Jazz techniques

sense, listening and writing about jazz music was my biggest headache from the beginning of class. It is hard to use words to describe wordless music that is being heard. Yet I still learned the origin and the evolution of jazz music, its African American background and the different style it changes into. The videos playing in the class were useful to better understand the jazz music: by going over Billy Taylor’s What Is Jazz, I realized the composition of a jazz band and the different role of…

since the day human beings could hear and feel. Jazz is a genre of music that was born in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This broad genre of music has roots that pull from pre-existing elements that are traced back to African-American slave culture. Some of those elements include single line melodies, call and response patterns, work songs and gospel influences. As time progressed, along with the spread of the knowledge of jazz, more artists throughout the country sought to…

Introduction “Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.” (Miles Davis NYC, 1959) Jazz music was brought to America by African Americans in the early 1900s. This genre of music is a hybrid between European-Western Music, African Music and culture, and later American Music. Jazz music has similar harmonic and orchestrational techniques to European music, which is where classical music originated. African music gave jazz its rhythmic feel, generally drumming, and emotion.…

had an influence on jazz and changed the dynamics of the culture and race relationships people like Benny Goodman, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong were among the most influential and played a big role in many of the events that helped break the color barriers in jazz. Some of these events included establishing black entertainment markets and performing…

recognized for their tremendous improvisational skills. Improvisation is one of the essential fundamentals that distinguishes jazz from other genres of music. Through improvisation in jazz, musicians are afforded the opportunity to thrust their level of musical creativity and ability for greater performance. “Artists such as Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke and others changed jazz from a functional music to a music in which the players were praised for their artistic ability, for their…

the turn of the twentieth century, jazz was still in its early phases. While there are many musicians that are credited with making jazz into what it is today, one of the earliest attributors was the “King of Ragtime,” Scott Joplin. Joplin earned his title due to his success—despite racial barriers—in developing the sub-genre of ragtime in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Joplin’s sound and style created a crucial link in the history of jazz and laid the foundations for future…

well-known instruments such as the violin and the cello were developed. The modern versions of the instruments typically used for jazz weren’t contrived until the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Although the history of music is an enduring one, musicians explored areas they had never dared go before in the 1920s. Unlike its more sophisticated predecessors, jazz featured improvisation and a larger focus on soloing. This…

stemmed from the very beginning of time and music techniques. Jazz is a genre of music that has changed focus from the strict playing of the music and rhythms to a more free and fun style, giving musicians more freedom to play music how they like and how they choose to when it comes to entertaining audiences. There are two main musicians who are an example of jazz at its finest, and they are Miles Davis and Steve Reich. Miles Davis is an example of a jazz musician who chose to explore into the…

unable to find a Jazz concert near my hometown, I decided to view a full concert available on YouTube. The Jazz concert consisted of 6 songs, they all sounded different though. I have never sat down and listened to a Jazz concert, and I have been to more than 50 concerts in my time (Incubus, Apartment 26, Cold Chamber, econoline wine crush, Rob Zombie, chevelle, Orgy, Deadsy, Korn, Days of the new, The Chemical Brothers, just to name a few). The concert was label to be of the Jazz genre, I…

Introduction “Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.” (Miles Davis NYC, 1959) Jazz music was brought to America by African-Americans in the early 1900s. Jazz performances were mostly in the evening. Jazz was not a revolution, it is a revolution. Miles Davis, a legendary jazz composer and musician, said that Jazz is a revolution. It left a positive impact on American Society in the 20th century. This kind of music is a hybrid between European-Western Music, African…