Unit 3

commercial blues

Blues which is performed by professional musicians, is published, and recorded.

improvisation

The act of creating music spontaneously rather than performing a previously learned song the same way every time. Improvisation is one of the key elements in jazz. It gives musicians the opportunity to express inspirations and react to situations; requires virtuosity, melodic inventiveness, personality, and the ability to swing.

The "front line" in an early New Orleans jazz band typically plays the melody.

True

The orchestral rags of James Europe were less syncopated than those of Scott Joplin.

True

Irene and Vernon Castle were the first husband-and-wife Tin Pan Alley songwriters to become famous for their collaborative efforts

False

Joe "King" Oliver was from Chicago and became a hit in his hometown with his Creole Jazz Band

False

Joplin believed a piano rag should be placed at a fast tempo so that one could dance to it.

False

One of the innovations of ragtime was that:

It was the first African-American music that looked on paper the way it sounded in performance.

jazz

A group of popular related styles primarily for listening. Jazz is usually distinguished from the other popular music of an era by greater rhythmic freedom (more syncopation and/or less-insistent beat keeping), extensive improvisation, and more-adventurous harmony. There are two families of jazz styles: those based on a four-beat rhythm and those based on a rock or 16-beat rhythm.

piano rag

A marchlike, syncopated composition for the piano.

animal dance

A popular dance which emerged in the early 1900s which was adapted or borrowed from a black folk dance.

foxtrot

A popular social dance of the 1920s and 30s that introduced a clearly black beat into mainstream culture.

ragtime

A popular style at the turn of the twentieth century that mixed European forms, harmony, and textures with African-inspired syncopation. Ragtime began as a piano music, but soon the term was applied to any music-song and dance as well as piano music-that had some syncopation.

race record

A term that came into use in the early 1920s to describe recordings by African American artists intended for sale primarily in the African American community.

collective improvisation

An improvisational context in which more than one performer is improvising a melody-like line. Collective improvisation is standard practice in New Orleans jazz, free jazz, and much rock-era jazz fusion.

Bessie Smith would be considered a famous rural (or country) blues artist.

False

W.C. Handy was important to the success of Vernon and Irene Castle as bandleader and arranger of most of their music.

False

The singer most closely associated with the 1920 hit, "Crazy Blues":

Mamie Smith

How did the piece "Maple Leaf Rag" get its name?

Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia

Swing

Rhythmic play over a four-beat rhythm

New Orleans jazz

Style of jazz performance based on the early bands that performed in and around New Orleans; revived in the late 1940s, it is based on collective improvisation and quick tempos. The front-line instruments usually include cornet or trumpet, clarinet, and trombone, with a rhythm section usually including banjo, tuba, and sometimes piano. Also called Dixieland jazz.

front line

The horns (or other melody-line instruments, such as the vibraphone) in a jazz combo. The term comes from the position of the horn players on the bandstand: they stand in a line in front of the rhythm instruments.

classic blues

The popular blues style of the 1920s, which typically featured a woman singing the blues (e.g., Bessie Smith) accompanied by one or more jazz musicians.

The man most responsible for bringing the blues into print thereby disseminating many of its conventions:

W.C. Handy

Listen to "Empty Bed Blues". What is the term for the musical feature happening between the singer and the trombonist?

call and response

Listen to "Hotter than That". List the instruments playing in the "front line".

clarinet, trumpet, trombone, guitar, and piano

The classic blues form consists of:

conventional 12-bar blues

Collective improvisation is when:

more than one instrument improvises a melody-like line

"Maple Leaf Rag" is an example of

ragtime

Which of these features most clearly defines swing:

rhythmic play over a four-beat rhythm

The term "Storyville" refers to:

the "red-light" area of New Orleans where jazz was to evolve in the 20th Century

Which of the following instruments would be considered to be a front line instrument in New Orleans jazz band?

trombone