Jazz Music - Its Origin and Development - Essay Example

The paper delves into the origin of jazz music, and its formation over the years. It examines various influences that were instrumental in its formation. It also takes into account the various phases that marked its development and musicians who popularized the genre. The roots of Jazz, popularly known as America's classical music, can be traced towards the turn of the 20th century in New Orleans. Though there is no documentation to prove it, it is believed that jazz came about just after the Ragtime era (Jazz.about.com). The genre is said to have taken roots in New Orleans because of its port, which was one of the important terminals in the New World. This port not only facilitated trade and commerce but also served as the meeting point of many cultural influences. Besides, slave culture was still prevalent in New Orleans and African Americans and slaves and free people used to gathering for an evening of music and dance. Despite the fact that elements that shaped jazz such as blues, Ragtime Brass band music, hymn and spiritual music, minstrel music were simultaneously prevalent in other cities of United States, it was the Creole population in New Orleans who played a crucial role in the development of jazz. (Weinstock.L ) The Creole population after living under the French and Spanish rule came to be known as Americans after the Louisiana Purchase and Louisiana statehood. The sect rose to the highest levels of the society in the 19th century and had an impact on the economic and cultural influences of that period. Creole musicians played at the opera and symphony halls and formed some of the best society bands of that time. These bands characterized the style of the upper classes with its precise technique, formal knowledge of European music and soft tone, embodying the upper class cultural values. On other end of the spectrum, an impoverished section of blacks lived in the Westside Street of New Orleans, newly freed but deprived of economic and cultural benefits. The musicians hailing from this section of the society drew inspiration from blues, gospel music and work songs. While the Creole bands reveled in correct rendition, the Westside bands used improvisation to mark their performances. The bands played music was inspired by Ragtime era but included elements of European music and brass bands playing funeral music. These bands were popular since their songs were about the highs and lows of life. This gave rise to a new genre altogether, which was based on creative expression, imagination and blues. Though it was called as the "local flavor" of Ragtime, it did not have much similarity to Ragtime music and was played by small marching bands or solos with pianos or banjos. The turning point occurred in 1894 when a racial segregation law placed a lot of restrictions on the Creole people and they were forced to live with Westside blacks. But they soon overcame it and got back at the helm of musical leadership of American section. This clash of cultures is the underlying theme of many songs composed by Jelly Morton, an important development in jazz history. Morton added a swinging syncopation to music such as Ragtime, Opera, French songs and dances. He also improvised on music from opera to blues, which soon came to be known as "Hot Jazz", one of the first styles of the genre. Thus jazz originated from the strong underlying beat provided by the African music and the dance rhythms provided by the European music, which gave Jazz its characteristic swing. Together with the scale of the blue notes and with the socio-cultural influences of that era especially in New Orleans, jazz got its character- freedom of expression. Joe Oliver and Louis Armstrong were some of the early Jazz musicians during the period who were known for their "Dixieland" style of music. "Hot jazz" became more popular after musicians moved to Chicago from New Orleans after pubs in Storyville in New Orleans, the main venues for this music, closed down. Musicians from Midwest now began gravitating towards Chicago because of better prospects. The recordings of Earl Hines, Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong and King Oliver were a major hit with the masses. It was during this time that the Chicago style attained popularity with its harmonic innovative arrangements. Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman and Eddie Condon helped in pioneering Jazz music in this era. (passion4jazz) As its popularity grew, bands began improvising on their instrumentation. This led to large orchestra playing music, which heralded the "Swing era", a time that saw an amalgamation of jazz and popular music (allthat jazz). The Swing era was brought about by large bands like Fletcher Henderson in New York and Bennie Moten in Kansas City. Henderson created the swing arrangements through the independent notes of trumpet, saxophone, trombone and rhythmic sections by soloists. Swing band came into its own during the 30s when Great Depression hit US. This was the time when people took to dance to escape their miseries and bands were in great