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.