MUS 347 Exam 4

The idea of jazz merging with another genre occurred for the first time in 1969 with the jazz style called fusion.

False. Although the jazz style that emerged in 1969 was called fusion, the idea of fusion (merging jazz with other genres) occurred previously in the history of jazz, including jazz itself, which was a combination of ragtime and marching band music.

Ornette Coleman recorded Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation with only his quartet consisting of saxophone, trumpet, bass and drums.

False. Coleman brought his quartet and a whole second quartet into the studio. Together, the session including two woodwinds, two trumpets, two basses and two drummers playing together, often simultaneously.

In addition to soprano saxophonist Kenny G and guitarist George Benson, saxophonist Steve Coleman is one of the great smooth jazz artists.

False. Coleman's ensemble (Steve Coleman and Five Elements) has a hard-driving rhythmic style with elements of funk, rock and hip-hop. This group does not play smooth jazz.

John Coltrane never formed a group, but instead was always a featured saxophonist in other groups, such as in Miles Davis' groups.

False. Coltrane had played in Miles Davis' quintet and sextet in 1950s but later formed his own group. His quartet from the 1960s became known as the "classic quartet".

As with previous jazz styles performed by Miles Davis, he used a quintet to record the fusion albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew.

False. Davis used large ensembles for the albums, including eight musicians for In a Silent Way and up to twelve musicians on some tracks in Bitches Brew.

The Avant-garde, or free jazz style was a passing phase in the late 1950s and 1960s.

False. Ever since it came to prominence, there has been a scene for this kind of music. Even some of the best known jazz musicians of the 1960s, whose music was mainly mainstream jazz, experimented with the avant-garde in some capacity.

The term "mainstream jazz" suggests relative popularity within the world of jazz but with a general acceptance of the esoteric.

False. Mainstream jazz suggests the general avoidance of the esoteric (intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest).

Wynton Marsalis co-founded a number of performing arts organizations at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

False. Marsalis co-founded a jazz program at the Lincoln Center, which soon became a full-fledged constituent called Jazz at Lincoln Center. When Marsalis became that organization's Artistic Director, it further cemented him as a clear leader of the field.

Playing free jazz meant suspending all of the pre-existing conventions of jazz to allow players greater freedom.

False. Not necessarily all conventions were changed. Some players played without a clear key or chord progression, while others played without a planned melody or a form and others shed the need for a clear tempo or beat. Many free jazz players experimented with intonation and timbre in ways that may sound harsh at first.

Artists in the 1960s either embraced the avant-garde or mainstream jazz style, but not both.

False. Some artists, like Miles Davis, embraced elements of both mainstream jazz and freer styles in the 1960s. Others, like John Coltrane, began their career playing something more mainstream, only to later fully embrace the avant-garde.

Miles Davis wrote all of the compositions for the "second great" Miles Davis Quintet.

False. The group wrote a series of new compositions, many by saxophonist Wayne Shorter and some of which could be described as modal. Melodies tended to be unusual and haunting, harmonies rich and dark, and traditional song forms avoided.

Which of the following standard conventions of jazz might have been suspended by free jazz artists in the 1960s?

Free jazz artists broke new ground by suspending some or sometimes all of these basic rules of jazz. In the 1960s, we saw these trends taken to new extremes.

Jazz classicism

Interest in jazz history and certain performers' engagement with older jazz styles

Drag each Classic Quartet musician to the box in front of his instrument.

Elvin Jones - drums Jimmy Garrison - bass McCoy Tyner - piano John Coltrane - saxophone

Jazz Repertory Movement

Ensembles that were formed to reproduce the performances and performance styles of ensembles from previous eras of jazz

Drag each artist to the box in front of his recording.

Takin' Off - Herbie Hancock The Köln Concert - Keith Jarrett Now He Sings, Now He Sobs - Chick Corea Mercy, Mercy, Mercy - Cannonball Adderley Road Song - Jimmy Smith Autumn Leaves - Bill Evens

Jazz pedagogy

Teaching of jazz to earn degrees in jazz performance, history, or composition from conservatories and universities

Archival recordings

The assembly of material recorded by famous jazz artists of the past and then released complete works CD collections

When was the first collegiate jazz degree offered?

The correct answer is 1947 at the school now called the University of North Texas. More schools began offering such degree programs in the 1970s and 80s.

What seminal album released in 1965 is regarded as a jazz masterpiece by John Coltrane and the Classic Quartet?

The correct answer is A Love Supreme.

