Dever 1Dever 5Elizabeth Dever[Instructor Name]MUS 53 November 2014Jazz: Americans Classical MusicWhen you think of the word Jazz, the images that float through your mind can only be of America. Jazz was a form of music that was born and evolved on American soil from the remains of the American slave population. Born in New Orleans, the port city was the perfect melting pot for this innovative music style. There in New Orleans, different ethnic groups were forced to intermingle together and share their music customs. With a uniqueness that no other type of music could imitate, jazz music became known as an American classical music. In the early 1900s, the myriad of ethnic cultures of varying class was a constant mix of people and friendships were hard to establish. Slavery was over and the black population began to increase with the close of the slave trade routes. However, segregation was a rule that was held up strictly by the city. It was during this time, that creole population almost doubled during this time and without the creole people, jazz would not have come about. However, the Jim Crow regulations were demanding on the black populace of New Orleans and forced some African American to flee to Europe. Those who stayed, were hungry for anything that would let them forget their everyday lives and the desperation they felt when trying to scrape together enough money for food. With little money for entertainment like the theater, most of the population was forced to make their own entertainment. It was with this need, that jazz began to be played in brothels and seedy bars. Jazz became an outlet for the poor of New Orleans to be expressive in their music. With jazz, musicians could improvise and each time they played a piece, it was like a new piece of music. Jazz contained many elements of the slave days. The music had the call and response that was common in the cotton fields, however, it also incorporated blues, gospel, and even some of the beat and cadence of marching military bands. However, only jazz allowed for the improvisation that black musicians longed to play. In the 1920s, jazz migrated into more places in America, like Chicago. Chicago became the focal point of jazz as Storyville jazz musicians moved Northwest after the district was closed. It was the recordings made in Chicago that gained attention of jazz by the rest of America. Some of the famous musicians who received acclaim for their work in Chicago were Earl Hines, Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong and King Oliver. In addition, St. Louis, Memphis and even Detroit became burgeoning jazz scenes. As jazz evolved, highly arranged jazz music became the norm. The color lines began to blur and interracial jazz bands formed, even with segregation laws still in effect. Black and white jazz musicians formed bonds based on their music and Occasionally these bonds were strong enough to overcome deep mistrusts.(AuthorLastName) (Burton Peretti, The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America, p.199) Black musicians were opening doors and clubs like Harlems Cotton Club, the most popular New York jazz club of the 1920s and 1930s, featured Black entertainers, however, only white patrons were allowed to frequent the establishment. In Chicago, Black musicians were prohibited from playing at downtown clubs. They became well established in enclaves outside the center city instead. White musicians like Benny Goodman added black arrangements for their scores, jazz began to move into the Swing or Big Band period. Large black and white jazz bands toured the United States. Radio became filled with swing, a term which became synonymous with jazz. Every instrument in a jazz band had an assigned role in the music (carry-over from the brass band tradition.) They were: The trumpet carried the melody; the clarinet embellished the melody; the trombone played chord roots with smears, slides, or slurs, it would also sometime play the melody or afterbeats; the tuba played the bass line; both the piano and banjo provided harmony and rhythm; the drums were the time keepers of the music. Most of the early jazz music had influences from ragtime, military music, religious music and even the blues. Jazz had style characteristics and performance practices, such as, everybody played all the time except for the solos, which came in the breaks. Solos give the other players a chance to rest before returning to the music. There was collective improvisation that was based on the melody and the harmonies were simple. The songs were usually learned by ear and passed along as each musician played. Musicians incorporated dramatic effects, such as, mutes, slides, smears, trills, and vibrato that were influenced by vocal tradition. One of the reason for the demise of the jaz style was that it was stylistically static. The standard AABA format with the 32 bar measure is the basics of jazz.

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