A Report On Jazz Music Genre

Jazz Intro

Jazz music is a genre developed from roots in blues and ragtime. It originated in the Southern, United States during the late 19th century, and early 20th. There are many wonderful jazz artists such as the famous Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Jazz consists of many types of styles, such as Smooth Jazz and Hard Bop. The most common instruments used in Jazz are saxophones, trumpets, trombone, brass, piano, and more. I am always around Jazz when I am at my uncle’s second-line, but I never really paid attention. Jazz HistoryIn the late 19th century and early 20th century, Jazz music began in the African American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz was at first only used for dancing purposes, until the first recordings of jazz were made in 1917 causing a widespread of the music. Jazz expresses the experiences of blacks or African American’s life in the United States. It is an overall mixture different styles and cultures.

Every musician plays and adds their own twist to their music. No one sounds the same because jazz is so diverse. In New Orleans and the rest of the country, brass bands had become extremely popular. Brass bands such as the Excelsior and Onward generally consisted of trained musicians reading complex scores for parades, dances, and concerts in the 1880’s. In the 1900’s, the emergence of Retro Swing, Jump Blues, and Hot Dance brought back swing dancing to new and younger audience. A documentary on jazz was first aired on PBS by Ken Burns in 2001, featuring Wynton Marsalis and other experts on the history of jazz at that time. Today in music, jazz has had an increasingly powerful influence on hip-hop, R&B, and pop music. Artists of this time, such Kendrick Lamar incorporated contemporary jazz, and refined jazz rap into his 2015 album “ To Pimp a Butterfly. ” InstrumentsInstruments are a huge part of jazz. There are so many instruments used in jazz. Though they are the same instruments, they all sound different. The most common instruments used in jazz are the saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, drums, guitars, and pianos. Every artist puts their own style into their music, which means they all play their instrument a different way. Multiple artists play the same instrument but they all sound different.

Trumpets have been around since at least 1500 BC. It is a brass instrument that is typically used in classical and jazz ensembles. They were originally used for signaling devices during battles or hunting. In early jazz, trumpets were the loudest solo instrument, which meant they were the natural leader of a group of other instruments. The trumpet group has the highest register in the brass family. Some of the best jazz musicians played the trumpet like Louis Armstrong. Saxophones are generally made of brass and are played with a single mouthpiece. They are apart of the woodwind family. The saxophone is mostly used in classical music such as concert bands, jazz bands, military bands, and more. There are many types of saxophones like baritone and soprano, but the most commonly used ones are alto and tenor saxophones. Charlie Parker also was known as Yardbird and Bird, was famously known for virtuosic technique and advanced harmonies on the saxophone. The clarinet is another instrument in the woodwind family. At one point, in the earlier times, the clarinet and trumpet once sounded alike or similar. Clarinets were originally central instruments in jazz, beginning with a player from New Orleans in 1910. Towards the end of the 1940’s, the clarinet’s place was usurped by the saxophone, which projected more powerful sounds with less complicated fingering systems. In the early 1960’s, a New Orleans clarinetist named Pete Fountain made a notable impact with his nouveau-Dixieland approach, but unfortunately, the instrument was still considered unfashionable.

Types of Jazz

The beauty of jazz is that there are different types of jazz. There’s Smooth Jazz, Hard Bop, Latin Jazz, Crossover Jazz, Jazz Rap, and more. The style Ragtime is the oldest or earliest type of jazz, starting in the 1890’s. In music today, audiences may be more familiar with Jazz Rap, and Smooth Jazz, simply because it is the most recent and relevant type of jazz today. Classic Jazz and Hot Jazz is what really gave jazz it’s platform til this day and allowed it to continue to expand profoundly. Smooth jazz is a very popular type of jazz and can be traced back to at least the late 1960’s. This type of jazz is influenced by rhythm and blues. Smooth jazz is usually a track that is down tempo, and layers a melody played on instruments over a backdrop that consists of various synth pads or samples. Artists and groups such as Kenny G, George Benson, and Fourplay were famous for their artistic approach to smooth jazz. Hard Bop is a type of jazz that came from the extension of bebop or bop music. The term became very popular in the mid-1950’s as a newer style of jazz which had a bit of everything. The style naturally appealing to generations of African Americans who were familiar with bop and rhythm and blues.

There were two factions of hard bop; funky jazz, and mainstream. One was relatively simple and one was more complex. Pianist Horace Silver was a very popular artist in the 1950’s, particularly in the hard bop style. Latin Jazz is simply jazz with Latin American rhythms. Its stylistic origin is from New York’s Cuban music. Latin jazz’s cultural origins came from Cuba, the United States, and Brazil. Because of its diverse origins; Latin Jazz has two main categories; Afro-Cuban jazz and Afro-Brazilian jazz. Latin Jazz musician, Machito, helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create Cubop and Salsa Music. He sang to Latin Jazz and Afro-Cuban Jazz alongside his sister. Crossover Jazz is a combination of other genres of jazz to appeal to a larger audience. During the decline in the 1970’s, crossover jazz was an attempt at trying to keep jazz alive. Jazz musician incorporated some elements of R&B, Funk, and other genres to make a mixed type genre. For people who didn’t like jazz as much, crossover jazz was what may have changed their perspective on jazz. Because it included many beloved genres; people enjoyed it better than Classic Jazz. One of the major jazz guitarists, Wes Montgomery made over 30 albums and songs that expressed crossover jazz. Jazz Rap is a mixture of hip-hop music and jazz music combined. It developed in the late 80’s and 90’s when hip-hop was very popular. Over the last few decades; Jazz Rap has become more and more popular. Newer artists that are developing today have used jazz rap to give it their music an older feel. Original artists such as The Roots, Erykah Badu, Kanye West, and Queen Latifah have incorporated jazz rap into their music and has given the genre a new sound.

