Download New Orleans New Orleans Social Conditions in New Orleans

New Orleans
New Orleans
Social Conditions in New Orleans
Seaport with party atmosphere Video
More musical organizations than any other music city
Center for black culture in North America, free blacks
Storyville - the red light district
Important contributions to the beginnings of jazz where early jazz
developed and flourished until closed in 1917
Named after Sidney Story who supported an ordinance that confined this
red-light district to a 38 block area
Closed down by the federal government during World War I in 1917
“Jass” or “Jazz” ?
Congo Square
Congo Square was a large field in New Orleans where slaves were allowed to gather
on Sunday to sing, dance, and play their drums in their traditional native manner
Significance of Congo Square is that it gave original African music a
to be heard, and where it “could influence and be influenced by
European music”
Name was later changed to Beauregard Square (1893)
Again changed to Louis Armstrong Park (1974)
Dixieland
Predominantly improvised music
Melody - the only fixed musical element
Everything else was improvised
Collective improvisation
Patterns – memorized
Rhythmic complexity
Dixieland format/structure of the music consisted of:
place
Ensemble chorus
Solo choruses
Return to the ensemble
Instrumentation
Cornet (trumpet) played melody because of it being the loudest
instrument in the orchestra
Clarinet had a dual role:
Play harmony
Because more agile than cornet, it was used to create
momentum
Trombone: plays the harmonies
Banjo, tuba and drums: played the rhythm parts
No piano was used…in the early Dixieland groups
Influential Early New Orleans Musicians
Charles "Buddy" Bolden
Considered to be the first jazz musician
Freddy Keppard
Had a chance to be the first recorded jazz musician
Joe “King” Oliver
The last trumpeter to be called a “king”
Most important figure of the “Early New Orleans” style
Mentor and teacher of Louis Armstrong
Sidney Bechet
Child prodigy - began playing professionally at 6
Soprano sax/clarinet
The first to achieve fame with the soprano sax
Helped move jazz horn conception from collective improvisation to dramatic solo
style
Ragtime to Boogie-Woogie
The Birth of Ragtime
Different views about Ragtime:
Is Ragtime jazz or not?
Ragtime - essential to jazz-”improvisatory feel” but not improvised – hence
not Jazz but rather a forerunner of Jazz
Ragtime development
Pianists not used in Dixieland band - they developed a solo style of playing
piano
A piano player was hired in place of a six or seven-piece band, forcing the
player to develop a technique that provided a full sound
Left hand-bass notes & chords; right hand-highly syncopated melodic
lines
By the end of 1800 Ragtime became very popular in New Orleans. “Rag” referred to
a kind of music that sounded like a military march & rhythms borrowed from
African-American banjo music. To “Rag” meant to syncopate.
Influence of the Ragtime
Some consider Ragtime the first jazz style, although involved only limited
improvisation. It was through- composed. Ragtime is consider the forerunner
of Jazz.
Publishing Rags
Tin Pan Alley (New York)
“Rags” too difficult for the amateur pianists, had to be simplified
Controversy about who composed what rag
“Cutting” contests Video
Rag composed in a definite format showing European influence
Scott Joplin
The most prolific composer of ragtime music
Known as the “king of ragtime”
Schooled musician
Published about fifty rags (some say he composed 600)
Maple Leaf RagThe most famous Rag-sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the first ten
years
Jelly Roll Morton
The best-known ragtime piano player
Piano-arranger-composer; possibly the first jazz composer
His arranging practices for small groups were imitated by early big bands
Claims that he originated jazz in 1902, as well ragtime, swing and just about
everything in this area
Ragtime & Dixieland Merge
Piano players began to play with other musicians -the two styles - Dixieland and
Ragtime, began to merge
Band recordings of rag tunes typically performed by pianists
Stride Piano
Also known as New York ragtime (an extension of ragtime)
The distinctive technique was originated in Harlem during World War I
The name "stride" comes from the left-hand movement "striding" up and down the
keyboard.
Stride is one of the most difficult styles of jazz piano playing, takes years to master,
and is often confused with other jazz piano where the left hand alternates.
Piano players no longer compelled to play alone
Features improvisation, blue notes, and swing rhythms which its predecessor did
not.
