jazz examples. Directions and styles

Jazz is a form of musical art that arose in the early 20th century in the United States as a result of the synthesis of African and European cultures and subsequently became widespread.

Jazz is an amazing music, lively, constantly developing, absorbing the rhythmic genius of Africa, the treasures of the thousand-year-old art of drumming, ritual, ritual chants. Add choral and solo singing of Baptist, Protestant churches - opposite things have merged together, giving the world amazing art! The history of jazz is unusual, dynamic, filled with amazing events that influenced the world musical process.

What is Jazz?

Character traits:

• polyrhythm based on syncopated rhythms,
• bit - regular pulsation,
• swing - deviation from the beat, a set of techniques for performing rhythmic texture,
• improvisation,
• colorful harmonic and timbre series.

This branch of music arose in the early twentieth century as a synthesis of African and European cultures as an art based on improvisation combined with a premeditated, but not necessarily written, form of composition. Several performers can improvise at the same time, even if the solo voice is clearly audible in the ensemble. The finished artistic image of a work depends on the interaction of the members of the ensemble with each other and with the audience.

The further development of the new musical direction was due to the development of new rhythmic, harmonic models by the composers.

In addition to the special expressive role of rhythm, other features of African music were inherited - the interpretation of all instruments as percussion, rhythmic; the predominance of colloquial intonations in singing, imitation of colloquial speech when playing the guitar, piano, percussion instruments.

History of Jazz

The origins of jazz lie in the traditions of African music. Its founders can be considered the peoples of the African continent. The slaves brought to the New World from Africa did not come from the same family, and often did not understand each other. The need for interaction and communication led to unification, the creation of a single culture, including music. It is characterized by complex rhythms, dances with stomping, clapping. Together with blues motifs, they gave a new musical direction.

The processes of mixing African musical culture and European, which has undergone major changes, have been taking place since the eighteenth century, and in the nineteenth led to the emergence of a new musical direction. Therefore, the world history of jazz is inseparable from the history of American jazz.

History of the development of jazz

The origins of jazz originate in New Orleans, in the American South. This stage is characterized by collective improvisation of several variants of the same melody by a trumpeter (main voice), a clarinetist and a trombonist against the background of a marching accompaniment of a brass bass and drums. A significant day - February 26, 1917 - then in the New York studio of the Victor company, five white musicians from New Orleans recorded the first gramophone record. Prior to the release of this disc, jazz remained a marginal phenomenon, musical folklore, and after that, in a few weeks, it stunned and shook all of America. The recording belonged to the legendary "Original Dixieland Jazz Band". So American jazz began its proud march around the world.

In the 1920s, the main features of future styles were found: the uniform pulsation of the double bass and drums, which contributed to swing, virtuoso soloing, the manner of vocal improvisation without words using separate syllables ("skat"). The blues took a significant place. Later, both stages - New Orleans, Chicago - are united by the term "Dixieland".

In American jazz of the 20s, a harmonious system arose, called "swing". Swing is characterized by the emergence of a new type of orchestra - the big band. With the increase in the size of the orchestra, it was necessary to abandon collective improvisation and move on to performing arrangements recorded on sheet music. The arrangement was one of the first manifestations of the composer's beginning.

The big band consists of three groups of instruments - sections, each can sound like one polyphonic instrument: saxophone sections (later with clarinets), "brass" section (pipes and trombones), rhythm section (piano, guitar, double bass, drums).

There was a solo improvisation based on the "square" ("chorus"). "Square" is one variation, equal in duration (number of measures) to the theme, performed against the background of the same chord accompaniment as the main theme, to which the improviser adjusts new melodic turns.

In the 1930s, American blues became popular, and the 32-bar song form became widespread. In swing, the "riff" began to be widely used - a two-four-bar rhythmically flexible cue. It is performed by the orchestra while the soloist improvises.

Among the first big bands were orchestras led by famous jazz musicians - Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington. The latter, already in the 1940s, turned to large cyclical forms based on Negro, Latin American folklore.

American jazz in the 1930s was commercialized. Therefore, among lovers and connoisseurs of the history of the origin of jazz, a movement arose for the revival of earlier, genuine styles. The decisive role was played by small Negro ensembles of the 1940s, which rejected everything calculated for an external effect: variety, dance, song. The theme was played in unison and almost did not sound in its original form, the accompaniment no longer required dance regularity.

This style, which opened the modern era, was called "bop" or "bebop". The experiments of talented American musicians and jazz performers - Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and others - actually laid the foundation for the development of an independent art form, only externally connected with the pop and dance genre.

From the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, development took place in two directions. The first included the styles "cool" - "cool", and "west coast" - "west coast". They are characterized by a wide use of the experience of classical and modern serious music - developed concert forms, polyphony. The second direction included the styles of "hardbop" - "hot", "energetic" and close to it "soul-jazz" (translated from English "soul" - "soul"), combining the principles of the old bebop with the traditions of Negro folklore, temperamental rhythms and intonations spirituals.

Both of these directions have much in common in their desire to get rid of the division of improvisation into separate squares, as well as to swing waltz and more complex meters.

Attempts were made to create works of a large form - symphojazz. For example, "Rhapsody in Blues" by J. Gershwin, a number of works by I.F. Stravinsky. Since the mid 50s. experiments to combine the principles of jazz and modern music have again become widespread, already under the name "third trend", also among Russian performers ("Concerto for Orchestra" by A.Ya. Eshpay, works by M.M. Kazhlaev, 2nd piano concerto with the orchestra of R. K. Shchedrin, the 1st symphony of A. G. Schnittke). In general, the history of the emergence of jazz is rich in experiments, closely intertwined with the development of classical music and its innovative trends.

