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The main points of my presentation about Jazz are:
- how Jazz - music developed
- the different styles of Jazz
- two great Jazz - musician
Let's turn to the first point:
How Jazz music developed
Jazz appeared in the USA about 1900 the first time. It developed from the living together between the black (Afro - Americans) and the white people. The Afro - Americans were brought to the USA as slaves by European immigrants and were influenced by them in many ways, also in music. So the European and African music culture met together and Jazz developed out of the musical feeling of the Afro - Americans. That is the reason why Jazz consist of rhythm, which has been taken from the African music culture, melody, harmony and form, which have been taken from the European music culture. These three parts cannot be split up in Jazz.
Under these circumstances the worksongs the Afro - Americans sang at their work on the plantations, the spirituals they sang at their services and the old blues - folk songs had an impact on the development of all Jazz - styles.
The different Jazz styles
Jazz developed itself with the different styles and if one of these styles is left out the whole building of this art will be destroyed. The Jazz - styles always correspond with the time in which they developed that means that every style caught the situation and the behaviour of its
beginning - time. So there has always been a connection between the music and the time.
1900s - New Orleans
Many people say that Jazz developed in New Orleans, but that is wrong. Jazz also developed independently from each other in Memphis, Kansas City, Dallas, St. Louis and many other states of the North American South and Midwest. In all these states the same kind of music was played. But New Orleans, the state at the Mississippi - Delta was the most important place where this new music appeared. The reasons why the most Jazz - musician came from New Orleans in the 30ties were:
- the influences and the encouragements because of the confrontation between the
Afro - Americans and many different European nations like France, Spain, Britain,
Italian, German and Slavic countries, where everyone played his own music.
- that in Storyville, the night - life district of New Orleans these elements of the different nations and races were led together unprejudicedly and without any status - difference.
The leading instrument of this style is the trumpet accompanied by the clarinet, trombone bass, drums, banjo and sometimes the piano. The origin New Orleans - rhythm is very close to the European march - rhythm.
1910s - Dixieland
Jazz - music was never a privilege of the black people. In the beginning there were also many white people who played Jazz. Dixieland was called the kind of Jazz the white played to differentiate it from the New Orleans - Jazz. The only difference between these two kinds is that Dixieland is not so expressive but technically more demanding. But this differentiation was always flexible because many Afro - Americans played in white bands and white musician in black bands.
1920s - Chicago
With the entry of the USA into the First World War New Orleans became a naval port. Because of that the night - life district Storyville was closed and so most New - Orleans musician got unemployed and went to Chicago.
The first Jazz - style was the New Orleans - style but this style had his greatest time in Chicago. In Chicago the famous New Orleans - Jazz records were recorded. What today is known as New Orleans - Jazz is not that Jazz played in New Orleans at the beginning of this century, it is the music from Chicago of the 20ties. One reason why New Orleans - Jazz became so popular in Chicago is the invention of the record.
The Chicago - style is not so cheerful as the New Orleans - style. It expresses the hectic atmosphere of the big city and the problem of race discrimination. In this style the solo won a great meaning and the saxophone, too.
1930s - Swing
The Swing - style was developed in New York and there Jazz had his greatest commercial success. As a result there was another trek in the Jazzhistory, from Chicago to New York. Characteristic for this style of the 30ties were the big orchestras, the "Big Bands". In spite of the Big Bands the soloist kept their great meaning because Jazz always was the music of a collective and the music of an individual at the same time. This fact is an important characteristic of Jazz - music.
1940s - Bebop
Bebop was the beginning of the "Modern Jazz". The styles before are summarised in
"Traditional Jazz".
The music of Bebop was very reduced, every unnecessary note was left out. For the listener of this time this music - style sounded very nervous and hectic, many critics called it the end of Jazz - music. But for the listener of today Bebop is the classic well - balanced music of the 40ties.
1950s - Cool Jazz and Hard Bop
At the end of the 40ties the "nervousness" and "hectic" turned into calmness, music became cooler. It was very hard for the musician to improvise at Bebop and so Cool Jazz developed.
Some times later the musicians went back to Bebop but took the harmony from Cool Jazz and improvised much more. This kind of music which also was played in the 50ties is called
Hard Bop.
