Jazz

Although Armstrong was with the Hot Seven, he also performed with another band, Erskine Tate’s Orchestra. He often played in silent movies, however, Armstrong finally switched from playing the cornet to playing the trumpet in 1926. Louis Armstrong’s popularity continued to grow as he continued to perform. He soon performed a duet with a pianist named Earl “Fatha” Hines, who incorporated Armstrong’s ideas into his playing. they were able to produce some of jazz’s greatest records, such as “Weather Bird” and “West End Blues.” The latter recording was considered one of the great musician’s finest works as it combines opera and blues.

Bop groups were much smaller than swing bands and included improvised solos, rhythmic complexity, and unpredictable forms. It was a bit of a revolution for jazz. There were several individuals who played key roles in the bebop and progressive jazz era. Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie are just a few of the top jazz artist of the decade. Dizzy Gillespie, who was born in South Carolina in 1917, had an amazing talent, and by the age of 20 he was already touring with major bands.

Louis Armstrong played a major role in history by helping develop many styles that help shape the previous and current Jazz. Mr. Armstrong had many of talents such as singing, film star, comedian, and being a bandleader. Although he was blessed with many talent, he left an outstanding imprint on Jazz. Louis Armstrong was the first person to bring jazz out of New Orleans and spread it all over the world. His unique technique show different characteristics on a trumpet.

He was a dazzling improviser, technically, emotionally, and intellectually. He changed the format of jazz by bringing the soloist to the forefront, and in his recording groups, the "Hot Five" and the "Hot Seven" (Porter 2), demonstrated that jazz improvisation could go far beyond simply ornamenting the melody. He became the first well known male jazz singer, and also set standards for all later jazz singers, by creating scat singing: singing meaningless syllables instead of words, not unlike instrumental improvisation. During the 1920s, large groups of jazz musicians began to play together, forming the big bands that became so popular in the 1930s and early 1940s, (the swing era).

Born in New York City, Artie Shaw would become one of the top bandleaders in the swing era. He began his musical career as a highly sought-after alto saxophone player in the New York area, and was able to benefit from the growth of radio and studio recordings. As he perfected his technical ability with various dance bands, he was still relatively unknown in the early 30’s when he began to focus exclusively on the Clarinet while Swing music began to grow in popularity. While we may carefully analyze the two pieces to satisfy our curiosity regarding musical evolution in Jazz, we should also not lose sight of the fact that these are two very enjoyable styles of music. From the lively swing orchestras inspiring large audiences to dance, to the softer Bossa Nova sound which is pleasing to hear in a relaxed setting, both have contributed to the growth of musical creativity in Jazz from the 1930’s through today.

The first true virtuoso soloist of jazz, Louie Armstrong was a dazzling improviser, technically, emotionally, and intellectually. Armstrong, often called the "father of jazz," always spoke with deference, bordering on awe, of his musical roots, and with especial devotion of his mentor Joe Oliver. He changed the format of jazz by bringing the soloist to the forefront, and in his recording groups, the Hot Five and the Hot seven, demonstrated that jazz improvisation could go far beyond simply ornamenting the melody. Armstrong was one of the first jazz musicians to refine a rhythmic conception that abandoned the stiffness of ragtime, employed swing light-note patterns, and he used a technique called "rhythmic displacement." Rhythmic displacement was sometimes staggering the placement of an entire phrase, as though he were playing behind the beat.

Jazz form included a “call-and-response pattern, repeated refrain concept, and chorus format of most recreational and cult dances” (27). The fact that these elements made the transition to early jazz and survived today showed that it had a solid foundation ... ... middle of paper ... ...onal attention. He held this widely held regard until his death in 1971. His performances in Jazz showed how beautiful the music was, and how compelling the msucial experience was through his sense of structural logic and combined superior instrumental skill. Armstrong’s music was sophisticated, virtuosic, and emotionally expressive.

The term modern jazz generally referred to the musical period after bebop, when musicians begun to approached harmony in different aspect. Modern jazz was often overlooked, often defined as jazz derivation or hybrid and was influenced by variety of musicians; among them was Bill Evans. He was one of the most important jazz pianists, and remained to be one of the most influential musicians of post-bebop jazz, due to his prominent sound that made him recognizable to everyone. According to Bert Konowitz, “Bill Evans Sound is created by using chords in the left hand that often do not have the root of the chord on the bottom, as well as voicing chords with tone clusters” (198). Bill Evan’s sound was distinct and involved unique technique like chord cluster and block chord.

A single artist can have a very strong impact on a whole genre of Music. We have seen this time and time again through artists such as Charlie Parker, David Brubeck, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and various others. All of these artists had tremendous influences on the different eras that evolved throughout the history of Jazz. Bill Evans, and American jazz pianist, was no different. Just as Charlie Parker had started the evolution of Bebop and influenced the subsequent generations of Jazz Artists, Bill Evans has influenced Modern Jazz and the generations of artists that followed him.

Dave commonly uses a wordless style of singing which involves the substitution of real syllables and nonsense words in the place of an instrument. Many Jazz artists are prolific in this type of “scat singing.” Louis Armstrong was the first to record this type of singing in 1926 in a song called “Heebie Jeebies.” Matthews can be heard using a scat type of singing in examples, four, “Minarets,” and five, “#36.” A popular definition of Jazz includes the idea that the music “swings,” again the song #36 (example number six) shows this trait. Better than any of today’s popular bands The Dave Matthews Band finds the balance between composition and improvisation, which is really what Jazz is all about. The Dave Matthews Band combines the influences of many different types of music creating a truly undefinable style of music.