From the beginning of the 60s. active experiments with spontaneous improvisation begin, not limited even by a specific musical theme - Freejazz. However, the modal principle is even more important: each time a series of sounds is re-selected - a fret, and not clearly distinguishable squares. In search of such modes, musicians turn to the cultures of Asia, Africa, Europe, etc. In the 70s. come electric instruments and rhythms of youth rock music, based on finer than before, crushing the measure. This style is first called "fusion", ie. "alloy".

In short, the history of jazz is a story about search, unity, bold experiments, passionate love for music.

Russian musicians and music lovers are certainly curious about the history of the emergence of jazz in the Soviet Union.

In the pre-war period, jazz in our country developed within variety orchestras. In 1929, Leonid Utyosov organized a pop orchestra and called his team "Tea-Jazz". The Dixieland and Swing style was practiced in the orchestras of A.V. Varlamova, N.G. Minha, A.N. Tsfasman and others. Since the mid 50s. small amateur groups begin to develop ("Eight of the Central House of Arts", "Leningrad Dixieland"). Many prominent performers received a start in life in them.

In the 1970s, training began at the pop departments of music schools, and textbooks, notes, and records were published.

Since 1973 pianist L.A. Chizhik began to perform with "evenings of jazz improvisation." Ensembles led by I. Bril, "Arsenal", "Allegro", "Kadans" (Moscow), the quintet D.S. Goloshchekin (Leningrad), teams of V. Ganelin and V. Chekasin (Vilnius), R. Raubishko (Riga), L. Vintskevich (Kursk), L. Saarsalu (Tallinn), A. Lyubchenko (Dnepropetrovsk), M. Yuldybaeva (Ufa ), the orchestra of O.L. Lundstrem, K.A. Orbelyan, A.A. Kroll ("Contemporary").

Jazz in the modern world

Today's world of music is diverse, dynamically developing, new styles are emerging. In order to freely navigate it, understand the ongoing processes, you need to know at least a brief history of jazz! Today we are witnessing a mixture of more and more world cultures, constantly bringing us closer to what in essence is already becoming "world music" (world music). Today's jazz incorporates sounds and traditions from almost every corner of the globe. Including rethinking and African culture, with which it all began. European experimentalism with classical overtones continues to influence the music of young pioneers such as Ken Vandermark, an avant-garde saxophonist known for his work with renowned contemporaries such as saxophonists Mats Gustafsson, Evan Parker and Peter Brotzmann. Other more traditional young musicians who continue to search for their own identities include pianists Jackie Terrasson, Benny Green and Braid Meldoa, saxophonists Joshua Redman and David Sanchez, and drummers Jeff Watts and Billy Stewart. The old sounding tradition continues and is actively maintained by artists such as trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who works with an entire team of assistants, plays in his own small bands, and leads the Lincoln Center Orchestra. Under his patronage, pianists Marcus Roberts and Eric Reed, saxophonist Wes "Warmdaddy" Anderson, trumpeter Markus Printup and vibraphonist Stefan Harris have grown into great masters.

Bassist Dave Holland is also a great discoverer of young talent. Among his many discoveries are saxophonists Steve Coleman, Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Steve Nelson and drummer Billy Kilson.

Other great mentors to young talent include legendary pianist Chick Corea and the late drummer Elvin Jones and singer Betty Carter. The potential for further development of this music is currently great and varied. For example, saxophonist Chris Potter releases a mainstream release under his own name and simultaneously participates in recordings with another great avant-garde drummer Paul Motian.

We have yet to enjoy hundreds of wonderful concerts and bold experiments, to witness the emergence of new trends and styles - this story is not finished yet!

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What is jazz, the history of jazz

What is Jazz? These exciting rhythms, pleasant live music, which is constantly evolving and moving. With this direction, perhaps, no other can be compared, and it is impossible to confuse it with any other genre, even for a beginner. Moreover, here is a paradox, it is easy to hear and recognize it, but it is not so easy to describe it in words, because jazz is constantly evolving and the concepts and characteristics used today become obsolete in a year or two.

Jazz - what is it

Jazz is a direction in music that arose at the beginning of the 20th century. It closely intertwines African rhythms, ritual chants, work and secular songs, American music of past centuries. In other words, it is a semi-improvisational genre that resulted from the mixing of Western European and West African music.

Where did jazz come from

It is generally accepted that he appeared from Africa, this is evidenced by complex rhythms. Add to this also dancing, all kinds of trampling, clapping and here it is ragtime. The clear rhythms of this genre, combined with blues melodies, gave rise to a new direction that we call jazz. If you wonder where this new music came from, any source will give you the answer that it was from the chants of black slaves who were brought to America at the beginning of the 17th century. Only in music did they find solace.

At first, these were purely African motifs, but after a few decades they began to be more improvisational in nature and overgrown with new American melodies, mostly religious melodies - spirituals. Later, complaints songs were added to this - blues and small brass bands. And so a new direction arose - jazz.

What are the features of jazz music

The first and most important feature is improvisation. Musicians must be able to improvise both in an orchestra and solo. Another no less significant feature is polyrhythm. Rhythmic freedom is perhaps the most important feature of jazz music. It is this freedom that makes musicians feel light and constantly moving forward. Remember any jazz composition? It seems that the performers easily play some wonderful and pleasant to the ear melody, there are no strict frames, as in classical music, only amazing lightness and relaxation. Of course, jazz works, as well as classical ones, have their own rhythm, time signature, and so on, but thanks to a special rhythm called swing (from the English swing), there is such a feeling of freedom. What else is important for this direction? Certainly a bit or otherwise a regular ripple.

