ch. 10 music from the interwar period (1918-1939) Flashcards
when and where did jazz originate?
new orleans, ~1900
who composed “struttin’ with some barbecue”?
Lillian (Lil) Hardin Armstrong
who performed “struttin’ with some barbecue”?
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
New Orleans jazz
a style of jazz; a rhythm section backs up 3 melodic instrumentalists (usually trumpet/cornet, clarinet, and trombone) who play together in polyphony and call and response, and also as improvising soloists
Louis Armstrong
- 1901-1971
- grew up in Back o’ Town (NOLA)
- learned from Joe “King” Oliver, meets wife pianist Lil Hardin
- became famous in “cutting contests”
- Lil Hardin encouraged him to branch out, improve brand
- 1925 creates band -> Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
head
the melody in jazz
how does it work? (struttin with some barbecue)
p. 275
collective improvisation
several musicians improvising together in polyphony
the Original Dixieland Jass Band
a group of white musicians from NOLA formed in 1917. first recording to bear the designation of “jass”. controversy as they tried to claim credit for inventing jazz
scat singing
- Louis Armstrong was highly influential in its development and popularity
- vocal improvisations using vocables to imitate the sounds of musical instruments
lindy hop
an energetic dance style, danced to swing
what instruments did big bands consist of
- 5 saxophones
- 4/5 trombones
- 4/5 trumpets
- rhythm section including drums, bass, piano, and guitar
big bands
a term for large jazz ensembles which played swing. they appeared on radio, jukeboxes, and record players
edward kennedy “duke” ellington
- 1899-1974
- his big band, beginning in the late 1920’s, was one of the most well known
- most significant composer/bandleader of the swing period
- 1927 career in Cotton Club, radio broadcasts make him a national figure
- “jungle music”
who composed “Black and Tan Fantasy”?
Duke Ellington and trumpet player Bubber Miley
how does it work (black and tan fantasy)
p. 283
swing
jazz-inspired music that initially develops in the late 1920’s by Black dance bands in NYC, Chicago, and Kansas City
jukeboxes
coin operated record players
themes commonly found in country music
wanderlust, vehicles, prison/outlaws, family, common man, values, God, drinking/partying, (heterosexual) love
who would most often sing country mus?
rural white folks
characteristic instruments of country music
guitar, fiddle, banjo, steel guitar
what performance techniques do country singers often use?
Southern accent, yodeling
who wrote and sung “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”?
Hank Williams (1923-1953)
how does it work (im so lonesome i could cry)
p. 308
hillbilly music
began in the 1920s in Appalachia + was labeled “folk” or “old-time”
* developed out of the folk songs, ballads, and dance music of immigrants from the British Isles
* was later rechristened “country and western” or “country”
how did the radio contribute to the rapid growth of hillbilly/country music?
farmers and working-class people who couldn’t afford a phonograph and multiple records were able to purchase a radio
first successful hillbilly record
“Fiddlin’ John Carson” (1923); discovered by Ralph Peer (Okeh Records)
which instrument creates the signature “twang” sound associated with country music?
steel guitar (there’s lap steel guitar and pedal steel guitar)
first generation country music
the Carter Family
* born in isolated foothills of the Clinch Mountains of Virginia
* Sara -> lead vocals, guitar, autoharp
* (sara’s husband) A.D. “Doc” Carter -> bass
* (sara’s cousin) Maybelle -> sang harmony, guitar, autoharp, developed an influential guitar style
* “Wildwood Flower” -> recorded by Ralph Peer
Jimmie Rodgers
- known as The Father of Country Music, the Singing Brakeman, The Blue Yodeler
- combined folk, hillbilly, and blues w/ a bit of jazz+yodeling
- credited for bringing “hillbilly” into the mainstream
- first recordings w/ Ralph Peer at the Bristol Sessions (1927)
- recorded 100+ songs before dying of tuberculosis in 1933
- one of the first 3 to be inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame
Grand Ole Opry
- a radio broadcast show featuring “barn dance”
- continues today as a legendary institution attracting the best established and aspiring country performers
honky-tonk music
- featured fiddle, acoustic rhythm guitar, bass, electric lead guitar, and lap steel guitar
- influenced by jazz and rhythm&blues
- developed in bars frequented by the working-class in the Southwest, especially Texas, Oklahoma, California
Hank Williams
- honky-tonk music, 2nd gen country
- called “The Singing Kid”
- professional career on radio at age 14
- learned guitar from Black blues musician Rufus Payne
- evokes myth of the lard-living, hard-loving rambler
- alcoholism
- born in Alabama
steel pans
in 1940s Trinidad, musicians began to make instruments out of metal cans and barrels, turning them into pitched percussion instruments by pounding/hammering the surface in a way that subdivides it into smaller areas, each of which can be tuned
steelbands
large ensembles of various types of steel pans, usually made from 55-gal oil drums, plus a rhythm section called the “engine room”
* up to 100 members each
Panorama
trinidadian steel pan competition. show off ability, cool arrangements, compete for sponsorships
“engine room” in a steelband
drum set, congas, vehicle brake drum (“iron”), cowbell, metal scrapers, tambourine, woodblock, maracas, etc
* sets the groove with a short, repeated rhythmic pattern
pans in steelband
tenor, double tenor, double second, guitar, cello, tenor bass, six bass
* tenors play melody, doubles do counter-melodies/harmonies
* guitar + cello play chords
* basses do bassline (tenor has 4 drums, six bass has 6)
how does it work (“Mystery Band” by the Renegades Steel Orchestra)
p. 329
groove
a steady, nearly uninterrupted groove
Calypso
a style of song that developed in Trinidad in the early 20th century as an Afro-Trinidadian form of social commentary on living conditions in a society under European colonial rule. in calypso, a singer is backed up by a band + draws on humor and wordplay to entertain audiences
what caused the invention of the steel pan?
- West African talking drum traditions
- Canboulay riots in 1881 caused skin drums to be banned
- these were replaced w/ tamboo bamboo ensembles
- in the 40s people started making drums out of 55-gal oil barrels