1960s - Free Jazz
In this style the Jazz - musician broke into the freedom of harmonic and melodic. So they had more opportunities to play and improvise their music and consequently Free Jazz got much more intensive as all the styles before. Jazz always was a very intensive music but this style is the most intensive.
All the Jazz - styles before learned from the styles of the European music. But at this time all these examples were used and so Free Jazz moved to other music cultures like the Indian, Arabian, African etc. This also was a reason why at this time more black musicians played Jazz than before, because Jazz turned away from the "white" continent. But that did not mean that the Jazz - musicians lost their interest in European music, no, they only tried to find further encouragements. So new instruments like the Indian Tabla (two little drums) or Sitar appeared in Jazz.
1970s - Fusion Jazz
It could be said that this style lasts until today. Electronic instruments have been used and so the sound of Jazz has won a new force of sound and volume. And as the name says
Fusion Jazz is a mixture of all styles.
When you describe Jazz, it is to say that it is the music of improvisation. If this important part is missing, it cannot be called Jazz. Every Jazz - musician plays his instrument differently, in his own way and so he expresses what he wants to say, what he is feeling. That is the contrast to the European Classical music.
Two famous Jazz musician
The two famous Jazz - musician I ´d like to talk about are:
Louis Armstrong
If a Jazz - musician is called "The King of Jazz", then Louis Armstrong is meant. Louis Armstrong (Satchmo) who was a representative of Traditional Jazz played the trumpet perfectly. He influenced every other trumpet player and so also the progress of the Jazzhistory until his death. It is due to him that Afro - American musicians had a chance in the music business in the time where the race discrimination was very common.
Louis Armstrong was born in the poorest part of New Orleans in 1901. He got music lessons in 1913 the first time and soon his talent was discovered and he played in a famous band (from Kid Ory) at the age of 17. At this time he played in many bands and also led his own ones and became very famous in the whole world.
Louis Armstrong died with 71 years because of a heart attack in New York.
Miles Davis
Miles Davis was born in Alton, Illinois in 1926.
He is the most famous representative of Cool Jazz. At an age of 18 he played the trumpet at the famous Charlie Parker - Quintet. With his unique way of playing the trumpet, he often used a mute, he had a great influence on Modern Jazz.
Before he died in September1991 he made a Hip - Hop album mixed with his fascinating trumpet sound called "doo - bop".
Jazz
Jazz appeared in the USA about 1900 the first time. It developed from the living together between the black (Afro - Americans) and the white people. So the European and African music culture met together and Jazz developed out of the musical feeling of the
Afro - Americans. The worksongs the Afro - Americans sang at their work on the plantations, the spirituals they sang at their services and the old blues - folk songs had an impact on the development of all Jazz - styles.
The different Jazz styles
1900 - New Orleans (Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory)
1910 - Dixieland (Bix Beiderbecke)
1920 - Chicago (Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong)
1930 - Swing (Duke Ellington, Count Basie)
1940 - Bebop (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie)
1950 - Cool Jazz, Hard Bop (Miles Davis, Modern Jazz Quartet, John Coltrane)
1960 - Free Jazz (John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis)
1970 - Fusion Jazz (Miles Davis)
Louis Armstrong
If a Jazz - musician is called "The King of Jazz", then Louis Armstrong is meant. Louis Armstrong (Satchmo) who was a representative of Traditional Jazz played the trumpet perfectly. He influenced every other trumpet player and so even the development of the Jazzhistory until his death. He was born in the poorest part of New Orleans in 1901 and died with 71 years because of a heart attack in New York.
Miles Davis
Miles Davis was born in Alton, Illinois in 1926. With his unique way of playing the trumpet he had a great influence on Modern Jazz. He died in September 1991.
Questions
? How did Jazz - music develop ?
? Name some states where Jazz developed in parallel way ?
? What was the reason of the trek from New Orleans to Chicago ?
? Why are the different styles so important for Jazz - music ?
? What are the two main Jazz - styles called ?
vocabulary
circumstance ....................................Umstand
plantation ...........................................Plantage
service .........................................Gottesdienst
to correspond ...............................entsprechen
encouragement ...............................Anregung
unprejudiced ................................vorurteilslos
accompanied .....................................begleitet
trombone ............................................Pusaune
naval port ....................................Kriegshafen
trek ......................................................Marsch
mute ..................................................Dämpfer
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