Development of jazz

Originating in New Orleans, jazz is rapidly spreading, becoming more and more popular. Amateur groups, consisting mainly of Africans and Creoles, begin to perform not only in restaurants, but also tour other cities. So, in the north of the country, another jazz center is emerging - Chicago, where nightly performances of musical groups are in special demand. Performed compositions are complicated by arrangements. Among the performers of that period stands out Louis Armstrong who moved to Chicago from the city where jazz originated. Later, the styles of these cities were combined into Dixieland, which was characterized by collective improvisation.

The massive jazz craze in the 1930s and 1940s led to a demand for larger orchestras that could play a variety of dance tunes. Thanks to this, swing appeared, which is some deviation from the rhythmic pattern. It became the mainstream of this time and pushed collective improvisation into the background. Swing bands became known as big bands.

Of course, such a departure of swing from the features inherent in early jazz, from national melodies, caused discontent among true connoisseurs of music. That is why big bands and swing performers are beginning to be opposed by the play of small ensembles, which included black musicians. Thus, in the 1940s, a new bebop style emerged that stood out clearly from other areas of music. He was characterized by incredibly fast melodies, long improvisation, and the most complex rhythmic patterns. Among the performers of this time, figures stand out Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Since 1950, jazz has developed in two different directions. On the one hand, adherents of the classics returned to academic music, pushing bebop aside. The resulting cool jazz became more restrained and dry. On the other hand, the second line continued to develop bebop. Against this background, hard bop arose, returning traditional folk intonations, a clear rhythmic pattern and improvisation. This style developed in conjunction with such areas as soul jazz and jazz funk. They brought the music closer to the blues most of all.

free music

In the 1960s, various experiments and the search for new forms were carried out. As a result, jazz-rock and jazz-pop appear, combining two different directions, as well as free jazz, in which performers completely abandon the regulation of rhythmic pattern and tone. Among the musicians of this time, Ornette Coleman, Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny became famous.

Soviet jazz

Initially, Soviet jazz orchestras mainly performed fashionable dances such as the foxtrot, Charleston. In the 1930s, a new direction begins to gain more and more popularity. Despite the fact that the attitude of the Soviet authorities to jazz music was ambiguous, it was not banned, but at the same time it was harshly criticized as belonging to Western culture. In the late 40s, jazz bands were completely persecuted. In the 1950s and 60s, the activities of the orchestras of Oleg Lundstrem and Eddie Rosner resumed, and more and more musicians became interested in the new direction.

Even today, jazz is constantly and dynamically developing, there are many directions and styles. This music continues to absorb sounds and melodies from all corners of our planet, saturating it with more and more new colors, rhythms and melodies.

Understanding who is who in jazz is not so easy. The direction is commercially successful, and therefore often about the "only concert of the legendary Vasya Pupkin" they shout from all the cracks, and really important figures go into the shadows. Under the pressure of Grammy winners and advertising from Jazz radio, it is easy to lose focus and remain indifferent to style. If you want to learn to understand this kind of music, and maybe even love it, learn the most important rule: do not trust anyone.

It is necessary to make judgments about new phenomena with caution, or like Hugues Panasier - the famous musicologist who drew a line and branded all jazz after the 50s, calling it "fake". In the end, he turned out to be wrong, but this did not affect the popularity of his book The History of Genuine Jazz.

It is better to treat the new phenomenon with silent suspicion, so you will definitely pass for your own: snobbery and adherence to the old is one of the brightest characteristics of the subculture.

In conversations about jazz, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald are often mentioned - it would seem that you can't go wrong here. But such remarks betray the neophyte. These are emblematic figures, and if you can still talk about Fitzgerald in a suitable context, then Armstrong is the Charlie Chaplin of jazz. You won't talk to an arthouse movie buff about Charlie Chaplin, will you? And if you do, then at least not in the first place. Mentioning both famous names is possible in certain cases, but if you have nothing in your pocket besides these two aces, hold them and wait for the right situation.

In many directions there are fashionable and not very fashionable phenomena, but to the greatest extent this is characteristic of jazz. A mature hipster, used to looking for rare and strange things, will not understand why Czech jazz of the 40s is not interesting. It will not be possible to find something conditionally “unusual” and trump with your “deep erudition” here. In order to imagine the style in general terms, one should list its main directions since the end of the 19th century.

Ragtime and blues are sometimes called proto-jazz, and if the former, being not quite a complete form from a modern point of view, is interesting simply as a fact of music history, then the blues is still relevant.

Ragtime by Scott Joplin

And although researchers call the psychological state of Russians and a total sense of hopelessness the reason for such a surge of love for the blues in the 90s, in reality everything can be much simpler.

A selection of 100 popular blues songs

Classic boogie woogie

As in European culture, African Americans divided music into secular and spiritual, and if the blues belonged to the first group, then spiritual and gospel - to the second.

Spirituals are more austere than gospels and are performed by a choir of the faithful, often accompanied by even-numbered clapping—an important feature of all jazz styles and a problem for many European listeners who clap out of place. The music of the Old World most often makes us nod to odd beats. In jazz, it's the other way around. Therefore, if you are not sure that you feel these second and fourth beats, which are unusual for a European, it is better to refrain from clapping. Or watch the performers themselves do it, and then try again.

Scene from the film "12 Years a Slave" with the performance of the classic spiritual

Contemporary spiritual by Take 6

Gospel songs were more often performed by one singer, they have more freedom than spirituals, so they became popular as a concert genre.

Classical gospel music performed by Mahalia Jackson

Modern gospel music from the film Joyful Noise

In the 1910s, traditional or New Orleans jazz took shape. The music from which it arose was performed by street orchestras, which were then very popular. The importance of the instruments increases dramatically, an important event of the era is the emergence of jazz bands, small orchestras of 9–15 people. The success of the Negro bands motivated white Americans who created the so-called Dixielands.