Notable Jazz Musicians

There are so many notable and honorable jazz musicians. These jazz musicians go back as to the late 1800’s. Because there are so many different types of jazz; there are many different artists that have had memorable careers. Artists like Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and Nat King Cole are some of the most well-known jazz musicians. Though some of these artists played different types of jazz, they still captured a crowd's attention faithfully. Jazz musician Duke Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader. He led a jazz orchestra from 1923 till his death in 1974. At the age of 15, Ellington was awarded a scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, but at the age of 17; Ellington decided to follow his dream to play professionally. Though Ellington was born in Washington, DC; he was based in New York City around the 1920’s, and eventually gained a national profile through his orchestra. Though he is long gone, his music will forever be live on as time goes on.

Jazz composer, bandleader, and trumpeter, Miles Davis was one of the most influential figures in jazz history of the 20th century. Influenced by Louis Armstrong, young Miles began playing the trumpet at a young age. By the end of high school; Miles was playing professionally with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Not too long after, Davis left Illinois to attend Julliard School in New York City. One year later in, Davis dropped out to become a full-time musician and form the Miles Davis Sextet. For the years come, Davis would receive many awards including the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1990 for his diversity in jazz. Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald was a song vocalist who was the top female jazz singer for decades. Ella was first discovered as a child in an amateur contest and later debuted at the Apollo Theatre in 1934. In 1938, Ella recorded and performed with the Benny Goodman Orchestra, and a year later became the band leader renaming it Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra. In 1958, she made history as the first African American woman to win a Grammy Award ever. Ella Fitzgerald was named the “First Lady of Song” due to her mainstream popularity and unique vocal talents.

American jazz pianist Nat King Cole was one of the top artists to record over one hundred songs that became hits on pop charts. After becoming a high school dropout, Cole began performing with his brother which lead him to his first professional recordings in 1936. Around the late 1930’s, Cole put together his own band called King Cole Trio who would soon have hit records on the charts. By the 1950’s, Cole had worked with some of the country’s top artists, such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nelson Riddle. He even became the first African American performer to host a variety Tv series. Last but not least, the remarkable Louis Armstrong who was one of the most influential and inspiring figures in jazz. Louis Armstrong is a well-known trumpeter from New Orleans, Louisiana. His jazz career took off in the 1920’s and continued for five decades. Louis’s passion for jazz began while he was living in the Colored Waifs Home as a juvenile delinquent. The first instrument he played was a cornet and as he got into his teen years; he began to play in marching and jazz bands.

In the early 1920’s, Louis played in Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band as the second cornet. He later left to seek more fame in New York City, where he played in Fletcher Henderson’s band for a year. By 1925, Louis was playing the trumpet and was a famous musician. He toured around America and Europe as a trumpet soloist. Today there is an airport and streets named after Armstrong in New Orleans, Louisiana. His most famous record was a song called What a Wonderful World. Louis Armstrong has definitely left a good legacy that is inspiring and will always be remembered. Historical Events in JazzIn 1817, New Orleans city council established “Congo Square” which was an official site for slave music and dance. Pianist Tommy Turpin writes Harlem Rag, which is the first known ragtime composition in 1892. In 1896, radio technology is introduced.

The first piano rags appeared in print in 1897, and by that time, Ragtime had become very popular. Duke Ellington was born in 1899. In 1917, “The Original Dixieland Jazz Band” made their first Jazz recording, “Livery Stable Blues”. It sold millions of copies, which was the beginning of Jazz’s popularity. From 1925-1928, Louis Armstrong revolutionizes Jazz with his Hot Fives and Hot Sevens recording inspiring hundreds of solo artists in jazz. Duke Ellington’s band does a historic opening at New York’s Cotton Club on December 4, 1927. In 1956, Ella Fitzgerald makes the first of several “Songbook” recordings, which made Fitzgerald an international star. A photo of 57 great jazz musicians gathered for a photo in Harlem for a magazine, which later became known as “A Great Day In Harlem” (photo) in 1958. By 1970, musicians had started using electronic instruments and including rock and disco in their jazz. Hip Hop and Hard Pop became very popular in jazz around the 1990’s. In May of 2000, Dr. Billy Taylor found the Women in Jazz Festival, which is annually held at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D. C. Hurricane Katrina destroys the “Cradle of Jazz”, in New Orleans, LA in August of 2005. On February 10, 2008, Herbie Hancock wins a Grammy for Album of the Year with “River The Joni Letters” becoming the first Jazz recording to win the honor in 44 years. In 2009, Jazz’s 50th anniversary was celebrated. On February 3, 2012, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization agreed to designate April 30th as International Jazz Day.

My Opinion Jazz music has in a way always been apart of my family for as long as I can remember. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana, and I have family members who take part in Second-Lines regularly. In second-lines, jazz music is played with a variety of instruments, while people dance and walk down block. It is kind of like a mini parade that lasts for blocks. My mom and I always go the ones that my uncle and cousins are in. The jazz music that they play is usually upbeat and fast. It makes you want to dance and move around. Outside of second-lines, I generally do not listen to jazz music. My favorite genre of music is Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B. My old teachers use to listen to very slow jazz with no lyrics, and I hated it. I would always end up tuning it out or falling asleep to it. If I had to listen to jazz, it would definitely be a more upbeat, or modern version of it. I do not think I would be able to listen and enjoy any other type of jazz. Jazz is overall an interesting genre and has many aspects to it. There are so many different types and styles of jazz. Thousands of musicians have made their mark in history due to their interpretation of jazz. I personally would not listen to it on a regular basis, but I do hear it periodically. Jazz is the type of genre that will never fade away, or die down.