Jazz Essay -- essays research papers

Jazz     Jazz is a type of music developed by threatening Americans about 1900     and possessing an identifiable history and describablestylistic evolution. It is rooted in the mingled musical traditions ofAmerican blacks. More black musicians saw jazz for the first sequence aprofession. Since its beginnings jazz has branched out into so manystyles that no single description fits all of them with total accuracy.Performers of jazz improvise within the conventions of their electstyle. Improvisation gave jazz a personalized, individualized, anddistinct feel. Most jazz is based on the principle that an infinitenumber of melodies can fit the cord more and more of any cord.     The twenties were a crucial period in the history of music.     Revolutions, whether in arts or matter of state, create a recent public only by sacrificing the old. By the late twenties, improvisationhad expanded to the extent of i mprovisation we ordinarily expect fromjazz today. It was the roaring twenties that a crowd of new tonalitiesentered the mainstream, fixing the sound and the forms of our popularmusic for the next thirty years. Louie Armstrong closed the book on thedynastic tradition in New siege of Orleans jazz.The first true virtuoso soloist of jazz, Louie Armstrong was a dazzlingimproviser, technically, emotionally, and intellectually. Armstrong,often called the "father of jazz," always spoke with deference,bordering on awe, of his musical roots, and with especial devotion ofhis mentor Joe Oliver. He changed the format of jazz by bringing thesoloist to the forefront, and in his recording groups, the Hot Five andthe Hot seven, demonstrated that jazz improvisation could go far beyondsimply ornamenting the melody. Armstrong was one of the first jazzmusicians to refine a rhythmic conception that abandoned the stiffnessof ragtime, employed swing light-note patterns, and he used a techniquecall ed "rhythmic displacement." Rhythmic displacement was sometimesstaggering the placement of an entire phrase, as though he were playingbehind the beat. He created new melodies based on the chords of theinitial tune. He also set standards for all later jazz singers, notonly by the way he adapted the words and melodies of songs but also byimprovising without words... ...ner and the classical pieces of twentieth-centurycomposers Paul Hindemith and Bela Bartok. Latin-American music alsoinspired Coreas style. Early in his career, Corea had contend inseveral bands that featured Latin-American music. Coreas crisp,percussive touch enhances the Latin feeling. It is also consistentwith his bright, very spirited style of comping. Like Tyner, Coreavoiced chords in fourths. Voicing in fourths means that chords aremade up of notes four steps away from each other. Chick Corea joinedMiles Davis band in 1968, and played electric piano on the landmark Ina silent way, album and the influentia l "Bitches Brew" session. Hisown trio recording with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes, "Now He sings,Now He sobs," became a staple in the record collection of modern jazzlovers during the late sixties. Corea was a prominent composer duringthe 1960s and 1970s. Corea wrote pieces that made intimately use of presetbass lines in accompaniment, particularly those with a Latin-Americanflavor. In 1985, Chick Corea formed the Elektric Band, which becameknown for its use of synthesizers. The bands entranceway was with ChickCorea Eleckric Band, on GRP Records.