The jazz is a kind of Musique born with the the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Resulting from the crossing of the Blues, the Ragtime and the European music, the jazz is regarded as the first artistic form to be itself developed with the the United States.

Etymologies of the word Jazz

Beyond the difficulty of precisely defining the music which it indicates, the origin of the word jazz is itself prone to controversies. The assumptions advanced as for the origins of this name are multiple and none seems to achieve the unanimity. The word jazz could be derived from the name of musicians (like Chas Washington); slang with sexual connotations or which indicate energy or the force; Jasmin that industry French Cosmétique had used in its Parfum S, which was sold in New-Orleans (a theory of Garvin Bushell); of a deformation of the driven out or drive out-beautiful , figure of the Cakewalk (dance of the cake, with the mode at the 19th century), or roots African like the word bantou jaja (“to dance”, “to play of the music”), on the African term jasi (“to be excited”) or jaiza (“its distance of the percussions”). Last name would come from certain tribes indonésiennes which called " jaze baqti" a rythmée music…

The searchs for Gerald Cohen indicate that the word appears for the first time under the feather of E.T. “Scoop” Gleeson in the San Francisco bulletin in March 1913. It belongs then to the jargon of the Baseball to indicate the energy of a player. The word would have been employed to qualify the music of the group of Art Hickman which played in the camp of drive of the San Francisco Seals. The group endorsed the adjective during its engagements in New York in 1914 and the term was spread gradually to Chicago before returning to New-Orleans in the shape of a letter of Freddie Keppard to King Oliver which will popularize it since 1917 with its protected, Louis Armstrong.

The term was variously appreciated musicians for its embarrassing connotations (Duke Ellington in particular preferred name “Negro music”). During the Years 1930 and 1940, many alternatives were proposed such as ragtonia , syncopep , crewcut , Amerimusic , or jarb , without much success. Diffusion of the word “jazz” (although in its form Jass ) is largely associated with its appearance on the first recording of the style, in March 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jass Band.

History

Sources of the jazz

The jazz appeared with State-Plain, in Louisiana, precisely in New-Orleans, the end of the 19th century or beginning 20th according to the sources. It is the fruit of the interbreeding between the European culture imported by the colonists French, German, Spanish and Irish and that of the American black people resulting from slavery. One of the principal influences of the jazz, in addition to the hymns (Negro-spiritual S, then Gospel songs) and the work songs (songs of work of the slaves in the cotton plantations) was the Blues, a rural music which evolved with the migration of the black populations to the great agglomerations, at the end of the 19th century.

Among the first musicians of jazz, many which was those lived of their service in small brass bands; the instruments of these groups became the basic instruments of the jazz: coppers, instruments with sheers and battery.
End of the civil war, and the surpluses of musical instruments military that it involved, did nothing but amplify the movement. The first jazz bands frequently used the structure and the rate/rhythm of the steps, which were the type of music in concert more running at the time.

In spite of his popular roots, one finds among the creators of the jazz of the musicians of traditional formation, such as Lorenzo Tio or Scott Joplin (pianist of Ragtime in a hotel which composed at the same time an opera - what shows well all the influences which could inherit the jazz at that time).

An significant event in the development of the jazz was the hardening of the laws of Jim Crow on the racial segregation in Louisiana, in the Années 1890. The professional musicians of color were not authorized any more to occur in company of white musicians; on the other hand, they easily found work among the black brass bands and orchestras, which they made benefit from their experiment of academy.

At the dawn of the First World War, one witnessed a liberalization of the habits. Rooms of dance, clubs and living rooms of the opened their doors in the cities, and of the black dances such as the cakewalk and the shimmy were adopted little by little by the white public, mainly the young people (the flappers ). These dances appeared first of all at the time of spectacles of light comedy, then during demonstrations of dance in the clubs.
Most of the time, the music of these dances had nothing to do with the jazz, but it was a new music, and the passion for this new music explained the passion for a certain form of jazz. Famous type-setters such as Irving Berlin was tested then with the jazz, but they used only seldom this attribute which is the second nature of the jazz: the rate/rhythm. Nevertheless, nothing popularized more the jazz than the title of Irving Berlin Alexander' S Ragtime Band (1911). Its success was such as one heard it until Vienna.