Traditional jazz is associated with films about American gangsters. This is due to the fact that its heyday fell on the days of Prohibition and the Great Depression. One of the brightest representatives of the style is the already mentioned Louis Armstrong.

Distinctive features of the traditional jazz band are the steady position of the banjo, the leading position of the trumpet and the full participation of the clarinet. The last two instruments over time will replace the saxophone, which will become the permanent leader of such an orchestra. By the nature of the music, traditional jazz is more static.

Jelly Roll Morton Jazz Band

Modern Dixieland Marshall's Dixieland Jazz Band

What is wrong with jazz and why is it customary to say that no one can play this music?

It's all about her African origin. Despite the fact that by the middle of the 20th century whites had defended their right to this style, it is still widely believed that African Americans have a special sense of rhythm that allows them to create a feeling of swinging, which is called “swing” (from English to swing - “to swing "). It is risky to argue with this: most of the great white pianists from the 1950s to our times have become famous thanks to their direction or intellectual improvisations that betray deep musical erudition.

Therefore, if in a conversation you mentioned a white jazz player, you should not say something like “how great he swings” - after all, he swings either normally or not at all, such is reverse racism.

And the word "swing" itself is too worn out, it is better to pronounce it in the very last place, when it is probably appropriate.

Each jazz player must be able to perform "jazz standards" (main melodies, or, in other words, evergreen), which, however, are divided into orchestral and ensemble. For example, In the Mood is rather among the first.

In the Mood. Performed by the Glenn Miller Orchestra

At the same time, the famous works of George Gershwin appear, which are considered both jazz and academic at the same time. These are Blues Rhapsody (or Blue Rhapsody), written in 1924, and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), famous for its Summertime aria. Prior to Gershwin, jazz harmonies were used by such composers as Charles Ives and Antonin Dvorak (symphony "From the New World").

George Gershwin. Porgy and Bess. Aria Summertime. Academically performed by Maria Callas

George Gershwin. Porgy and Bess. Aria Summertime. Jazzed by Frank Sinatra

George Gershwin. Porgy and Bess. Aria Summertime. Rock version. Performed by Janis Joplin

George Gershwin. Blues Rhapsody. Performed by Leonard Bernstein and his orchestra

One of the most famous Russian composers, like Gershwin, writing in the jazz style is Nikolai Kapustin. .

Both camps look askance at such experiments: jazz musicians are convinced that a written work without improvisation is no longer jazz “by definition”, and academic composers consider jazz expressive means too trivial to work with them seriously.

However, classical performers play Kapustin with pleasure and even try to improvise, while their counterparts act wiser, not encroaching on someone else's territory. Academic pianists who put their improvisations on public display have long been a meme in jazz circles.

Since the 1920s, the number of cult and iconic figures in the history of the direction has been growing, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to put these numerous names in your head. However, some can be recognized by their characteristic timbre or manner of performance. One of these memorable singers was Billie Holiday.

All of Me. Performed by Billie Holiday

In the 50s, a new era begins, called "modern jazz". The musicologist Yug Panasier, mentioned above, denied it from her. This direction opens with the bebop style: its characteristic feature is high speed and frequent changes in harmony, and therefore it requires exceptional performing skills, which such outstanding personalities as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane possessed.

Bebop was created as an elite genre. Any musician from the street could always come to a jam session - an evening of improvisations, so the pioneers of bebop introduced fast tempos to get rid of amateurs and weak professionals. This snobbery is partly inherent in fans of such music, who consider their favorite direction the pinnacle of jazz development. It is customary to treat bebop with respect, even if you don’t understand anything about it.

Giant Steps. Performed by John Coltrane

A special chic is to admire the outrageous, deliberately rude manner of Thelonious Monk's performance, who, according to gossip, perfectly played complex academic works, but carefully concealed it.

Round Midnight. Performed by Thelonious Monk

By the way, the discussion of gossip about jazz performers is not considered shameful - rather, on the contrary, it indicates a deep involvement and hints at a great listening experience. Therefore, you should know that Miles Davis's drug addiction affected his stage behavior, Frank Sinatra had connections with the mafia, and there is a church named after John Coltrane in San Francisco.

Mural "Dancing Saints" from a church in San Francisco.

Along with bebop, another style was born within the framework of the same direction - cool jazz(cool jazz), which is distinguished by a "cold" sound, moderate character and unhurried pace. One of its founders was Lester Young, but there are also many white musicians in this niche: Dave Brubeck , Bill Evans(not to be confused with Gil Evans), Stan Getz and etc.

take five. Performed by the Dave Brubeck Ensemble

If the 50s, despite the reproaches of conservatives, opened the way for experiments, then in the 60s they become the norm. At this time, Bill Evans is recording two albums of arrangements of classical works with a symphony orchestra, Stan Kenton, representative progressive jazz, creates rich orchestrations, the harmony in which is compared with Rachmaninov's, and in Brazil there is its own version of jazz, completely different from other styles - bossanova .

Granados. Jazz arrangement of the work "Maja and the Nightingale" by the Spanish composer Granados. Performed by Bill Evans with symphony orchestra

Malaguena. Performed by the Stan Kenton Orchestra

Girl from Ipanema. Performed by Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz

Loving bossanova is as easy as loving minimalism in modern academic music.

Thanks to its unobtrusive and "neutral" sound, Brazilian jazz has found its way into elevators and hotel lobbies as background music, although this does not detract from the significance of the style as such. Claiming that you love bossa nova is worth it only if you really know its representatives quite well.

