Survey of Jazz (test 1)
Bessie Smith
Blues singer (urban - band involved).
Ma Rainey
Blues singer (urban - band involved).
Fletcher Henderson
-Important in development of the big band sound. -One of the first to add more instruments -hired Louis Armstrong to NYC.
Dixieland
Type of jazz style originated in New Orleans and flourished in late 1910s-1920s. Often had a front line accompanied by a rhythm section.
Rent Party
Informal gathering held to raise money. Musicians would get together and perform at these gatherings.
Suite
Musical form of the classical European tradition. Taking a popular piece containing several sections.
W.C. Handy
Musician and composer. Dealt a lot with the 12 bar blues form. "Father of the Blues."
James P. Johnson
"Father of stride"
Fats Waller
- Composer of stride piano - first significant jazz musician to record on the pipe organ. - humorous entertainer
Art Tatum
- Expanded vocabulary of stride and swing piano through 1) timing of chords, 2) runs, 3) Rapidity, 4) Harmony. - Legally blind
Django Reinhardt
-Guitar -Born as a gypsy, born in poverty -Lost 2 fingers in a fire -Hot club of france
Stephane Grapelli
-Violin -Soft, "tiger rag" Hot Club of France
Paul Whiteman
-King of Jazz. -Led orchestra for George Gershwin -Bix also played in his Orchestra.
George Gershwin
-Known for Rapsody in Blue. -Piano player and song plugger. -1 foot in classical, 1 in jazz
Duke Ellington
-Piano player, known for his big band sound -bowed bass instead of plucking -Solos featured a growling "jungle sound." -the cotton club music direction
Tin Pan Alley
-Sheet music publishers -Jazz pianists would sit down and play for customers wanting to hear their music (song pluggers) -in the summer, windows open, it sounded like tin pans hanging with everyone playing at once
Freddie Keppard
1st Dixieland Jazz band combination
AABA song form
8 bar theme (A) played twice. Contrasting melody (B). A theme returning. The second and third A sections vary slightly.
Head arrangement
A musical plan and form worked up orally by the players themselves, who create their own parts.
Chicago Jazz
A type of New Orleans style jazz created in the 1920s. It merged the group sound of New Orleans bands with emerging improvisational style and solo emphasis.
Ragtime
African American musical genre that flourished from 1890s-1910s. Based on constant syncopation in the right hand and steady march bass in the left. Primarily associated with piano music. Scott Joplin was the main composer of Ragtime.
Stock Arragement
Arrangement created and sold by a publishing company to bandleaders.
Chart
Common term for a jazz band arragement
Minstrelsy
Derived from African American culture. Traveling shows
New Orleans Jazz Band
Dixieland Band
ABAC song form
Each section is 8 bars, AB = "first half" of the tune, AC= "second half" of tune.
Louis Armstrong
Emphasized brilliant solo improvisation and was able to create coherent musical relationships and convey them with dramatic depth and pacing. Known for his extravagant, extroverted sound on the cornet.
Frankie Trumbauer
Famous saxophone player
Kid Ory
Famous trombone player of the Creole Jazz Band.
Buddy Bolden
Famous trumpet player, however never recorded. Was the 1st to try Dixieland. Was a heavy drinker and died as he was institutionalized.
Hot bands
Faster tempos and dramatic solo and group performances, usually with more improvisation.
Boogie-woogie
Form of blues piano playing in which the performer maintains a driving eighth-note rhythm in the left hand while improvising blues figures in the right hand.
Harlem Renaissance
Group of African Americans redefining what it meant to be African American. Outstanding artistic activity among the African American movement centered in Harlem, NY.
Section
Group of related instruments in a big band; three trumpets and three trombones might form the brass section.
Bix beiderbecke
Had more of a concentration on the middle register, softer sound, little use of vibrato, restrained use of blue notes, and rhythmic variety.
Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Had the 1st Jazz recording in 1917
Baby Dodds
Had the first thoughts of a drumset.
12 Bar
I in first column IV and I in second V and I in third
Rhythm section
In early jazz bands, it included 3-4 players on drums, bass, or tuba, and one or more chordal instruments (piano, banjo, guitar)
Scat singing
Jazz vocal style in which the soloist improvises using made-up or "nonsense" syllables.
King Oliver's creole Jazz band
Joe Oliver was a cornet/trumpet player. He hired Louis Armstrong and got him to move from New Orleans to Chicago.
Big Band
Large jazz ensemble typically including 3-4 trumpets, 3-4 trombones, 4-5 reeds, and rhythm (piano, guitar, bass, drums).
Front line
Lead melody of instruments in early jazz bands. Usually included the trumpet (cornet), trombone, and clarinet.
Stride Piano
Left hand accompaniment alternating bass notes and chords with an appropriate right-hand figuration pulling or tugging at the left hand (in melody).
Blue Note
Lowering the normal note you would expect to hear. A bent or slurred note.
Scott Joplin
Main composer of Ragtime.
Lil Harden
Piano player for King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. Also married Louis Armstrong.
Earl Heinz
Piano player for Louis Armstrong
Sweet bands
Played less syncopated, slower pieces.
Speakeasy
Prohibition-era nightclub in which liquor was sold illegally.
Arranger
Responsible for final sounds of a band. They put together, form, chords, introductions, codas, etc. They provide the players with the written music.
Robert Johnson
Rural blues (man & guitar)
Countermelody
Secondary melody that accompanies the main melody. It's generally heard in the trombone or a lower voice. Often improvised.
Ring shout
Slaves form a ring while rhythmically dancing and singing songs from the bible within a circle.
Song plugger
Someone who performed a song, usually at a music store, to encourage people to buy their sheet music.
Sidney Bechet
Soprano saxophone was his primary instrument. Responsible for shift from clarinet. Respected by the Europeans.
Jolly Roll Morton
Was a piano player, composer (dixieland), and arranger. Was a pimp and gambler on the side and also claimed to have single-handedly invented jazz.
Blues
an African American folk music around the 1900s influencing jazz and other forms of American music. Started in rural blues (individual singing / playing guitar). Urban blues is more of a band involved.