Official birth

The appearance of the Phonographe S allowed the diffusion of this new music. It is the recording of the first disc in 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jass Band (ironically an orchestra of white musicians) which marks the official birth of the jazz. Let us note that before the generalization of the gramophone, it was recorded many pieces with the Player piano. Thus one kept many rollers of Scott Joplin.

King Oliver was the chief of a first important orchestra, the “  Creole Band  Jazz; ” to which Louis Armstrong belongwill belong. Jello Roll Morton knew to transform the music of ragtime into jazz and it recorded with its “  Red Hot Peppers  ” (which included/understood the best musicians of Chicago) of the chiefs of works. During some recordings specifically intended for the black public (the race records ) Louis Armstrong brought a first decisive evolution of the jazz : he played with a typical orchestra of La Nouvelle-Orléans, these orchestras where all the musicians improvise simultaneously. But Louis was an improviser except par, able to create infinite variations starting from the same topic. Its musicians imitated it, either all at the same time, but each one their turn. Thus the jazz became a form of music in solo. (see Jazz New-Orleans).

The appearance of the rooms of dance influenced the medium of the jazz of two façons : the musicians were done more, since they started to be able to live of their music, and the jazz - as all the popular musics of the Twenties - adopted rate/rhythm 4/4 of the music of dance.

The time of the swing

In the middle of the years 1920 until the advent of the bebop in the years 1940, one saw the rise of a musical current called the “  era of the big bands  ”, “  time of the swing  ”, “  swing  ”, or the period of middle jazz (jazz of the “  milieu  ”). It is especially characterized by the development of the full orchestras and big bands and the swing.

At the time of the years 1920, the Prohibition of the sale of alcoholic drinks in the United States closed the legal bars and cabarets. But they were quickly replaced by clandestine bars where the customers came to drink and listen to music. The airs that one heard there remained a mixture of styles - pieces of dance to the mode, recent songs, airs extracted from spectacles. What a trumpet player called one day “  Businessman' S bounce music  ”.

This period marked the birth of the orchestra of Duke Ellington, with the Cotton Club, as well as orchestra of Count Basie, formed starting from several groups of Kansas City. The dance evolved/moved with the music, thus was born with beginning of the year 30 in the black-American community the Lindy Hop (or Jitterbug) which became a national phenomenon since 1935, with the popularization of the white big bands with in particular Benny Goodman.

The first developments of the jazz were subject to the influence of the racial segregation, which was then very strong in the United States. The innovations, brought mainly by the black musicians of the clubs, were recorded by white musicians, who tended to give to the jazz orthodoxe rates/rhythms and harmonics. The slow dissolution of the racial segregation amorça in the middle of the Thirties, when Benny Goodman engaged the pianist Teddy Wilson, the vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and the guitarist Charlie Christian so that they unite with small groups and his big band. In the middle of the Thirties, the popularity of the swing and big bands were at its top, transforming into stars of the musicians such as Glenn Miller or Duke Ellington.

An alternative of the swing, named “  Jump Blues   ”, preceded - by certain aspects - the Rhythm and blues and the Rock-and-roll. She was not played by big bands, but rather by small groups, and used the usual progressions of agreements of the blues with a faster tempo. Another variation, the Boogie-woogie, used a doubled rate/rhythm, i.e. the rhythm section played “  eight to the bar   ”, eight time per measurement in the place of four. Big Joe Turner, a singer of Kansas City which worked with the orchestras of swing of the Thirties - such as the orchestra of Count Basie - became a star of the boogie-woogie in the Forties, and was one of the precursors of the rock'n'roll in the Fifties, in particular with its title Shake, Rattle and Roll .