An important turn was outlined in the popular orchestral style - symphojazz. In the 1940s, jazz, powdered with academic symphonic sound, became a fashionable phenomenon and a standard of the golden mean between two styles with a completely different background.

Luck Be a Lady. Performed by Frank Sinatra with Jazz Symphony Orchestra

In the 1960s, the sound of the sympho-jazz orchestra lost its novelty, which led to Stan Kenton's experimentation with harmony, Bill Evans' arrangements, and Gil Evans' themed albums such as Sketches of Spain and Miles Ahead.

Sketches of Spain. Performed by Miles Davis with the Gil Evans Orchestra

Experiments in the field of symphonic jazz are still relevant, the most interesting projects in recent years in this niche are the Metropole Orkest, The Сinematic Orchestra and Snarky Puppy.

Breathe. Performed by The Cinematic Orchestra

Gretel. Performed by Snarky Puppy and Metropole Orkest (Grammy Award, 2014)

The bebop and cool jazz traditions have merged into hard bop, an improved version of bebop, although it can be difficult to tell one from the other by ear. Prominent performers in this style are The Jazz Messengers, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey and some other musicians who originally played bebop.

hard bop. Performed by The Jazz Messengers Orchestra

Moanin'. Performed by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers

Rich improvisations at a fast pace required ingenuity, which led to searches in the field fret. So born modal jazz. It is often singled out as an independent style, although similar improvisations are also found in other genres. The most popular modal piece was "So What?" Miles Davis.

So What? Performed by Miles Davis

While brilliant jazz players were figuring out how to further complicate an already complex music, blind authors and performers Ray Charles and walked the path of the heart, combining jazz, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues in their work.

Fingertips. Performed by Stevie Wonder

What'd I say. Performed by Ray Charles

At the same time, jazz organists are loudly declaring themselves, playing music on the Hammond electric organ.

Jimmy Smith

In the mid-60s, soul jazz appeared, which combined the democratism of soul with the intellectualism of bebop, but historically it is usually associated with the latter, silent about the significance of the former. The most popular soul jazz figure was Ramsey Lewis.

The 'In' Crowd. Performed by the Ramsey Lewis Trio

If from the beginning of the 50s the division of jazz into two branches was only felt, then in the 70s it was already possible to speak of this as an irrefutable fact. The pinnacle of the elite direction was

Blues

(melancholy, sadness) - originally - a solo lyrical song of American blacks, later - a direction in music.

In the 20s of the twentieth century, the classic blues was formed, which was based on a 12-bar period, corresponding to a 3-line poetic form. Blues was originally music played by blacks for blacks. After the appearance of the blues in the southern United States, it begins to spread throughout the country.

The blues melody is characterized by a question-answer structure and the use of a blues fret.

The blues had a huge impact on the formation of jazz and pop music. Blues elements were used by composers of the twentieth century.

archaic jazz

Archaic (early) jazz- The designation of the oldest, traditional types of jazz that have existed since the middle of the last century in a number of southern US states.

Archaic jazz was represented, in particular, by the music of Negro and Creole marching bands of the 19th century.

The period of archaic jazz preceded the emergence of the New Orleans (classical) style.

New Orleans

The American homeland, where jazz itself originated, is considered the city of songs and music - New Orleans.
Although it is argued that jazz originated throughout America, and not only in this city, but it was here that it developed most powerfully. In addition, all the old jazz musicians pointed to the center, which they considered New Orleans. In New Orleans, the most favorable environment for the development of this musical direction developed: there was a large Negro community and a large percentage of the population were Creoles; many musical directions and genres actively developed here, elements of which were then included in the works of famous jazzmen. Different groups developed their own musical directions, and African-Americans created a new art that has no analogues from the combination of blues melodies, ragtime and their own traditions. The first jazz records confirm the prerogative of New Orleans in the origin and development of the art of jazz.

Dixieland

(Country Dixie) - colloquial designation of the southern states of the United States, one of the varieties of traditional jazz.

Most of the blues singers, boogie-woogie pianists, ragtime players and jazz bands came from the South to Chicago, bringing with them the music that would soon be nicknamed Dixieland.

Dixieland- the broadest designation of the musical style of the earliest New Orleans and Chicago jazz musicians who recorded records from 1917 - 1923.

Some historians refer to Dixieland only as the music of white New Orleans-style bands.

Dixieland musicians sought a revival of classic New Orleans jazz.

These attempts have been successful.

Boogie Woogie

Piano blues style, one of the earliest varieties of Negro instrumental music.

A style that turned out to be very accessible to a wide audience.

full-sounding boogie-woogie style appeared due to the need that arose at the beginning of the twentieth century to hire pianists instead of orchestras in inexpensive cafes such as "honky-tonk". To replace an entire orchestra, pianists invented different ways of playing rhythmically.

Characteristic features: improvisation, technical virtuosity, a specific type of accompaniment - motor ostinato figuration in the left hand part, a gap (up to 2-3 octaves) between bass and melody, continuity of rhythmic movement, refusal to use the pedal.

Representatives of classic boogie-woogie: Romeo Nelson, Arthur Montana Taylor, Charles Avery, Mid Lux ​​Lewis, Jimmy Yankee.

folk blues

Archaic acoustic blues based on the rural folklore of the black population of the United States, in contrast to the classic blues, which had a predominantly urban existence.

folk blues- This is a kind of blues, performed, as a rule, not on electric musical instruments. It covers a wide range of playing and musical styles, and can include unfussy, simple music played on the mandolin, banjo, harmonica, and other non-electric jug bands (i.e. handmade) instruments. Folk blues gives the impression uncouth, somewhat informal music. In a word, this is real folk music played by the people and for the people.

