What is This Thing Called Swing? And other kinds of jazz for that matter? What is This Thing Called Swing - Lunceford Key vocabulary • Meter, or time signature: This refers to the number of beats in one concise section of music. Although by no means a universal truth, in a basic and simple sense this usually means the number of beats per chord. Early jazz is typically in 2 (or 2/4 time) meaning 2 beats per unit, whereas later jazz becomes in 4 (4/4 time) with 4 beats per unit. This is mostly just a matter of conception of the basic unit and not a fundamental difference in how the music works. • Example in 2: 12th Street Rag - Kid Ory • Example in 4: Moten Swing - Benny Moten • Strong and Weak Beats: In any particular meter there is a set of beats that are accented and a set of beats that are not accented. In the music predating jazz, the strong beats are typically on the odd beats - 1 and 3 for example. • Beethoven - Sonata no. 8 in C minor • Sousa - Stars and Stripes Forever • In jazz, and almost all popular music to follow, the strong beat has been moved to the even beats. 2 and 4. This is why friends don’t let friends clap on 1 and 3. This quality is called the back beat. • Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Back Beats • The Beatles - Penny Lane • Syncopation: This term specifically refers to accents in the music that are not in the expected places. The back beat is one type of syncopation, other kinds are anticipations where the melodic line begins before the downbeat, or hesitations where the melodic line begins slightly delayed from the downbeat. • Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie - Sunny Side of the Street What is Swing? • Swing is characterized by a type of syncopation in which the beat is divided into two parts, the first part being longer than the second part. Modern music educators try to describe this as: • It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing - Ellington What is Swing? • This is a gross oversimplification however. Swing is a syncopation where two even rhythms, one twice the rate of the other, are offset by a small amount in order to create a phased effect. This is a very wordy way of describing this effect we’ll do with clapping now. Ragtime • Ragtime precedes jazz by only a few years, and is the first major music form to utilize the back beat, and thus is very important to include in a discussion of the musical qualities of jazz. • Followed march structure: Intro, Repeated melody, possible second theme, Trio Section, Variation on original melody • The following is an abridged video by Ron O’Dell (keeper1st on youtube) that explains how ragtime works pretty well. Early Jazz and variants Buddy Bolden Band c. 1900 Library of Congress Early Original New Orleans Style • Instrumentation - Dr. Eddie Meadows suggests early jazz instruments were those scavenged from civil war battlefields or home made. • Clarinet (rarely soprano saxophone) • Cornet or Trumpet • Trombone • Banjo or Guitar • Tuba, Bass Saxophone, or Double Bass • Piano • Drums or Washboard/Improvised percussion • Doubling usually across Pitch class as opposed to Instrument type Early Original New Orleans Style • Polyphonic Melody Lines • Multiple instruments playing interweaving melodic lines simultaneously. • Similar to baroque style counterpoint. • Recorded artifacts don’t include much by way of solos until Louis Armstrong. Solos were typically short. • Relatively Straightforward Harmonies • Uses mostly basic forms of harmony without extensive modification or alteration. Major, Minor, Dominant 7, Diminished. Freddie Keppard - Stockyard Strut Charleston • This song, one of the instances of music being influenced by dance, was written by James P. Johnson as a response to seeing the popular dance being done. The characteristic rhythm is influenced by Cuban dockworkers work songs- the accented rhythm is called the Tresillo and is the first part of the Clave rhythm. • Charleston - James P. Johnson (piano roll) • Charleston Rhythm - Original Dixie Rag Pickers Chicago Style Jazz • Similar in lead instrumentation to New Orleans Jazz • More background arrangement behind emphasized soloists • Tuba and Banjo replaced with String Bass and Guitar • Dippermouth Blues - Muggsy Spanier New York Style • Instrumentation - Develops from stage bands with larger ensembles. • Large woodwind sections, saxophones and clarinets. • Multiple Trombones and Trumpets. • Tuba or Bass Saxophone • Piano • Drums • Sometimes including strings. • Banjo or Guitar Fletcher Henderson - I’ll See You in My Dreams Paul Whiteman - Sugar The Swing Era Duke Ellington and his Orchestra New York City • In 1924, Louis Armstrong comes to New York to play with the Fletcher Henderson Band. He brings his unique rhythmic phrasing with him, and this influences players in that band, including Coleman Hawkins and drummer Kaiser Marshall. Kaiser Marshall takes the melodic rhythm that Armstrong had been using and makes it explicit in the drums, launching the swing era. • Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Earl Hines explain in this video excerpt: New York City • Instrumentation • 4-5 woodwinds: 2 Alto saxes, 2 Tenor Saxes, Baritone Sax or 3rd Alto Sax. All saxes double on Clarinets (Sometimes Bass Clarinet in Baritone Sax chair) • 2-4 Trumpets (typically not Cornets, Usually 3) • 1-4 Trombones: Usually 2 • Guitar or Banjo New York City • Characterized by complex arrangement. • Sectional writing by instrument type or pitch class. • Solos typically short, one phrase, with orchestrated background figures. • Call and response amongst sections. • Compare: Early - The Stampede - Fletcher Henderson 1926 Later - The Stampede - Fletcher Henderson 1937 Kansas City • Where swing evolves in New York with complex orchestration, in Kansas City it takes on a different character. • Kansas City is known for the riff based swing. It still has the same rolling rhythm, but the melodic lines and background figures are more simple, with more reliance on punchy rhythm and repeated figures. • Much greater emphasis on solos. Solos are longer and background figures are rhythm based. • One O’Clock Jump - Count Basie Orchestra Kansas City • Kansas City swing is much more heavily influenced by the blues. Rhythm and Blues evolves out of the KC sound. • Swingmatism - Jay McShann • The Blues I Like to Hear - Jimmy Rushing • Shake, Rattle, and Roll - Big Joe Turner Post-Swing Charlie Parker and Miles Davis Post Swing Big-Band • In the 50s and 60s the big band changes. The writing style changes to reflect the new musical sensibilities, and the music not being written for dancers. The background figures no longer have the punchy rhythms, instead being layered for harmony. Low pitch instruments play long notes, and other voices weave in and out instead of playing together as single units. • Swing rhythm in drums moves primarily to the ride cymbal as opposed to the swing era use of the hi-hat. • King Porter Stomp - Benny Goodman • King Porter Stomp - Sammy Nestico Bebop and beyond • Bebop music arises around World War II, mostly performed by musicians who were for various reasons declared unfit to go to war. The major difference between bebop and swing is harmonic complexity. A minor difference is phrasing outside of 2 bar (8 beat) ideas. The musicians were experimenting with expanding harmonic ideas, with the idea of making music more complex than their fellows could come up with. This moved away from swing as swing and jazz were at their heart pop music forms - designed to be accessible to the masses, where bebop was specifically not. Bebop and Beyond • “I F#$%ing hated Charlie Parker, I wanted to shoot Charlie Parker in the head” - Norma Miller, 2010 during a talk at Herrang Dance Camp • Yardbird Suite - Charlie Parker Myths • Some myths to dispel about jazz and swing: • Songs were short: 3 minutes in length • Solos were improvised each time • Jazz musicians couldn’t read music. Sources and Resources • http://www.youtube.com/user/Keeper1st • Traditional Jazz Educators Network: http://prjc.org/tjen/index.htm • Ricker, Bruce. (1979) The Last of the Blue Devils, Documentary Film. USA • Clayton, B. (1987) Buck Clayton’s Jazz World. Oxford University Press, USA • Crouch, S. (2013) Kansas City Lighting, The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker. Harper Collins, NY. • Driggs, F. & Haddix, C. (2006) Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop--A History. Oxford University Press, USA • Kirk, A. & Lee. A (1989) Twenty Years on Wheels. Bayou Press, UK • Schuller, G. (1989) The Swing Era. Oxford University Press. • Wriggle, J. (2016) Blue Rhythm Fantasy, Big Band Arranging in the Swing Era. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL. Presentation by Adam Lee If you would like to have a similar presentation done at your event, or if you have questions about the presentation, contact Adam at: [email protected].