Piano was considered a part of the jazz band
Increased tempos
The relax feeling of the ragtime gave way to the virtuoso displays and
improvisation not present in early ragtime
Differences between stride piano playing and ragtime
Stride player not concerned with Ragtime form
They played popular tunes of the day and any other kind of music that
appealed to them
The original ragtime - composed; stride players were often very proficient
improvisers
The feeling of stride music was intense - pianists played faster and with
much more drive than the more relaxed ragtime players
Great Stride Piano Players
James P. Johnson
One of the originators of the stride style of jazz piano playing.
“The Father” of Stride Piano
"Charleston” - became one of the most popular tunes and arguably the
definitive dance number of the Roaring 1920s.
Thomas “Fats” Waller
One of the most popular performers of his era and most entertaining and
exciting stride piano player.
Critical and commercial success in his homeland and in Europe.
Student of James P. Johnson
A prolific songwriter, with many songs he wrote or co-wrote still known to
modern audiences
Sold many of his compositions for relatively small sums, and as they became
hits, other songwriters had already claimed them as their own.
Art Tatum
His recordings are still some of the best stride piano
“God is in the house” remark made by Waller when Tatum entered a club where
Waller was playing
Most versatile piano player in the history of jazz
Almost completely blind
Introduced advanced harmonies into jazz
One of the most influential jazz musicians of all times
Boogie-Woogie
Characteristics
The origin of the term boogie-woogie is unknown
Came into prominence during the Great Depression (early 1930s)
Jazz faced a situation in which a full style of piano playing was needed as a
substitute for hiring a band
Left hand-ostinato (short musical pattern repeated throughout); right handimprovising without strongly defined melody, emphasis on melodic blues licks
(patterns).
Syncopation & polyrhythms, fast tempos
Originated as solo piano style and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once,
guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel.
Whilst the blues traditionally depicts sadness and sorrow, boogie-woogie is
associated with dancing.
Important Boogie-Woogie Performers
Albert Ammons
“The King of Boogie-Woogie”
Pete Johnson
Meade “Lux” Lewis
Chicago
Center of Jazz in the 1920's
Out of New Orleans
Jazz moved to Chicago in 1916 and then to New York in 1917
New opportunities, new jobs
Musicians go wherever the audience goes
Jazz musicians relocated North in the new jazz centers: Chicago, New York,
Kansas city
Chicago
Chicago was a very prosperous city
Many opportunities for employment
Gangsters
Prohibition
Influence on Jazz musicians
Recordings were done in NYC and the outskirts of Chicago
Chicago Style
Saxophone was added
Guitar replace the banjo
Elaborate introduction and ending were common
Individual solos more important than the collective improvisation
Ease and relaxation in playing style gave way to tension and drive
The 1920’s brought many professionally trained instrumentalist into jazz
Until the 1920’s jazz was mainly an African American art form
Chicago style used large numbers of white player with formal musical training into
the jazz world
White New Orleans
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Nick LaRocca - trumpet-leader
Their attitude towards the African-Americans
Billed as “The Creators of Jazz” ???
Louis Armstrong
One of the most important players in jazz history
Defined contemporary jazz style
One of the first players to improvise well-constructed solos
Considered by many as “The Father of Jazz”
Time Magazine cover – the first jazz musician on the cover of Time magazine ( Feb
21, 1949)
Studied with Joe “King” Oliver and was Oliver’s protégé
Considered the greatest trumpet player who ever lived
Had great musical tone, stamina, range, creativeness and technique
Provided a repertoire of solo phrases and concepts that became the basic jazz
vocabulary
Introduced Scat singing
Influential to future vocalists as his trumpeting was to all instrumentalist
Considered one of the best jazz singers
Amazed his audiences with his playing style
Concerned with pleasing his audiences
Became great as a showman and even a comedian
Bix Beiderbecke
Trumpeter, from Davenport Iowa
First great white jazz improviser
Cool, subtle laid back sound
Less instrumental technique than Armstrong
Greater harmonic depth than Armstrong
Later Developments
By the end of the 1920s, jazz had again moved…..This time the move was from
Chicago to…New York