The revolution be-bop

See also: Bebop

In the Years 1940, many musicians of orchestra weary rigidity of the Big band S and structure swing. They meet (“  after hours  ”) in small groups after the concerts or the sessions of recording with more important orchestras and free course with their virtuosity leaves on very supported rates/rhythms. It is the birth of the Be-bop which marks a big change centered on the technical skill of the musicians and a greater rhythmic and harmonic complexity, brought inter alia by the saxophonist Charlie Parker (called Bird ), the trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie and the pianist Thelonious Monk. It was a major change for the jazz : of music of dance hall, it became a intellectual art of first rank.

With Birth off the Cool , the trumpet player Miles Davis, who had worked a long time with Charlie Parker seeks to return to more alleviated and more accessible music. It is the birth of the movement “  cool   ” which will be a particular success near the musicians of West Coast, and of which one of the principal representatives is the saxophonist tenor Stan Getz and the trumpet player Chet Baker. In 1959, Miles Davis off creates once again the event with Kind Blue which poses the bases of the modal Jazz where the harmonic structure of the pieces was still much freer than before, which often were based only on some agreements of piano and basic. The remainder was only improvisation.

The Hard bop is an attempt to make the bebop more accessible to the general public, by incorporating in it of the influences come from the drunk, the Gospel and the Blues. The most beautiful illustration of this style is certainly the quintet " Jazz Messengers " founded by the beater Art Blakey with, for the first formation Benny Golson with the sax tenor, the young person Lee Morgan with the trumpet, Bobby Tillers with the piano and Jymie Merrit with the double bass.

Free jazz

See also: Free jazz

At the end of the Years 1950, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman impel a new evolution which opens the way with the Free jazz, illustrated by archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, the Art Together off Chicago and of many others.

Latin jazz

See also: Latin jazz

There exist two principal varieties of Latin Jazz  : the Jazz Cuban Negro and jazz influenced by the Brazilian styles.

The Afro-Cubain jazz was played in the United States during the Années 1950, especially after the death of Charlie Parker. The musicians bop like Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Taylor began groups which use the Afro-cubain styles of the cuban artists or Puerto Rico like Tito Puente, Mario Bauza, and Chano Pozo.

The Worked nova (“  news bosse  ”, in Portuguese, generally translated by “  news vague  ” in French) is a musical style which mixes the influences of jazz, samba, Classical music, and popular music. Nova worked was popularized by João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim in Brazil; at the beginning of the Years 1960, worked it nova gained a planetary success with the song has Garota de Ipanema ( The Girl from Ipanema , in English). Thereafter, the Latin styles as nova worked it and the samba became an integral part of the musical vocabulary of the jazz.

Fusion: the mixture of jazz and rock'n'roll

See also: Jazz rock'n'roll

After about a decade of the rock'n'roll, about 1968 the hybrid form of the Jazz-rock'n'roll fusion appears with always Miles Davis which publishes the albums fusion In has Silent Way and Bitches Brew . Some groups important of the style fusion were: Chick Corea with its group Return to Forever ; the beater Tony Williams and his group Lifetime (with John McLaughlin and Larry Young in 1969 plus Bruce Jack in 1970); Herbie Hancock and inter alia its album " Head Hunters" who will give the group the Headhunters which will carry on its road without the famous pianist; John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestrated ; Software Machine; the Stalemate Metheny Group; and Weather Report groups it. In France, major groups of jazz-rock'n'roll fusion were Magma, Tryphon, STS, Sixun, Surya, and Atoll. Some of the important bass players of the era of jazz-rock'n'roll fusion were Alain Charon, Stanley Clarke, and Jaco Pastorius. Important beaters were, among others, Dave Weckl and Tony Williams. For the keyboards, the important players were Joe Zawinul, Carla Bley, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock. For the guitar, it was John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny. For the trumpet, the players were Herb Alpert, Randy Brecker, and Miles Davis. A player of Saxophone which influenced the era of the jazz-rock'n'roll fusion much was Wayne Shorter. Two violonists of the style jazz-fusion, who played of the amplified instruments, were Didier Lockwood and Jean-Luc Ponty.