What album released in 1966 did John Coltrane amass a larger ensemble for, with three tenor saxophones, two alto saxophones, two trumpets, piano, two basses and drums?

The correct answer is Ascension, a collective improvisation even denser and more dissonant than Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz.

What pianist joined Miles Davis' group in 1958 and played in the album Kind of Blue in 1959?

The correct answer is Bill Evans, whose musical influences included bebop and hard bop pianists, but also composers from the Western classical tradition, particularly impressionist composers such as Maurice Ravel.

What album by The Mahavishnu Orchestra reached #15 on the Billboard Album Chart?

The correct answer is Birds of Fire, which was released in 1973.

Which acclaimed work by Wynton Marsalis won a Pulitzer Prize in 1997?

The correct answer is Blood on the Fields, which is an oratorio that concerns the legacy of slavery. It was recorded and performed by singers and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Select the group(s) that helped to create a genre call jazz rock.

The correct answer is Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago (originally called the Chicago Transit Authority). Not surprisingly, jazz rock became popular right as fusion was breaking through.

What artist founded the group called The Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971?

The correct answer is British guitarist John McLaughlin.

What artist formed the fusion group called Return to Forever?

The correct answer is Chick Corea, whose group also debuted in 1973. Corea's detailed arrangements were inspired by those of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

When Herbie Hancock left Miles Davis' group, who did Davis replace him with?

The correct answer is Chick Corea. Unlike Bill Evans' more gentle touch, Corea's touch at the piano tended to be percussive, somewhat like that of McCoy Tyner, the pianist in Coltrane's "classic quartet".

Who was the trumpeter in Ornette Coleman's initial 1958 group?

The correct answer is Don Cherry, who was also an important and long-time collaborator with Coleman.

After performing with Miles Davis' group, pianist Keith Jarrett would go on to become a prominent recording artist for what record label in the 1970s?

The correct answer is ECM, which was a label founded in 1969 out of Germany. ECM chose artists, some American, some European, that fit into a hard-to-define new subgenre. Jarrett, with his interest in classical music and jazz, was an excellent choice for the ECM sound.

What fusion album by Herbie Hancock went platinum?

The correct answer is Headhunters. Platinum means the album sold over one million copies, and for a time it was the greatest selling jazz album of all time, although it has since been topped by Kind of Blue.

What was the fusion group Weather Report's most commercially successful album?

The correct answer is Heavy Weather, released in 1977. "Birdland", written by Joe Zawinul, is a famous track largely responsible for album's success.

What artist founded the fusion group called Headhunters?

The correct answer is Herbie Hancock, who debuted the group in 1973.

What fusion album was recorded by Chick Corea and his Return to Forever group in 1973?

The correct answer is Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy. The dramatic title track with a complex harmony was carefully composed and arranged, with solos interspersed between detailed, written-out sections.

Select the album(s) released in 1969 by Miles Davis that launched fusion.

The correct answer is In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. As the 1960s concluded and the 70s began, Miles Davis had opened a whole new world of possibilities for jazz with these two early fusion albums.

Who was the virtuoso electric bassist in Weather Report when their album Heavy Weather was released in 1977?

The correct answer is Jaco Pastorius. As a creative band between the early 1970s to the late 80s, Weather Report went through a variety of musical phases and aside from Shorter and Zawinul, the band members changed significantly over the years, including the four bassists listed here.

Who wrote the crossover hit "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" that went to #11 on the Billboard top 100?

The correct answer is Joe Zawinul, the keyboardist in alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley's group. Adderley's group also featured his brother Nat on the trumpet. Zawinul played the electric piano in the track, which would become an important instrument in jazz.

What musician developed a style so novel that jazz critic Ira Gitier gave the style its own name sheets of sound?

The correct answer is John Coltrane. This style was like playing all the notes as quickly as possible. Coltrane could play phrases with 16th note passages or faster that sounded like cascades turned into pure energy and expression.

What artist is the most important figure for the development of fusion with the launch of two fusion albums in 1969?

The correct answer is Miles Davis. In the late 1960s, Davis started incorporating electric instruments and other elements of popular music into his group concept, creating the style that would occupy him for the following twenty plus years until his death in 1991.

What album is the best-selling solo jazz album in history?

The correct answer is The Köln Concert, performed by Keith Jarrett. This was a live concert in Germany that Jarrett completely improvised from beginning to end.

Select the landmark recording(s) by Cecil Taylor?

The correct answer is Unit Structures, Taylor's landmark album recorded in 1966. "Tales (8 Whisps)" is one of the compositions in the album.

