A Brief History of The Origins of Jazz in America

• African slaves, exploited on plantations in the southeastern brought their African background, music included. • They began using European musical instruments in the early 19th century • Three “black” genres were developed • The mixture of them brought the Jazz

BLUES WORK SONGS

GOSPEL SPIRITUALS

• A little influence of European music, both popular and classical, also contributed The place of birth: NEW ORLEANS New Orleans • From +1860´s, with the end of slavery • Main harbour in the Mississippi Delta • Storyville, the red-light district, full of bars where music was played all the time • The main instruments used are wind , piano, banjo, and double bass • White people begin to enjoy “black” music • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4jU8IQK5b0

Ragtime and New Orleans Style

• They are the first styles of Jazz • 1900 to 1920 decade • Fast, rhythmic music, for dancing and fun. Bar music • Improvisation becomes the main feature of Jazz • , this style played by white players http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hSAxCzC4fM Swing and the Big Bands • Jazz music became more popular in the 1920s and 1930s with the rise of and the big bands, specially in the East coast • Happy music for dancing • Many musicians moved to Chicago and New York... • Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, The 40´s • Not big orchestras but small “combos”: drums, piano, double bass and one or two solo wind players (guitar sometimes) • Much more difficult music, more virtuosic, faster, for listening in small dark bars... • Charlie Parker, ... 50´s • broke from his early Bebop days and started a new Jazz movement (“Cool Jazz”) . Slow, sentimental... • Chet Baker • This period had the peak and the start of the decline of Jazz’s popularity (Rock ‘n Roll was rising at this time) Jazz moves to the fringe

• From the 70´s to today, Jazz music has lost a lot of its popularity • Experimental artists and the movement were not popular with mainstream listeners Jazz music survives in the summer Festivals Present time • Few people listen to jazz nowadays, despite the rising of new and very interesting styles as Afro Cuban Jazz or , Jazz...

Chano Domínguez y Niño Josele Chucho Valdés... Some jazz words...

• Walking bass: “metronomic” bass line so the soloist can improvise freely above ithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=693zGPGhpjc

• Scat : singing no lyrics but syllabus meaningless, using the voice as an instrument improvising (Louis Armstrong created it...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EyGEOJBxBM • Mute: a metal or other materials device in the ´s pavillion to make the sound softer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZamplraxSo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmIqJXkEGKY

• Brushes: used insted of sticks for a softer and more sophisticated sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFmhMUERW0U Rhythm section

• Standard: In Jazz, 90% of the songs are “standards”, meaning that they keep a peculiar structure 32 bars with a main theme, called A and a different part called B

A A B A 8 bars 8 bars 8 bars 8 bars