The Big Band Swing Style Of Jazz Essay

Instruments used to portray these various styles of music were often drums of all shapes and sizes, rattles, and often tambourines or bells with other percussion instruments. The drums were constructed by using such materials as clay, iron, wood or aluminum with heads of buckskin, chamois, or rubber. These drums were typically played with a single drumstick, holding a steady pattern of four beats. Also, in addition to these instruments there were wind instruments.

     The instruments played during Jazz were the average instruments played today, and nothing dissimilar. There would be about ten instruments in a band such as trumpet, string bass, guitar, piano, drums, saxophone, clarinet, trombone, and oboe. They are not all of the instruments but the basics. But in general, any instrument can become a Jazz instrument as long as it can play to the beat of Jazz.

There are many differences between cool jazz and hard bop however both were reactions in the music world after the creation of the bebop style. Cool jazz had a greater emphasis on arranging and orchestration meaning it was written ahead of time, however the improvised solos were vital as well. Hard bop was not as orchestrated as cool jazz and also implemented the use of new long-playing formats to stretch out on extended solos, which a lot of the times were improvised. The instruments that were popular in cool jazz were very classical ones including the French horn, tuba, clarinet, oboe, saxophone, clarinet and trombones, as well as the rhythm section. The ensemble sizes of cool jazz were larger than hard bops ranging from trios to nonets. The instrumentation of hard bop style ensembles were much smaller with normally around only five musicians playing together. The bands for hard bop normally consisted of two or three horns as well as the rhythm section, and these bands produced rougher and heavier sounds together.

The era of the Roaring Twenties, was a time of great societal change. Many of these changes were greatly influenced by jazz music. During this time, the country was coming out of World War I and the attitude of most people was dark and dismal. Dance and music clubs became tremendously popular in an effort to improve the quality of life for many people.

1. Describe the ways in which swing music and popular culture were interrelated during the time known as the swing era.

From its inception, Jazz has applied both innovative approaches in different degrees and boundless configuration. And has continually amplified, progress, and modify music through various distinctive episodes of growth. So, an all-encompassing denotation of jazz is likely vain. Additionally, jazz as a music whose prime attribute was “improvisation,” for example, revealed to be too regulated and chiefly false. Meanwhile composition, adaptation, and ensembles have also been imperative constituent of Jazz (for most of its backstory). Furthermore, “syncopation” and “swing,” often viewed as important and distinctive to jazz, are certainly lacking the genuineness of it, whether of the 1920s (or of later decades). However, the prolonged perception that swing could not transpire without syncopation was utterly refuted when trumpeter Louis Armstrong often produced vast swing while playing repeated, and unsyncopated quarter notes (Armstrong, L., Fitzgerald, E., & Middleton, V. (1988). Satchmo. Gong.)

Jazz is a music genre that has complex characteristics and history of development and thus many musicians and scholars face troubles in defining what jazz is. In general, jazz is believed to have born in New Orleans. Jazz developed for the pleasure of the social dancers. According to the “Understanding Jazz: What Is Jazz?” of John F. Kennedy center for the Performing Arts, Jazz was created mainly by Afro-Americans, and had elements of European and Afro-American culture. Also, it emphasizes few elements of Jazz, which are swing-feel, syncopation, and improvisation. These different culture and elements of jazz may be explained by how jazz

The swing era was vast and equally varietal. From Benny Goodman to Chick Webb or Artie Shaw each had their individual 'sound'. Moreover, this separated them and gave them their own appeal to the masses. However, The swing era occurred at a time when racism and prejudice still had a strong foothold in public eye. While playing swing did allow a member of a minority to have some freedom from this prejudice, they still could not expect the same treatment as the white players. In The Swing Era: Pure Pleasure swing was described as an escape for people who are “down on their luck.” Moreover, Swing gave people hope and a place to break free and forget about your trouble. This is most likely why swing climbed so aggressively into popular culture.

     Jazz is a style of music that began and has been revolutionized within the United States. Jazz music first appeared in the city of New Orleans and eventually moved onto Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and New York City. Jazz unites different elements of African, African- American, religious, brass brand, and blues style of music. The music of Jazz, and its changes through the years, is now a form of music that is known and respected throughout this nation and the world.

The first jazz was played in the early 20th century. The work chants and folk

Pbs.com Ken Burns states that just like all music jazz went through it trial era of music. The swing era was very popular through the early 1930’s into the late 1940’s. The swing style type of music consist of large number of band member featuring at least three to four saxophones, two or three trumpets, two to three trombones, a piano guitar and a bass violin. Not including the lead vocalist of the groups. Swinging was a life style that lifted anyone

While a lot of jazz music used instruments like a saxophone, cool jazz didn 't. The main instruments in cool jazz were French horns, flutes, tuba, cello, and vibraphones. Cool jazz introduced all of these unusual jazz instruments.

The Jazz Age was more than merely a musical revolution—“The Jazz Age denotes not only a period of early big band, but also the events and fashions of an era”. During this decade a number of modern developments were invented, which included an expanded telephone service, network radio, electric inventions, and records set in aviation. These modern developments had a profound effect on American culture, creating a rise in leisure, specifically mass leisure. Automobiles, movies, and the radio overtook the lives of Americans, becoming necessities and part of everyday routines. This period also marks the beginning of films with soundtracks, an audio component, marking the rise of the musical and giving the American people

Swing was the dominant idiom of the 1930s and much of the 1940s. Basically, it was a form of dance music played by a large band, and was the medium through which most white Americans first heard Jazz (Schuller,1989). Although the decade 1935-45 was called the Swing Era, swing arrangements had been played by large bands beginning in the 1920s. Bandleader-arrangers Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and, later, Count Basie, worked out arrangements for their 10 to 12 piece bands, which, unlike traditional jazz bands, were divided into instrumental sections.

Other developments led to the ``trumpet-piano'' style of Earl Hines and Teddy Weatherford and to the swing style of Duke Ellington. Some Historians consider ragtime to be the very first jazz style. Although it cannot actually be classified as jazz, ragtime is definitely a very influential part of jazz. In Louisiana at this time there was music everywhere. Ragtime bands and marching bands were joining together. Mexican bands were also and influence especially in the way the trumpets and horns were played. All this merging of different band sounds was important in the creation of jazz. Eventually the instruments used in marching bands crossed over into jazz instruments. The drums and clarinet filled in for the marching band instruments. New Orleans was such a melting pot for music and culture but it was also a party town. This party scene was also a part of how jazz was molded. The demand for fresh new music was high, which caused musicians to alter and elongate their styles. All the new creations and variations on the music in the end fused into jazz.