What tune by Herbie Hancock crossed over into the top 100 pop charts in 1962?

The correct answer is Watermelon Man, a tune on Hancock's first album entitled Takin' Off. The tune is a great example of soul or funky jazz, with a strong dash of the blues.

Select the characteristic(s) of Bill Evans' artistry at the piano with his trio.

The correct answer is a poetic, introspective style. Evans was known for his gentle touch. As opposed to groups with one prominent soloist, the members of Evans' trio were all equal partners.

Select the distinctive style trait(s) of fusion?

The correct answer is a rock or funk groove. Fusion featured electronic instrumentation with intense amplification and often utilized simple and repetitive harmonies.

Select the idea(s) at the core of free jazz in early 1960s?

The correct answer is removing the limits on jazz improvisation. At the core of this new style was the idea that jazz is fundamentally about improvisation and expression, and that removing the limits on jazz improvisation can make the music more profound and authentic.

Fusion includes what stylistic elements and instruments incorporated into jazz?

The correct answer is rock & roll and funk.

What type of saxophone did John Coltrane play for his recording of "My Favorite Things", which was a song originally from the musical The Sound of Music?

The correct answer is soprano. Remember that the soprano is higher in pitch than his usual tenor saxophone. Coltrane's soprano playing in this era helped to reinvigorate interest in that horn.

Select the instrument(s) in Albert Ayler's recording "Ghosts: First Variation".

The correct answer is that there were only three instruments; Ayler's tenor saxophone, a bass, and drums.

What instrument did Jimmy Smith play in groups with Wes Montgomery?

The correct answer is the Hammond organ, which first caught on in jazz in the 1950s and fit in well with the gospel-inspired funky or soul jazz of the 1960s. Jimmy Smith was one of the great Hammond organists. He worked with many great guitarists of the era, including Wes Montgomery.

Select the instrument Ornette Coleman was best known for playing?

The correct answer is the alto saxophone. Coleman got his start playing rhythm and blues gigs on the tenor saxophone. He then transitioned to the alto saxophone, which he played on the majority of his groundbreaking free jazz albums.

What instrument did artist George Benson play?

The correct answer is the guitar. In addition to being a prominent vocalist, Benson is one of the finest guitarists who has played in the smooth jazz style.

What instrument did Ornette Coleman remove from his group after recording his first album Something Else!!!!?

The correct answer is the piano. His group initially consisted of the alto saxophone, trumpet, piano, bass and drums, which was standard bebop instrumentation. Soon after, he removed the piano from the group to have a more uncluttered palette to express himself.

What instrument did Cecil Taylor play?

The correct answer is the piano. Some groups like Ornette Coleman's and Albert Ayler's did not include a piano, but Cecil Taylor was a prominent pianist in the avant-garde.

What instrument did Albert Ayler play?

The correct answer is the tenor saxophone, whose style could be even more free (suspending more traditional jazz rules) than Ornette Coleman's style.

What instrument did Archie Shepp play?

The correct answer is the tenor saxophone.

Who is the most important figure in jazz classicism?

The correct answer is trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. He comes from quite the musical family. His father, Ellis Marsalis, is an exemplary jazz pianist and educator, and three of his brothers, Branford, Jason and Delfayo have all had successful careers in music and jazz.

The track "Malcolm, Malcolm - Semper Malcolm" by Archie Shepp was explicitly political.

True. "Malcolm, Malcolm - Semper Malcolm" was recorded less than a month after Malcolm X was assassinated. The piece was a tribute to him.

The style that Albert Ayler's group exhibits on "Ghosts: First Variation" could be described as "collective improvisation".

True. Although the style could be frantic with the traditional rules of form, tonality, harmonic progressions and timbre suspended, with only three musicians, everyone's part was extremely important in creating the group sound.

Before free jazz emerged in the early 1960s, modal jazz and Charles Mingus' workshop style had weakened reliance on chord progressions and tonality.

True. Both of these styles weakened jazz's reliance on chord progressions and tonality, which can heard in Charles Mingus' style for example, while preserving connections to traditional jazz instrumentation, form and timbre.

Free jazz, with its rejection of traditional jazz conventions, became a musical embodiment of the resistance that characterized the civil rights movement.

True. By the late 1950s, the civil rights movement was underway with a growing sentiment opposing established institutions and structures. These artists, mostly African American, emancipated themselves from commercialized jazz to produce a new provocative sound.

Like Bill Evans, Chick Corea would leave Miles Davis' group and go on to form his own trio.

