Topics we will discuss and learn:
- Ragtime was the precursor to early jazz
- Early jazz piano styles
- Early jazz bands
- Louis Armstrong
Ragtime was the precursor to
early jazz
New
Orleans was ideal for jazz between late 1800’s and early 1900’s
because it was a port city at the mouth of the
Mississippi where trade with Europe and the Caribbean flourished.
Black
Codes relegated the upper class Creoles to the same status as the
lower class Blacks.
A mixing of musical traditions occurred where the
formally trained
Creoles and the bluesy Blacks shared musical styles
creating much of the early jazz styles.
Storyville
was the main area for early jazz in New Orleans.
It was
the prostitution district where musicians could get many gigs
Brass
bands were immensely popular as were the “rags” in piano music
Ensembles began to play the ragtime music because
people wanted to
dance.
Ragtime
was mainly a piano music that was written out on sheet music
and put
on player rolls for the “player pianos”
Notables
Scott
Joplin – most famous composer of “rags”
“The Entertainer”
“Maple Leaf Rag”
Early jazz piano styles
Stride
Piano
Mimics “Om Pah” sound of tuba in the marching band
in the left
hand
Mimics
horn lines of trumpet and clarinet in right hand
Boogie
Woogie
Left
hand alternating in a rumble style
Notables
Jelly Roll Morton – One of the first to swing
(“Maple Leaf Rag” recording vis a vis Scott Joplin)
His
band was the Red Hot Peppers
Played
like he was a band
Blended
composition with improvisation setting the stage for
swing
big bands
“King
Porter Stomp”
Earl “Fatha” Hines – played flowery horn lines in
his right hand like
it was
a trumpet
Fats
Waller
“Ain’t
Misbehavin”
“Honeysuckle
Rose”
James
P. Johnson “father of stride piano”
Albert Ammons – boogie woogie style
Meade Lux Lewis – boogie woogie style
Early jazz bands
Instrumentation – trumpet, clarinet, trombone,
tuba, drums, saxophone (on
occasion)
Chicago
was the center for much of the early jazz music
The
“great migration” of blacks from the rural south to the urban
centers of New York and Chicago after the end of
slavery and reconstruction created a fertile environment for the southern music
to grow with a northern sensibility.
Joe King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band
Most
of the best black musicians from New Orleans
Original
Dixieland Jass Band first to record in 1917 in Chicago
Collective
Improvisation
Trumpet
plays melody
Clarinet
plays busy figures behind trumpet
Trombone
plays “tailgate” or sparse rhythmic and harmonic figures
Tuba
plays “om pah” bass notes
Rhythm
section keeps time
Stop
Time
Break
in the music where soloist plays
Notables
Buddy
Bolden - trumpet
Sidney
Bechet – soprano saxophone and clarinet
Joe
King Oliver - trumpet
Louis
Armstrong - trumpet
Nick
La Rocca - cornet
Bix
Beiderbecke - trumpet
Louis Armstrong
Usually
called the “father of jazz”
Large
tone and wider range than most trumpet players
One
of the first to bring soloing in a combo to the forefront
A
formidable singer and the originator of “scat singing”
Terms to know:
Stride piano
Ragtime
Collective improvisation
Stop time
You Tube:
Meade Lux Lewis
Albert Ammons & Pete Johnson
Fats Waller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSNPpssruFY
Scott Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAtL7n_-rc
Jelly Roll Morton - Maple Leaf Rag (Stomp)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEfW4sggZCk
Scott Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAtL7n_-rc
Jelly Roll Morton - Maple Leaf Rag (Stomp)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEfW4sggZCk
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