellington and his band
played with such greats as Miles Davis, Cab Calloway, Dizzy
Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong.
• Ultimately, they entertained everyone from Queen Elizabeth
II to President Nixon.

20. Jazz Duke Ellington
• Died in 1974.
• Wrote and recorded hundreds of musical compositions.
• They continue to have a lasting effect upon people
worldwide.

21. Other legendary bandleaders included
Count
Benny Basie Artie Shaw
Goodman

22. Swing Soloists
Many talented musicians gained fame appearing the big
bands.
The bands were integrated before the concert halls
Ella Fitzgerald
Billie Holiday

23. Jazz Bebop
Revolting against the confining nature of swing.
Bop gained prominence in the mid-40s.
Start in Kansas City and Harlem.
The top bop musicians included:
Charlie “Bird” Parker Thelonius Monk Dizzy Gillespie

24. Progressive Jazz
Progressive, or Cool, Jazz developed primarily
on the West Coast in the late
1940s and early 50s.
Dave Brubeck
Miles Davis

25. Jazz Neo-bop
• In the mid-1950s
• East Coast U.S.
• Small groups led by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Cannonball
Adderley & Art Blakey pictured below
• Marked by crackling, explosive, and uncompromising
intensity.

26. Jazz Jazz/Fusion
• Late 1960s
• Jazz musicians explored the connections between rock and
jazz Fusion.
• The musicians included Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter & Chick
Corea.
• One of the most influential records from this time is Miles
Davis‘Bitches Brew’

27. Jazz/Rock Fusion Miles Davis Bitches Brew

28. Summary Jazz
Jazz continues to be a powerful and vibrant musical form. In
slightly more than 100 years, it has given birth to approximately
two dozen distinct Jazz styles.
“The real power of Jazz…is that a group of people can come
together and create… improvised art and negotiate their
agendas…and that negotiation is the art.”
Wynton Marsalis from ‘Jazz, a film by Ken Burns’