1980 with today

Since the period of fusion of jazz and rock'n'roll, the stylistic diversity of the jazz did not decrease. The jazz absorbed influences of sources as disparate as the World music, the classical music of avant-garde or the rates/rhythms African, and using the chromatic Gamme more usually (with musicians like Ornette Coleman, Arthur Doyle or John Zorn).

Nevertheless, the amateurs of jazz much fewer, and are divided between oldest, preferring the traditional jazz, a small core of musicians and fans more interested by a more experimental modern jazz, and a group in constant evolution of musicians mixing the various types of jazz with contemporary musical genres, forming styles different.

Some currents mixing more popular jazz and musics appeared in the Eighties. The clear identification of these currents by a name is not the sign of any vitality, or importance of many musicians, but well a commercial technique.

• the Acid jazz of the end of the year 1980 and the years 1990 mixes elements of jazz with the styles Disco of the Seventies. The Acid swing of the years 1990 combines the styles of the big bands the Forties with faster and more aggressive sounds of battery and Guitare rock'n'roll.
• the Smooth jazz of the years 1980 is an alternative very accessible from the jazz, mixing with soft sonorities (smooth: soft, smoothes in English) at the side very “Jam” of the jazz. More often instrumental than sung, it uses often various synthetizers, accompanied by a melody by an instrument playing in solo. The smooth jazz is very salesman in the United States, but also very discussed, because considered by the amateurs of jazz as poor musicalement and only commercial.

The majority of the musicians consider however that he play of the jazz , in spite of the extreme diversity of the musics which one classifies from now on under this name. It is today illusory to be able to identify various currents in the modern jazz, in fact primarily personalities emergent. Some tendencies are however perceptible:

• a tendency revivalist , especially active in the United States, and whose figurehead is generally identified as being Wynton Marsalis. It is a generation of young musicians, generally equipped with an irreproachable technique, and very conscious and respectful of the heritage of the traditional jazz of the years 30-50. Representatives: Wynton Marsalis, Cyrus Chesnut,
• a European tendency , marked by the recording company ECM. Under the impulse, inter alia, of Jan Garbarek, John Surman, Egberto Gismonti, but also of American musicians like Ralph Towner or Bill Frisell, as of the Seventies a tendency starts where the rate/rhythm is much less prevalent, with the profit of a great place given to the melody, and the expressivity. This music integrates the heritage of the free jazz, while having a structure generally more traditional. It is also inspired by the Modern music or the Musiques of the world.

Influence electronics

See also: Naked jazz

At the end of the years 1980 and the years 1990, of the attempts at mixture of electronic musics, like the Drum and low , creates a style called future jazz , the jazz-house or Nu Jazz . Artists like the pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, the player of trumpet the Nile Petter Molvær, and the trio Wibutee mix also elements. Other groups naked jazz are: Skalpel, Jaga Jazzist, Spun Brazillia, and Stade.

Musical structure of the Jazz

Key characters of the jazz

The jazz is a mixture of very diverse musical currents and during its evolution, it knew to integrate many influences and to lend itself to many interbreedings, like the blues, the rock'n'roll, the Latin music, thehappy one, and so on.

From the point of view of the musical technique, its richness and its complexity are today such as it is difficult to describe precisely what characterizes it, because the jazz includes/understands a large variety of sub-types, like traditional, be-bop, fusion, free jazz, etc

According to Travis Jackson, one could define the jazz in a way more " ouverte" , by saying that the jazz (that is to say that one speaks about swing, fusion, or Latin-jazz) is a music which often includes qualities like the swing , the improvisation, the interaction in group, the development of an individual voice as artist, and being " ouverte" with the various musical possibilities.

