Cool Style Jazz Analysis

     The music called Jazz was born sometime around 1895 in New Orleans. It combined elements of Ragtime, marching band music and Blues. What made Jazz such a different perspective of traditional music was its act of improvising. There was a widespread use of improvisation often by more than one player at a time. Songwriters would write the music down on a piece of paper, and then the Jazz musicians would try their best to play the music. Usually in a Jazz piece, musicians would use the song as a starting point to improvise around. Jazz musicians would play a familiar song to the audience, and by the time they were done with the piece they would stir up a totally different feeling away from the

Jazz has always been a part of the American tradition. Some may say they like Jazz for its rhythmic twist and turns. Others may love the soothing melodies from an improved Trumpet solo. All in all, Jazz has been an American staple and has molded today’s popular music, into what it is today. It’s very different from classical music, which is written out and strict. Jazz is much more. It’s made up of spontaneity and improvisation, which makes up an idea on the spot. There are many wide varieties in Jazz. There is Bebop Jazz, Avante Garde Jazz, Acid Jazz, Free Funk Jazz, Soul Jazz, Swing Jazz, and many, many more! These forms of Jazz can be seen and heard in some of your favorite music of Today. It’s been widely used by the world. There is an important reason as to why this genre contributes to the growing of music. We first take a look into the root of all Jazz. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the country of Africa was the first known country to use rhythm primarily for the element of musical expression, and ensembles composed entirely of percussion instruments created extended polyrhythmic works. These polyrhythms, which means the “layering of multiple rhythms.”, were record in Western music. African music did not use paper, or sheet music. Instead, they relied on Aural rituals, learned by ear and also used” spontaneity, which is later said to be known as improvisation”. In Africa, most of the music that was expressed was for religious

To begin with, jazz is an all American dance that has some African rhythmic influences. The first group that portrayed jazz to the American society were a group called the flappers in the 1920’s. This group was young western women who wore short skirts and bobbed hair and were considered wild based on the image

As a representation of Jazz music, I selected “Hello Dolly” by Louis Armstrong to illustrate some key elements of this genre. In “Hello Dolly”, Armstrong demonstrates scat-singing throughout the entire piece; also, this song can be

One of the most iconic happenings in this age was the creation of jazz. Jazz had always been popular in night clubs in the south but during the great migration, jazz was brought to the north. After just a few weeks, jazz was the new fad and everyone was playing it. “Jazz flouted many musical conventions with its syncopated rhythms and improvised instrumental solos…improvisation meant that no two performances would ever be the same…” (The Decade That Roared, page

Jazz music originated in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century, developing through various increasingly complex styles. These scores are generally marked by intricate, propulsive rhythms; polyphonic ensemble playing; improvisatory, virtuosic solos; melodic freedom and a harmonic idiom. These pieces range from simple diatonicism, through chromaticism, to atonality (Dictionary.com). The foundation of jazz is associated with the Black experience in the United States, but different cultures have added their own personal experiences and styles to this art form as well. As a result of jazz spreading around the world, it grew locally, regionally, and nationally in cultures. Each decade brought a new form of jazz including brass bands in the twenties, swing bands in the thirties, and smooth cool jazz in the forties.

The World With a Little Jazz Can you imagine a genre that would appeal to everyone? How about a style of music that would help bring different ethnic groups together? Well, in the beginning of the 1920’s, one genre in particular had an outbreak that would change the United States forever. Jazz music modified the world with its groovy beats, calming instruments and powerful vocalists. “The 1920’s or the Jazz Age, were years of change as America recovered from World War 1 and embraced new ways of behaving and thinking” (Benson, Brannen, Jr. and Valentine Vol. 7).