Within folk blues there has been a more influential singer than Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Patton, Alger Alexander.

Soul

(literally - soul); the most popular style of music in the 60s of the twentieth century, which developed from the cult music of American blacks and borrowed many elements of rhythm and blues.

There are several directions in soul music, the most important of which are the so-called "Memphis" and "Detroit" soul, as well as "white" soul, which is mainly inherent in musicians from Europe.

Funk

The term was born in jazz in the 50s of the twentieth century. The "funk" style is a direct continuation of the "soul" music. A form of rhythm and blues.

The first performers of what would later be referred to as “funk” music were jazzmen who played a more energetic, specific type of jazz back in the late 50s and early 60s.

Funk, first of all, is dance music, which determines its musical features: the ultimate syncopation of parts of all instruments.

Funk is characterized by a rhythm section brought to the fore, a sharply syncopated bass guitar part, ostinato riffs as the melodic-thematic basis of the composition, an electronic sound, an excited vocal, and a fast pace of music.

James Brown and George Clinton created an experimental funk school with PARLAMENT/FUNKDEIC.

Classic funk recordings date back to the turn of the 1960s and 1970s.

free funk

free funk- a mixture of avant-garde jazz with funk rhythms.

When Ornette Coleman formed Prime Time, the result was a "double quartet" (consisting of two guitarists, two bassists and two drummers, plus his viola) playing free-toned music but with eccentric funk rhythms. Three members of Coleman's band (guitarist James Blood Ulmer, bassist Jamaaladin Takuma, and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson) later organized their own free-funk projects, and free-funk was the main influence of m-bass players, including violists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby.
Swing

Bop- a jazz style that developed by the mid-40s of the twentieth century and is characterized by a fast pace and complex improvisations based on playing out harmony, not melody. Bebop revolutionized jazz; boper created new ideas about what music is.

The bebop phase was a significant shift in emphasis in jazz from melody-based dance music to more rhythm-based, less popular "musician music". Bop musicians preferred complex improvisations based on chord strumming instead of melodies.

Bebop was fast, edgy, he was "hard on the listener".

Jazz Progressive

In parallel with the emergence of bebop, a new genre is developing in the jazz environment - progressive jazz. The main difference of this genre is the desire to move away from the frozen cliche of big bands and outdated techniques of the so-called. symphonic jazz.

Progressive jazz musicians strove to update and improve swing phrase-models, introducing the latest achievements of European symphony in the field of tonality and harmony into the practice of composition. The greatest contribution to the development of "progressive" was made by Stan Kenton. The sound of the music performed by his first orchestra was close to the style of Sergei Rachmaninov, and the compositions bore the features of romanticism.

A series of recorded albums "Artistry", "Miles ahead", "Spanish drawings" can be considered a kind of apotheosis of the development of progressive art.

(cool jazz), one of the styles of modern jazz, formed at the turn of the 40s - 50s of the twentieth century on the basis of the development of the achievements of swing and bop.

Trumpeter Miles Davis, who was one of the first performers of bebop, became an innovator of this genre.

Cool jazz is characterized by such features as a light, "dry" sound color, slowness of movement, frozen harmony, which creates the illusion of space. Dissonance also played a certain role, but differing at the same time in a softened, muffled character.

Saxophonist Lester Young coined the term "cool" for the first time.

The most famous kula musicians are Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, George Shearing, Milt Jackson, "Shorty" Rogers .
Mainstream

(literally - mainstream); a term in relation to a certain period of swing, in which the performers managed to avoid the clichés established in this style and continued the traditions of Negro jazz, introducing elements of improvisation.

The mainstream is characterized by a simple but expressive melodic line, traditional harmony and a clear rhythm with a pronounced drive.

Leading performers: Ben Webster, Gene Krupa, Coleman Hawkins, as well as big band leaders Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman.

(hard, hard bop), a style of contemporary jazz.

It is a continuation of the traditions of classic rhythm and blues and bebop.

It arose in the 1950s as a reaction to the academicism and European orientation of cool and West Coast jazz, which had reached its peak by that time.

The characteristic features of early hard bop are the predominance of strongly accented rhythmic accompaniment, the strengthening of blues elements in intonation and harmony, the tendency to reveal the vocal principle in improvisation, and some simplification of the musical language.

The main representatives of hard bop are mostly black musicians.

Art Blakey's quintet JAZZ MESSENGERS (1954) was the first ensemble of this style to record on records.

Other leading musicians: John Coltrane, Sonia Rollins, Henk Mobley, Max Roach…

(literally - fusion, fusion), a modern style direction that arose on the basis of jazz-rock, a synthesis of elements of European academic music and non-European folklore. Starting not only from the fusion of jazz with pop music and rock, fusion, as a musical genre, appeared in the late 1960s under the name jazz-rock.

Larry Coryell, Tony Williams, Miles Davis introduced elements such as electronics, rock rhythms and extended tracks, reversing much of what jazz stood for - the swing beat.

Another change is in the area of ​​rhythm where swing has either been redefined or ignored altogether. Pulsation, meter were no longer an essential element in reading jazz.

Free jazz continues to exist today as a viable form of expression, and in fact is no longer as controversial a style as it was perceived at the dawn of its origin.

The connection of Latin rhythmic elements was present almost from the beginning in the mixture of cultures that originated in New Orleans. The musical Latin influence in jazz has extended not only to orchestras and groups with top-notch improvisers of Latin American origin, but also to combining native and Latin performers, creating examples of the most exciting stage music.

And yet, today we are witnessing a mixture of an increasing number of world cultures, constantly bringing us closer to what, in essence, is already becoming “world music” (world music).