Following distinctive elements in the majority of the styles of jazz:

• Swing: a a little abstract concept which means that the played music reached a kind of " moment of grâce" enough difficult to explain concretely. It is the moment when the music, the " feel" , and the interaction between the musicians take off;
• Improvisation: a process by which the musician of jazz creates or produces a spontaneous musical work while making use of his creativity in the moment and his technical and theoretical knowledge of the various styles of jazz;
• the interaction in group;
• the development of an individual voice as artist (Sonority and phrased): the musicians of jazz are often with the research of the individual, innovating and creative expression musical;
• to be " ouverte" with the various musical possibilities;
• Standard of jazz: well-known pieces, for the majority resulting from the musical comedies from Broadway, which acquired a certain notoriety via these films, which are the subject of many recoveries and are played at the time of the jam sessions (p. e.g., All off Me, Fall Leaves, Mack the Knife, Summertime , etc).

Principal artists of jazz

Type-setters

See the type-setter category of jazz.

Musicians

See the musician category of jazz, the list of the musicians of jazz, the List of the musicians of jazz by instrument and the List of the musicians of jazz by style.

Singers

See the singer category of jazz.

Singers

See the singer category of jazz.

Formations

See the List of the formations of Jazz and the category groups jazz.

Artists plastics technicians

See the List of the artists plastics technicians of the jazz

Currents of the jazz

Articles on Running of the jazz

Mythical places of the jazz

The history of the jazz is rich places which forged its legend. Origins at our days, certain concerts and artists will have made the magic of a place. Here is a nonexhaustive list:

• International:
• the Village Vanguard : located at New York (Manhattan more precisely), this place is one of the “temples” of the kind. Largest occurred there, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans… It was created in 1935;
• the Village Spoils : located not far from Vanguard in Greenwich Village;
• Filmore East : although not being a place exclusively reserved for the jazz, it was pilot electric revolution of the jazz, impelled by Miles Davis at the end of the years 1960;
• Blue Notes : name of the famous recording company of jazz, this club has Manhattan with the intersection of the 4th street and the 6th Avenue. A club which saw largest jazzmen;
• Birdland : inspired of the nickname of Charlie Parker, Bird , this club created in 1949 and which regularly accommodated it on Broadway in New York, remains one of mecques jazz;
• Ronnie Scott' S : probalement the most famous club of the jazz of London.
• In France:
• clubs of last time: the Cat which fishes , the Chameleon , the Blues Jazz Natural history museum , Gill' S Club , Riverbop , Small Convenient the , the Living room Room , Totem , the Jazz Unit , Dreyer , all high places of the jazz in the Sixties - 80;
• the New Morning , mythical place of the modern jazz;
• the Jazz Club Lionel Hampton , in the enclosure of the Meridian hotel Star;
• the Vault of Huchette , in the Latin Quarter (5th district), high place of the traditional jazz official site;
• Saint-Germain (with Paris): this district of Parisian left bank is a high place of the jazz of post-war period, sung by Boris Vian and animated by famous names like Django Reinhardt or Art Blakey and its Jazz Messengers; the street of Lombards (Châtelet/markets) concentrates several club among most famous of Paris: , , , and very close to Châtelet: ''' The Seven-Lizards ''' (street of the Rose trees), ''' the Franc-Pinot ''' (Saint-Louis Island);
• the Street of Lombards 75001 Paris several Café concert of which celebrates it;
• the restaurant " The Jeanne" Queen; in Orthez (Yrénées-Atlantiques) with its famous dinners jazz one or twice per month between October and April;
• ''' Mandala ''' with Toulouse, open since 1985, this club received many jazzmen of scale, Erik Truffaz, Mina Agossi, Stefano Di Battista, Lionel Belmondo, Richard Bona, Art Mengo…

the jazz festivals

See also: List of the jazz festivals

The style of the jazz, in its expression and its spirit of improvisation, lends itself particulierment well to the concept of festival. Thus of many jazz festivals became famous, such as San Francisco, Montreal or Juan-the-Pines, Marciac for France.

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