Smooth jazz

term “jazz” is freely used by many people around the world to describe a particular category of music. Every person will have their own definition of such a broad category of music. However, attempting to set boundaries and limit the definition of jazz to a simple “Google-like” definition is not only an injustice to the art of jazz, but also to listeners’ ability to appreciate the vast meanings and interpretations of jazz music. Prior to taking a semester long course on understanding jazz, I too…

divorced in 1946. Nat then married jazz singer Maria…

attended a Bakersfield Jazz Workshop concert at The Mark. The group’s name that performed that night was J.T. Butler and Friends. The men who performed in the group that night were Steve Eisen, John Calo, J.T. Butler, Paul, Daniel Lopez, Doug Davis, and Rick Lincoln. Steve played the trumpet, John played the saxophone, J.T. Butler played the guitar along with Paul, Daniel Lopez played the drums, Doug Davis played the keyboard, and Rick Lincoln played the bass. The style of jazz music the group…

The song “Flamenco Sketches” by the Miles Davis Sextet has the cool jazz sound with the modal jazz style. The song has a light and soft sound with simple melodic improvisations. A traditional rhythm section maintains a steady rhythm throughout the song, but this rhythm section uses countermelodies to add colorations during the improvisations. The pianist is constantly playing a soft melody underneath the improvisations and sometimes mirroring the melody played by the improviser. The bassist…

Jazz-Rock has been defined as music that has combined elements of both Jazz and Rock ‘N’ Roll, and is usually performed on amplified electric instruments (Dictionary.com). Jazz-Rock is often called fusion or cross over and is accompanied by bass lines, drumming styles and Rock music (Britannica.com). It tends to put an emphasis on electric instruments and dance rhythms and in the 1960s jazz tunes began to include Rock rhythms, those elements have contrasted and enhanced each other (Britannica).…

After listening and reading about the different styles of jazz, I found they did infact have distinct difference. The first example provided in the module was "Tiger Rag" by La Rocca. This Dixieland jazz song provided an example of the techniques used in this type of jazz. I really enjoyed the upbeat feeling of this song. Listening to the notes played, they appeared to play a rather large scale from high to low. When the music cuts out to focus one instrument it really creates a unique sound.…

Farrell (flute) Jazz is a music style with its origin stemming from the black communities living in the US in the twentieth century. Jazz has musical styles from European music, as well as the brass and stringed instruments. It is a mixture of US and Europe music culture. Like its origin, Jazz-Rock fusion is the epitome of the characteristic of Jazz that always combines with other kinds of music and finds its own way to refresh the original style. There were different types of jazz through…

America’s Jazz Age: How the Music started a Movement In the wake of the resolution of World War I, the American people began to work to improve both the public morale and the economy. One main transformation during the early 1920s was the growth in the music industry, in particular, jazz. The onset of the jazz age was a dynamic and controversial movement in American culture, a turning point for racial and sexual relations, and a pivotal moment in the development of technology, which changed…

this concert, however, I had never seen a Jazz concert performed by other musicians. In approximately the 6th grade, however, I preformed a blues piece in the exact room the Introduction to jazz class takes place. This had been my foundation for Jazz up until this point in time. One could say that I had no experience when it came to the concepts of Jazz in its entirety. This meant that not only attending a Jazz concert, nevertheless an Introduction to Jazz class, that I had no clue what to…

Boasting a traditional jazz form (consisting of the “head,” a solo section, and then concluding with a repeat of the “head,”) “Take Five” was easy to follow and solo over. It also boasted a simpler chord structure, making the tune accessible to bands looking to transcribe, learn, and perform the…