The music was upbeat just like the mentality of the era it was composed. After the World War 1, people embarked on the beliefs of the American dream and focused their attention on the innovation and creativity. Although there was conservative mentalities, the innovation and creativity mind was the spreading very fast in America. It was at this moment that jazz music was developed. The jazz age has been associated bebop music and made the era a period of innovative music (Porter, 2002). Most music in the modern era such as rhythm and blues, the hip-hop, rock songs and pop, got their roots from the jazz music. The jazz music focused on the music itself, and the used lyrics would tell that the instruments suggest. Just like the modern jazz, it made it easy for people to dance and enjoyable and most of the people would sit and listen. Modern music have tried to embody the appeal of the jazz music, and this forms one of the many ways in which jazz music modeled the music today. Despite the fact that the era of jazz music gone, the legacy used in the music will never be forgotten, due to the permanent stamp it did place in the world

Sonny Rollins was one of the composers that MDC jazz faculty and students utilized for their songs. He is a jazz tenor/soprano saxophonist, as well as a composer and bandleader. Rollins is an influential jazz musician. He was born in New York City, and made his first recordings in 1949. His real name is Theodore Walter Rollins. He is still active and alive at an age of 85. His main genres are jazz and hard bop. Sonny Rollins joined Miles Davis Quintet and the Max Roach, Clifford Brown quintet. He had many awards such as Grammy award for best improvised jazz solo in

to create new kinds of jazz. The most popular result of this trend to variety

new music genres. Jazz was created in the late 19th century and early 20th century as

Cool Jazz originated in the late 1940 's. It was created from the mix of classical music and jazz music. Miles Davis is known as the creator of cool jazz and his most important album was "Birth of Cool". People also say that cool jazz was a smoother style of bebop. The rhythm of cool jazz is more of a melodic flow. Cool jazz also originated in New York

I used to always go over to my grandparent’s house and watch my grandfather go crazy over this “Jazz” music. He explained to me that it wasn’t Jazz unless it swung like the greats. I listened to a song “Sing Sing Sing” the other day from one of my Jazz collections that my grandpa gave to me and realized that their was so much energy and pizzazz in this music. He explained to me that it was all put together by a guy named Benny, and I understood why.

In this video Say Something - Jazz / Soul A Great Big World Cover the musicians are Hudson Thames and Robyn Adele Anderson. Playing instruments are Mike Cottone on flugelhorn, Adam Kubota on bass, Allan Mednard on drums and Scott Bradlee on piano. I picked this video because of the modern day song election. This song selection draws in a younger crowd allowing them to hear a jazz remake of a pop song; this gives them an opportunity to be able to appreciate the forgotten genre of our era: Jazz. The flugelhorn and piano gave me a feel of the swing jazz era in 1935-1945. This modern day video I found has the same sound to me as the beginning Coleman Hawkins Body & Soul video. I really like this video and the song they chose to cover. I thought

The most distinctive feature of bebop is that played by very small group. The main instruments of bebop are trumpet and saxophone with rhythm section such as piano, bass and drums. And there was informal Jam sessions that many musicians are playing together without any practices or rehearsals so they could challenge and learn each other. Bebop is still the most played song at jam sessions. Most of all, African American invented bebop primarily. Later, Cool Jazz came up as a new generation of Jazz after bebop from 1949 to 1955. The Cool Jazz means like more comfortable and soft than bebop when bebop has a meaning of “hot” which means very loud and exciting. Numbers of people in group raised up to nonets (nine-piece band). When bebop musicians were playing trumpet and saxophone such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Cool Jazz musicians had more numbers of instruments to play even classical instruments were often found such as flute, French horn and so on. Unlike bebop, importance of the arrangement and the improvised solos are same when bebop cares improvised solo more than the arrangement. Bebop and Cool Jazz each has very opposite meaning to each other even locations are different. Bebop was associated with the East Coast when Cool Jazz happened in West Coast especially in California. Historically, World War ll had occurred during Cool Jazz era which made the mood of country very sad and people had worries about the uncertainty of the future. This reflects Americans attitudes to have subdued emotion and emotional self-control in times of crisis “Keeping Cool”. Finally, Hard Bop was found in New York during 1951 to 1958 and influenced by traditional African American. Instruments were similar to bebop but there are 2 different factions Funky Jazz and