demand. Count Basie and Duke Ellington's bands were the most popular ones during this time. The bands played music, which was much different from the previous era. Due to the large orchestra, the band relied on homophonic construction and organized simplistic music. Apart from bands there were also individual players like Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins who were known for their improvisations. This era lasted for some time but it also created discontent among solo musicians. Swing era did not offer much scope for soloists, since they were allotted short pieces as a part of a large orchestra. They began breaking away and forming smaller groups giving rise to the "Bebop era". The innovations of saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk brought about a revolution in the early 1940s. These musicians introduced a different kind of music, which though complex offered great scope for experimentation. Their style set the mood for modern jazz that would be prevalent in the second half of the 20th century. However, the complex compositions did not help Bebop attain the popularity of the "Swing" era. Also, it did not have lyrics or a dance number for people to swing to. Since emphasis was on experimentation, no piece sounded the same, which also worked against it. "Cool Jazz" came as a response to the Bebop and brought Jazz closer to classical music. Instead of improvised solos, this was the time when musicians turned to arranged compositions. The tonal quality of cool jazz was mild, cool, delicate and subdued. Instead of going to the extreme as some bebop musicians did, the musicians in this era struck a milder chord. Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck were some the popular musicians during this era. "Hard bop" came as a reaction to bebop where the focus was infusing spontaneity back into jazz. (Scruffi, 2006). Moreover, it also had black artistes contrary to white musicians who played "Cool Jazz". The main focus during this era was composition and arrangement. The experimentation with form and music continued in the 1950s, giving rise to free jazz, avant-garde jazz, acid jazz and Funky jazz. Funky jazz was a stark contrast to cool jazz since it had a combination of less complex harmonies and rhythmic melodies. This form of jazz used bop elements but in a simplified manner. The music resounded elements of African American music as played in the churches. It also drew inspiration from the blues music and was more popularized by musicians like Sonny Rollins and Cannonball Adderly. Free jazz, on the other hand, was an attempt to move away from the previous era. With no restrictions on structure, improvisation was the key and allowed musicians to react to one another through their instruments. Termed as one of the most spontaneous forms, musicians like John Coltare and Omette Coleman made this a popular form of jazz. In the 1960s, came fusion jazz where forms were mixed with electric instruments of rock, soul music and rhythm and blues. Fusion music was at an all time high during the 1970s. However, its lengthy improvisation and complex sounds and patterns proved to be its shortcomings. Though the genre did not do well in the US, it found favor in Europe and in Japan and South America. In 1980s, fusion seeped into other forms of jazz and also rock. There emerged a commercialized form of jazz, which incorporated pop/rock music with milder sounds called "Smooth Jazz". This drew a lot of contempt from Jazz lovers of the previous era who called it a commercialized version as it lacked improvisation. Jazz became a part of the popular music genre thanks to pop groups like Squirrel Nut Zippers in the 90s. This was the time when musicians attempted to recreate the magic of legends like Louis Armstrong, Charles Parker, Lester Young and John Coltrane. However, jazz musicians who gained popularity during this time were all formally trained and therein lay the difference. Musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Terrance Blanchard and Joe Lovano were some of the popular names of this movement. Towards the end of the 20th century, French and Scandinavian musicians came up with their own version of jazz, calling it "European" style. Elements from rock, House music with electronic and acoustic sampled sounds were brought together to create a contemporary populist version of jazz. Some of the known names who were successful in this style are Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltroft, trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer, French pianist Martial Solal and Laurent De Wilde and saxophonist Julien Lourau. Thus jazz has evolved from evening songs, to dance numbers to an intense outlet of creative imagination creating its own rules and breaking them. Jazz may go in and out of fashion every few years but its rich history and compositions is deeply cherished by Jazz lovers worldwide. REFERENCES: All that Jazz www.library.thinkquest.org Jazz.about.com Piero Scruffi, 2006, A history of Jazz music www.scaruffi.com Weinstock Len, The origins of Jazz, www.redhotjazz/originsarticle www.passion4jazz.com Read More