New Orleans Style Essay

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Cuban and New Orleans style jazz can be classified as two coherent wholes, integrating and constructing techniques from one another. The two jazz styles can be seen sharing musical components such as strong percussion and funky upbeat melodic sequences. While they genres have many similarities, the use of folk-like tunes and the heavy use of vocalists distinguish traditional Cuban Jazz from New Orleans Jazz. The album Ya-Ka-May by Galactic and Afro Roots by Mongo Santamaria are representatives of the two culture’s jazz styles and depictions of the essentials of those similar and differing characteristics. New Orleans Jazz emerged and developed in New Orleans from the mingling of urbanized blacks and Creoles. The traditional New Orleans styles includes a front line, consisting of a trumpet, trombone, clarinet, and drum set as well as a string ensemble including the guitar and bass. Including second line instruments diverge from the classic New Orleans jazz influence. Along with second line instruments, improvisation and musical embellishment are a distinct characteristic of New Orleans jazz and is exemplified in many of Galactic’s tunes on the album Ya-Ka-May. Solos traditionally compose a hefty amount of the variation in this style. Listening to New Orleans …show more content…

The tracks correlate to the previous of Galactic with the use of vocalists and strong percussion. “Chano Pozo” opens with the jungle-like use of drums. The use of hand drums makes this tune more traditional sounding. After the intro, a group of vocalists emerge. The drums play the same form throughout. There are no solos, shying this tune away from the standard New Orleans jazz style. It is more Latin sounding than swing, once again breaking the norms of New Orleans Jazz. The conclusion of the song is a subtle drum and vocalist fade out, ending the tune different than it

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