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hastings jazz club at the white rock hotel |
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Home Page Modern Jazz - a brief overview The development of Modern Jazz has taken a very different route to Modern Art. It is a salubrious term and in a nutshell could mean any new interpretation of an old tune or new composition created after 1940 and starts with the new genre Bebop. A move away from swing and big band music and the first real change in the use of harmony. The innovators are now creating their own compositions on which to improvise, jazz is now defining itself as serious music, an art form that requires great technical skill to execute and a truly creative artistic imagination to be able to engage in it fully. We do, however, need to have an understanding of what went before. Where are the roots of jazz, where did this new art form start, and who were the great innovators. Jazz started in New Orleans. In 1700 it was a small town with a population of 250. It grew into a thriving cosmopolitan Port of more than 168,675 people by 1860 with more than 34% of the population being Black. Different styles of secular music were developing, Ragtime, Dixieland and the 12 bar chord structure that became the Blues. Dixieland, trad, hot jazz all refer to the same new style. It was the music of the twenties. James P Johnson (1894-1955) the Father of Stride Piano.
In his day his style of playing was considered modern. Like the
artist Picasso he was a master. He invented an all-pervading
dance tune called the "Charleston" and fueled a craze
that has never been matched. The Charleston epitomizes the roaring
twenties. No craze in popular music has ever matched the universal
stature of this style. Johnson a creative genius who gave birth
to a keyboard-bending genre known as "stride piano." One of the first real artistic innovators was trumpeter Joe "king" Oliver (1885-1935) he developed group improvisations rather than individual solos, reminiscent of today's group shows for modern artists. He was also teacher and mentor to trumpet player Louis Armstrong (1901-1971). Louis defined the style, a modern day master of his instrument and of the early jazz style. He also made the transition from the early Hot Jazz of the twenties to Big Band Swing. The depression hit Hot Jazz hard and the smooth sounds of the big bands began to become very popular. 1n 1927 Duke Ellington had his first residency at the Cotton Club New York with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. The Swing era lasted until after the World War II. Jazz was the popular modern music of the day until the late fifties. All forms of pop, rock and blues music of today can be traced back to the black musicians of New Orleans at the turn of the century. Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) (soprano sax) was a transitional musician from ragtime and spirituals to Hot Jazz and by 1917 was an established musician in New Orleans. Initially a virtuoso clarinettist he switched to soprano sax after a visit overseas and made his first recording in 1923. In 1938 he had a hit record with Gershwin's Summertime, and he was a big star of the Dixieland revival of the late forties. Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong (1901-1971) (trumpet) the early 1920s saw Armstrong's popularity explode as he left New Orleans for Chicago to play with "King" Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, and then moved on to New York, where he influenced the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra with his improvisations that used a new musical vocabulary. When he returned to Chicago in 1926, he was a headliner on records and radio, and in jazz clubs, wowing audiences with the utter fearlessness and freedom of his groundbreaking trumpet solos. His "scat" singing transformed vocal tradition and musicians studied his recordings to hear what a horn could do. It has been said that Armstrong used his horn like a singer's voice and used his voice like a musical instrument. Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969) father of the tenor saxophone originally with Bessie Smith and by 1923 he was playing with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. He was a Hot Jazz artist who played in the swing era and also made the transition to be any early bebop artist. In 1944 he hired Thelonious Monk, Dizzie Gillespie, Miles Davies and Max Roach for some early bebop recordings. Johnny Hodges (1906-1970) (alto sax) had lessons with Sidney Bechet and joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1928. He played in this orchestra for more than 40 years. Hodges played with a unique modern timbre. Lester Young (1909-1959) "The Prez" (tenor sax) mostly associated with the Count Basie Big Band and Billie Holliday. His style of playing influenced Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon and his soft tone can be found in the playing of Stan Getz. Ben Webster (1909-1973) (tenor sax) played with Lester Young and in the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. In 1940 he was the first major league tenor player to work with Duke Ellington. Singer Billie Holliday (1915-1959) "Lady Day" a phenomenal artist who is a household name. "Her unique diction, inimitable phasing and acute dramatic intensity made her an outstanding singer". She was the first singer to define how to sing a song in the jazz style. Modern singers today are inspired and encouraged by her life and singing virtuosity. Early in her career she was on the road with The Count Basie Orchestra and had a musical marriage of musicianship and artistry with tenor sax player Lester Young. The other key thing to change from the early jazz style to
swing was the addition of the saxophone. In most trad jazz bands
the front line would be traditional classical music instruments,
trumpet, clarinet and trombone. It was the development of the
saxophone in the late 19th century that helped to define this
new Art Form. "A new music for a new instrument". Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, one of the greatest Jazz trumpeters and innovators of 20th century. He started as a swing player and when he crossed over into the new style became a creative genius. He and Charlie Parker who teamed up in 1945 were the masters of this modern style of jazz now called Bebop. Their seminal band ushered in the bebop era. Charlie Parker (1920-1955) "Yardbird" (alto sax) was one of the most important sax players of the 40's and a brilliant virtuoso of the new modern style Bebop. In 1945 he worked with Dizzie Gillespie and Thelonius Monk. Parker had fantastic artistic success and his music still continues to influence and inspire players today. It is always a milestone in a jazz musicians career when they can successfully improvise in the bebop style whether or not they stay playing in that genre. John Coltane (1926-1967) (tenor soprano sax Although there are recordings of Coltrane from as early as 1946, his real career spans the twelve years between 1955 and 1967, during which time he reshaped modern jazz and influenced generations of other musicians with his use of modes, very long extended solos and we can hear the beginnings of free jazz in his music. Miles Davis (1926-1991) was one of the most influential and innovative musicians of the 20th century. A trumpeter, bandleader and composer, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz after World War II. He played on some of the important early bebop records with Charlie Parker as well as cool jazz records. 'Kind of Blue' his first cool jazz album is still selling well. He worked with John Coltrane and was partially responsible for the development of modal jazz. Jazz fusion arose from his work with other musicians in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Stan Getz (1927-1991) (tenor saxophone) his early influence was Lester Young and during the 40's worked in all the major swing orchestras. In the 50's he became the front-runner of the West Coast Jazz. Working with Gerry Mulligan, Horace Silver and Oscar Peterson. In the 60's he moved into Brazilian music and Latin rhythms. His is most remembered for his work with Joao Gilberto and the hit Girl From Ipanema. The Bossa-nova was a monumental craze in the 50's. During the 60's Getz changed musical direction and was working with piano player Bill Evans and drummer Elvin Jones. Jerry Mulligan (1927-1996) (baritone saxophone) recorded
with Ben Webster and Johnny Hodges, as well as playing on the
seminal album 'Birth of the Cool' with Miles Davis nonet. Sonny Rollins (1930- ) Rollins was inspired by this
modern jazz music called Bebop. He grew up listening to Charlie
Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. In the 1940s Rollins
recorded and performed with Parker, Powell, Thelonious Monk and
Miles Davis. Throughout the 1960s, Rollins also began to experiment
with the avant-garde jazz movement of the period, free jazz.
The biggest difference in the development of jazz history
to classical music is that the instrumentalists have been the
innovators of the style. Classical music is known and remembered
mainly through its great composers who were the innovators. Jazz
is remembered through its great soloists who are the innovators.
Modern Jazz starts with Bebop a truly new style organic, indigenous, creative and played by defined rules Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie were the first great artistic masters of this style. |