Free jazz Essays

“the spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness.” I love music because of its ability to transcend language, it gives descriptions that cannot be written down or described, only experienced. Music comes directly from what makes us human, some may call it the soul or spirit, others may say it is our psyche, but whatever you call it, music is born of the human essence. I love the feelings of openness, vulnerability, and even vitality that comes with listening to and performing music, and jazz is the most

WFLIII Drums – Jazz Drumming Resources George Gershwin said that; “Life is a lot like Jazz, it is best when you improvise” and Herbie Hancock echoed his words, saying that; “The spirit of Jazz is the spirit of openness.” And we drummers of Jazz know the discipline and rigor that lies under improvisation, and the techniques that must be so highly developed before openness can be freely expressed. If you are a Jazz drummer, a teacher of Jazz drumming or a lapsed Jazz drummer almost ready to dust

Jazz is a genre of African American music originating from New Orleans in the southern United States from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Jazz is recognized for its unique playing style and performance itself rather than the format of the song or the song itself. Sounds, phrasing, rhythm, blues and harmonies of jazz come from the unique sense of African and African American music. Instruments, melodies, harmonies used in jazz follow the traditional approach of Europe. Jazz’s features

Davis’ performances were free flowing with many improvisational shifts and unexpected dynamic contrasts. Depending on the day, the sounds that flowed from his band could be described as slick, funky, heavy, and unworldly. According to Tim Cumming, he described it as, “Panic-attack

of the most influential of his time, just behind Duke Ellington. Mingus was one of the first notable bass soloists to show up on the jazz scene after Jimmy Blanton. As a bandleader, he employed only the best personnel and he used various unconventional techniques. As an innovative and ingenious composer-arranger, he created unique mixtures of premodern and modern jazz traditions. He wrote unique melodies and took his ideas from various sources such as Negro gospel music, Mexican folk music, and twentieth-century

on whether or not the beat is a happy beat. The listener may perceives jazz as literal happiness. These two lines stand alone to possibly stress that happiness is not the outcome of their current situation. The next stanza is critical to the meaning of the poem. In this stanza there is repetition. The main speaker again tells the listener to listen closely because the listener does not seem to understand the depth behind jazz and African Americans. This time the understanding speaker states “Listen

Jazz has been an influential part of American History since the twentieth century. Jazz was influence prominently by African Americans around 1917. Roger Kamien and Anita Kamien authors of the book Music Appreciation states, “Jazz can be described generally as music rooted in improvisation and characterized by syncopated rhythm, a steady beat, and distinctive tone colors and performance techniques” (Kamien) Within jazz, there are different styles which vary upon location or where they originated

What is Jazz? Jazz originated in the U.S it 's a type of music that has rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisations, and often deliberate of a pitch. Jazz started in the black African American slums of New Orleans at the end of 19th century. Different Types of music such as bebop and swing bands were very popular in the era of 1930’s -1940’s and consisted of many different players such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong which were part of Swing Bands, Charlie Parker

As time went, Jazz became part of the mainstream media and a new style of Jazz developed. Large bands with orchestra, lively tone with dancing clubs, and formally dressed musicians emerged at New York. It was the era of the Swing Band. The author of the book “Jazz” explained that as the era began, Jazz became commercial (DeVeaux 104). A lot of bands were formed with the popular musicians including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw. The Swing era developed mainly

American jazz roots go back centuries, both to Africa and Europe. The Europeans brought us instruments and written notation and the Africans brought us rhythm and the basis for the blues. The blues is the foundation of jazz although it did not become popular until the early 20th century. The biggest boost in the popularity of the blues was the invention of the phonograph. It made most music accessible to people all across America and the rest of the civilized world. Although it seems that there

“Jazz is a complete lifestyle, something that you feel, something that you live.” (Ray Brown). In his short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin tells the story of a young jazz musician, and tries to capture the lifestyle described by jazz bassist Ray Brown in his character Sonny. Baldwin constantly limits the potential of Sonny as a character by placing him in situations that defy his personality, but make him a believable character because they are similar to experience of actual jazz musicians

The Jazz Age was a term used by F. Scott Fitzgerald to refer to the 1920s, but it was also a cultural movement that took place in America during this decade. It was also known as “the Roaring Twenties”. This movement coincided with the end of the World War I and the introduction of the mainstream radio. The era ended with the crash of 1929, which caused the Great Depression. During this period, America became the wealthiest country in the world, because of its growing industrialization. This caused

For my lab report, I watched “The EAV History of Jazz with Billy Taylor”. This informative video traced the history of Jazz from its roots in the plantation spirituals to the modern day jazz fusion. The video features Billy Taylor’s trio performing many different Jazz styles such as its early forms Ragtime, Blues, and Swing; the fast-paced Bebop music, the Latin influenced Afro-Cuban Jazz, and the emotional “I wish I knew how it would feel to be free”, which was written by Billy Taylor himself. There

The Harlem Jazz Revolution No trend in the ever changing world of art has ever lived up to the rich symphonies brought to our nation during the 1920’s Harlem jazz revolution. Many take for granted the elaborately drawn out notes and passionate saxophone of their music today, remaining completely oblivious to the humble roots these musical aspects have. If you were to trace back their lineage, you’d end up in the poverty-stricken black communities of New Orleans in 1900. Drawing upon their ancestors’

this post is to discuss something that surprised me about the jazz history we have learned throughout the class. After taking this very informative and interesting history of jazz class I would have to say what has surprised me most is the many different styles of jazz. It kind of sounds dumb, but I never realized that there were so many. I thought jazz fell into one genre of music. We learned about swing, bepop, cool jazz, free jazz, hard bop, and fusion, just to name a few. Each week you could

humankind is exhibited by the Jazz categorization through its combination of many musical traditions. Jazz is a music genre that originated New Orleans, Louisiana among in African American populations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a practice of displaying perceptions, exchanging emotions, and commemorating momentous occasions such as birthdays or holidays. Jazz materialized as simplistic embodiment of music possessing three chords and excluded lyrics. The Early Jazz Era (1900-1930s), primarily

America's Greatest Gift There is no doubt that Jazz music is one of greatest things to come from American culture. It had sprouted up from cultural and spiritual hymns a global sound that has no restraints. From the early slave songs with their call and response style, to the later Swing and Bebop era tones, Jazz became the frontline for American music where it still remains relevant to this day. It all started in the later parts of the 19th with African slaves brought over from the Atlantic slave

his place in society, so they “continued to support him financially as he experimented with various lifestyles” (Asher). Burroughs was a rebel figure who had trouble finding his way. He traveled around a lot and fell into drugs and substance abuse to free himself from the built-up conventions of society. Burroughs began writing after he met Jack

popular genres of music known to mankind today is the music of jazz. During the mid 1910’s, many of the nation 's population were living in the urban areas causing for ethnic diversity and a era for people to learn to express themselves. The 1920s brought many advancements to today 's society especially in music. Jazz was making its debut in the 1920s, which is why it is known as the ‘Jazz Age’. From the 1920 's through the late 1950 's jazz was shaped from the absolute entirety of African American.

• Until the middle of the 1950’s “Jazz dance” was more commonly referred to as tap dance due to tap being performed to jazz music. VIDEO • Jazz music can be traced back to the times of slavery. In America slaves were not allowed to speak their native language and were forbidden to use their drums. Music became a means of survival. • Slave work songs were created, to pass time, in the form of “call and response”. A song leader would call out a line and the rest of the workers would respond to this