Jazz Essay -- essays research papers

Jazz Jazz is a type of music developed by black Americans about 1900 and possessing an identifiable history and describable stylistic evolution. It is rooted in the mingled musical traditions of American blacks. More black musicians saw jazz for the first time a profession. Since its beginnings jazz has branched out into so many styles that no single description fits all of them with total accuracy. Performers of jazz improvise within the conventions of their chosen style. Improvisation gave jazz a personalized, individualized, and distinct feel. Most jazz is based on the principle that an infinite number of melodies can fit the cord progressively of any cord. The twenties were a crucial period in the history of music. Revolutions, whether in arts or matter of state, create a new world only by sacrificing the old. By the late twenties, improvisation had expanded to the extent of improvisation we ordinarily expect from jazz today. It was the roaring twenties that a group of new tonalities entered the mainstream, fixing the sound and the forms of our popular music for the next thirty years. Louie Armstrong closed the book on the dynastic tradition in New Orleans jazz. The first true virtuoso soloist of jazz, Louie Armstrong was a dazzling improviser, technically, emotionally, and intellectually. Armstrong, often called the "father of jazz," always spoke with deference, bordering on awe, of his musical roots, and with especial devotion of his mentor Joe Oliver. He changed the format of jazz by bringing the soloist to the forefront, and in his recording groups, the Hot Five and the Hot seven, demonstrated that jazz improvisation could go far beyond simply ornamenting the melody. Armstrong was one of the first jazz musicians to refine a rhythmic conception that abandoned the stiffness of ragtime, employed swing light-note patterns, and he used a technique called "rhythmic displacement." Rhythmic displacement was sometimes staggering the placement of an entire phrase, as though he were playing behind the beat. He created new melodies based on the chords of the initial tune. He also set standards for all later jazz singers, not only by the way he altered the words and melodies of songs but also by improvising without words... ...ner and the classical pieces of twentieth-century composers Paul Hindemith and Bela Bartok. Latin-American music also inspired Corea^s style. Early in his career, Corea had played in several bands that featured Latin-American music. Corea^s crisp, percussive touch enhances the Latin feeling. It is also consistent with his bright, very spirited style of comping. Like Tyner, Corea voiced chords in fourths. Voicing in fourths means that chords are made up of notes four steps away from each other. Chick Corea joined Miles Davis^ band in 1968, and played electric piano on the landmark In a silent way, album and the influential "Bitches Brew" session. His own trio recording with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes, "Now He sings, Now He sobs," became a staple in the record collection of modern jazz lovers during the late sixties. Corea was a prominent composer during the 1960s and 1970s. Corea wrote pieces that made good use of preset bass lines in accompaniment, particularly those with a Latin-American flavor. In 1985, Chick Corea formed the Elektric Band, which became known for its use of synthesizers. The band^s debut was with Chick Corea Eleckric Band, on GRP Records.