Today's jazz cannot but be influenced by sounds penetrating into it from almost every corner of the globe.

The potential for the further development of jazz is currently quite large, since the ways of developing talent and the means of its expression are unpredictable, multiplying by the combined efforts of various jazz genres encouraged today.

Jazz is a genre of music that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. The characteristic features of jazz are improvisation, polyrhythm based on syncopated rhythms, and a unique set of techniques for performing rhythmic textures - swing.

Jazz is a kind of music that arose on the basis of the blues and spirituals of African Americans, as well as African folk rhythms, enriched with elements of European harmony and melody. The defining features of jazz are:
- sharp and flexible rhythm based on the principle of syncopation;
- wide use of percussion instruments;
- highly developed improvisational beginning;
-expressive manner of performance, characterized by great expression, dynamic and sound tension, reaching ecstatic.

Origin of the name jazz

The origin of the name is not fully understood. Its modern spelling - jazz - was established in the 1920s. Before that, other variants were known: chas, jasm, gism, jas, jass, jaz. There are many versions of the origin of the word "jazz", including the following:
- from the French jaser (to chat, to speak in a tongue twister);
- from English chase (chase, pursue);
- from the African jaiza (the name of a certain type of drum sound);
- from Arabic jazib (seducer); from the names of legendary jazz musicians - chas (from Charles), jas (from Jasper);
- from onomatopoeia jass, which imitates the sound of African copper cymbals, etc.

There is reason to believe that the word "jazz" was used as early as the middle of the 19th century as a name for an ecstatic, encouraging cry among blacks. According to some sources, in the 1880s it was used by New Orleans Creoles, who used it in the sense of "speed up", "speed up" - in relation to fast syncopated music.

According to M. Stearns, in the 1910s this word was common in Chicago and had "not quite a decent meaning." In print, the word jazz occurs for the first time in 1913 (in one of the San Francisco newspapers). In 1915, it entered the name of T. Brown's jazz orchestra - TORN BROWN "S DIXIELAND JASS BAND, which performed in Chicago, and in 1917 appeared on a gramophone record recorded by the famous New Orleans orchestra ORIGINAL DIXIELAND JAZZ (JASS) BAND.

Jazz styles

Archaic jazz (early jazz, early jazz, German archaischer jazz)
Archaic jazz is a collection of the oldest, traditional types of jazz created by small ensembles in the process of collective improvisation on the themes of blues, ragtime, as well as European songs and dances.

Blues (blues, from English blue devils)
Blues is a type of Negro folk song whose melody is based on a clear 12-bar pattern.
The blues sings about deceived love, about need, the blues is characterized by a compassionate attitude towards oneself. At the same time, the lyrics of the blues are imbued with stoicism, mild mockery and humor.
In jazz music, the blues developed as an instrumental dance piece.

Boogie-woogie (boogie-woogie)
Boogie-woogie is a blues piano style characterized by a repetitive bass figure that defines the rhythmic and melodic possibilities of improvisation.

Gospel (from English Gospel - Gospel)
Gospels - religious tunes of North American blacks with texts based on the New Testament.

Ragtime (ragtime)
Ragtime is piano music based on the "beat" of two mismatched rhythmic lines:
- as if broken (sharply syncopated) melody;
-clear accompaniment, sustained in the style of a swift step.

Soul
Soul is Negro music associated with the blues tradition.
Soul is a style of vocal black music that emerged after the Second World War on the basis of rhythm and blues and gospel music traditions.

Soul jazz (soul-jazz)
Soul jazz is a type of hard bop, which is characterized by an orientation to the traditions of the blues and African American folklore.
Spiritual
Spiritual - an archaic spiritual genre of choral singing of North American blacks; religious chants with texts based on the Old Testament.

Street-edge (street-cry)
Street edge is an archaic folklore genre; a type of urban solo labor song of street peddlers, represented by many varieties.

Dixieland, dixie (dixieland, dixie)
Dixieland is a modernized New Orleans style characterized by collective improvisation.
Dixieland is a jazz group of (white) musicians who adopted the manner of performing Negro jazz.

Zong (from English song - song)
Zong - in the theater of B. Brecht - a ballad performed in the form of an interlude or an author's (parody) commentary of a grotesque nature with a plebeian vagabond theme close to jazz rhythm.

Improvisation
Improvisation - in music - the art of spontaneously creating or interpreting music.

Cadence (Italian cadenza, from Latin Cado - I end)
A cadenza is a free improvisation of a virtuoso nature, performed in an instrumental concerto for a soloist and orchestra. Sometimes cadenzas were composed by composers, but often they were left to the discretion of the performer.

Scat (scat)
Scat - in jazz - a type of vocal improvisation in which the voice is equated with an instrument.
Scat - instrumental singing - a technique of syllable (textless) singing, based on the articulation of syllables or sound combinations that are not related in meaning.

Hot (hot)
Hot - in jazz - a characteristic of a musician who performs improvisation with maximum energy.

New Orleans jazz style
New Orleans style of jazz - music characterized by a clear two-beat rhythm; the presence of three independent melodic lines, which are carried out simultaneously on the cornet (trumpet), trombone and clarinet, accompanied by a rhythmic group: piano, banjo or guitar, double bass or tuba.
In the works of New Orleans jazz, the main musical theme is repeated many times in various variations.

Sound (sound)
Sound is a jazz style category that characterizes the individual sound quality of an instrument or voice.
The sound is determined by the method of sound production, the type of attack of the sound, the manner of intonation and the interpretation of the timbre; sound is an individualized form of manifestation of the sound ideal in jazz.