True. Corea formed a trio with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes. They did not sound like the Bill Evans trio, but all piano trios that came after Evans, including Corea's, were inspired by their highly interactive approach.

A book released in 1984 by author Grover Sales was called Jazz: America's Classical Music.

True. European classical music has a canon, and now a canon was solidifying in the minds of the jazz community by considering jazz as America's classical music.

Rather than interacting in formal structured ways, free jazz artists interacted in whatever ways they chose.

True. Free jazz artists interacted more freely, like in a conversation, taking turns and overlapping in whatever ways they chose as artists, rather than worrying about whether their music was pretty or pleasing.

Fusion in the 1970s and 1980s became the most popular jazz style since swing in the 1940s.

True. Fusion albums and singles regularly hit the pop charts in the 1970s and 80s. To do this, it achieved popularity among audiences that were not typically drawn to other styles of jazz.

The instrumentation in Miles Davis' fusion group for the album In a Silent Way consisted of Davis on trumpet, a saxophonist, a guitarist, three keyboardists, an acoustic bassist, and a drummer.

True. In addition to Davis, the group consisted of soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter, guitarist John McLaughlin, keyboardists Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Joe Zawinul, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Tony Williams.

Mainstream jazz in 1960s adhered to standard concepts of melody and form.

True. In addition to melody and form, the improvisatory style of mainstream jazz in the 1960s did not get too wild.

Melodies, chords, solos and bass can all be played with the Hammond organ.

True. In addition to the melodies, chords and solos with the right hand, the player can play bass with the foot pedals or left hand. Because of this, a Hammond organist can take the place of the bass player but has to really multi-task.

Pianist Vijay Iyer's music is an eclectic style is an example of crossover jazz.

True. Iyer, an American pianist whose parents emigrated from India, blends jazz with elements of multiple styles of Indian classical music.

Two of the most important influences on fusion musicians in the 1960s included funk by James Brown and his band and the electric guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix.

True. James Brown's funk music and band featured horns and a rhythm section that played with incredible groove, consistency and energy. Hendrix is famous for pushing the electric guitar to new extremes in volume, timbre and technique.

Contemporary jazz styles are often eclectic.

True. Newer jazz styles are often eclectic, such as the blending of jazz with hip-hop.

The term "elastic meter" refers to a technique in which a musician emphasizes notes off the downbeat.

True. Pianist Bill Evans used this technique to create the impression that the meter was temporarily stretched or shrunk.

Maria Schneider did not play an instrument with her orchestra.

True. Schneider conducts and writes all the music for the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra conducts, but she does not play an instrument with the group.

The term "free jazz" became solidified with Ornette Coleman's 1961 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation.

True. The album was recorded in 1960 and released in 1961, and the term "free jazz" became one of the commonly used names for the genre.

Smooth jazz became extremely popular in the late 1980s in large part due to the instrumental music of soprano saxophonist Kenny G.

True. The best-selling instrumental smooth jazz musician Kenny G. has sold approximately 75 million albums in his career.

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

True. The musical instrument digital interface was often a keyboard that was connected to a computer, allowing for computer-generated musical sounds.

Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul and drummer Tony Williams all left Miles Davis to form fusion groups of their own.

True. There were a variety of Davis' sidemen who became jazz stars in their own right in the late 1950s and in the 60s. The same trend continued in the 1970s as many of Davis' former sidemen also became prominent in fusion.

Jazz rock groups tended to be considered jazz-inspired rock, as opposed to the opposite.

True. These groups had vocalists and horn sections, and used some aspects of jazz harmony in their music. They had solos in their songs and some of the soloists clearly had jazz experience.

Drag each musician from the "second great" Miles Davis Quintet to the box in front of his instrument.

Wayne Shorter - saxophone Tony Williams - drums Ron Carter - bass Miles Davis - trumpet Herbie Hancock - piano

Select the style(s) of jazz played by Miles Davis.

- Bebop - Cool jazz and modal jazz - Mainstream jazz and avant-garde

Select the jazz star(s) of the 1960s who first came to prominence in Miles Davis' groups.

- Pianist Bill Evans and saxophonist John Coltrane - Pianist Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Cannonball Adderley - Pianist Chick Corea and Keith Jarett

Select the term(s) given for the new jazz style that emerged around 1960 that saw musicians suspending some or sometimes all of these basic rules of jazz.

-Avant-garde -Free jazz -The new thing

Jazz canon

Reproducing performances to elevate the status of certain pieces and related artists that are deemed essential to the history of jazz