Swing, classic swing (swing; classic swing)
Swing - jazz, arranged for extended variety and dance orchestras (big bands).
Swing is characterized by the roll call of three groups of wind instruments: saxophones, trumpets and trombones, creating the effect of rhythmic buildup. Swing performers refuse collective improvisation, the musicians accompany the soloist's improvisation with a pre-written accompaniment.
Swing reached its peak in 1938-1942.

Sweet
Sweet is a characteristic of entertaining and dance commercial music of a sentimental, melodic-lyrical nature, as well as related forms of commercialized jazz and "ojazzed" popular music.

symphonic jazz
Symphonic jazz is a jazz style that combines the features of symphonic music with elements of jazz.

Modern jazz (modern jazz)
Modern jazz is a collection of jazz styles and trends that have emerged since the late 1930s after the end of the classical style period and the "swing era".

Afro-Cuban jazz (German afrokubanischer jazz)
Afro-Cuban jazz is a style of jazz that developed towards the end of the 1940s from combining elements of bebop with Cuban rhythms.

Bebop, bop (bebop; bop)
Bebop is the first style of modern jazz that developed by the early 1930s.
Bebop is a direction of Negro jazz of small ensembles, which is characterized by:
- free solo improvisation, based on a complex sequence of chords;
-use of instrumental singing;
-modernization of the old hot jazz;
- a spasmodic, unstable melody with broken syllables and a feverish-nervous rhythm.

Combo (combo)
Kombo is a small modern jazz orchestra in which all instruments are soloists.

Cool jazz (cool jazz; cool jazz)
Cool jazz - a style of modern jazz that emerged in the early 50s, updating and complicating the harmonies of bop;
In cool jazz, polyphony is widely used.

Progressive (progressive)
Progressive is a stylistic trend in jazz that arose in the early 1940s on the basis of the traditions of classical swing and bop, associated with the practice of big bands and large orchestras of the symphonic type. Widely using Latin American melodies and rhythms.

Free jazz (free jazz)
Free Jazz is a style of contemporary jazz associated with radical experiments in harmony, form, rhythm and improvisation techniques.
Free jazz is characterized by:
- free individual and group improvisation;
- the use of polymetry and polyrhythm, polytonality and atonality, serial and dodecaphone technique, free forms, modal technique, etc.

Hard bop (hard bob)
Hard bop is a style of jazz that originated in the early 1950s from bebop. Hard bop is different:
- gloomy rough coloring;
- expressive, hard rhythmic;
-increasing blues elements in harmony.

Chicago style of jazz (chicago-still)
Chicago style of jazz is a variant of the New Orleans jazz style, which is characterized by:
- more rigorous compositional organization;
- strengthening solo improvisation (virtuoso episodes performed by various instruments).

Variety Orchestra
Variety band - a type of jazz band;
instrumental ensemble performing entertainment and dance music and pieces of jazz repertoire,
accompanying performers of popular songs and other pop genre masters.
Usually a variety orchestra includes a group of reed and brass instruments, piano, guitar, double bass and a set of drums.

Historical note on jazz

Jazz is believed to have originated in New Orleans between 1900 and 1917. A well-known legend says that from New Orleans, jazz spread across the Mississippi to Memphis, St. Louis, and finally to Chicago. The validity of this legend has recently been questioned by a number of jazz historians, and today there is an opinion that jazz originated in the Negro subculture simultaneously in different places in America, primarily in New York, Kansas City, Chicago and St. Louis. And yet the old legend, apparently, is not far from the truth.

First, it is supported by the testimonies of old musicians who lived during the period of jazz's emergence outside the Negro ghettos. All of them confirm that the New Orleans musicians played very special music, which other performers readily copied. The fact that New Orleans is the cradle of jazz is also confirmed by records. Jazz records recorded before 1924 are made by musicians from New Orleans.

The classical jazz period lasted from 1890 to 1929 and ended with the beginning of the "swing era". It is customary to refer to classical jazz: the New Orleans style (represented by the Negro and Creole directions), the New Orleans-Chicago style (which arose in Chicago after 1917 in connection with the move here of most of the leading Negro jazzmen of New Orleans), Dixieland (in its New Orleans and Chicago varieties ), a number of varieties of piano jazz (barrel house, boogie-woogie, etc.), as well as jazz trends related to the same period that arose in some other cities of the South and Midwest of the United States. Classical jazz, together with certain archaic style forms, is sometimes referred to as traditional jazz.

Jazz in Russia

The first jazz orchestra in Soviet Russia was created in Moscow in 1922 by the poet, translator, dancer, theater figure Valentin Parnakh and was called "Valentin Parnakh's First Eccentric Jazz Band Orchestra in the RSFSR". October 1, 1922 is traditionally considered the birthday of Russian jazz, when the first concert of this group took place.

The attitude of the Soviet authorities to jazz was ambiguous. At first, domestic jazz performers were not banned, but harsh criticism of jazz and Western culture was widespread. In the late 1940s, during the struggle against cosmopolitanism, jazz groups performing "Western" music were persecuted. With the onset of the "thaw", the repressions against the musicians were stopped, but the criticism continued.

The first book about jazz in the USSR was published by the Leningrad publishing house Academia in 1926. It was compiled by musicologist Semyon Ginzburg from translations of articles by Western composers and music critics, as well as his own materials, and was called Jazz Band and Modern Music. The next book about jazz was published in the USSR only in the early 1960s. It was written by Valery Mysovsky and Vladimir Feyertag, called "Jazz" and was essentially a compilation of information that could be obtained from various sources at that time. In 2001, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Skifia" published an encyclopedia "Jazz. XX century. Encyclopedic reference book. The book was prepared by the authoritative jazz critic Vladimir Feiertag.