Final Exam Flashcards
Complex harmony, chromaticism, fast, explosive, virtuosic, and contrafacts.
Characteristics of bebop
New melody over existing chord changes.
Contrafact
Hosted nightly jam sessions and supplied innovations to bebop. 118th street in Harlem
Minton’s Playhouse
Random, surprise bass drum attacks created by drummer Papa Jo Jones.
Dropping Bombs
Iconic and revolutionary figures of bebop. Ambassadors to bebop rather than inventors. Played in Billy Eckstine’s band where they met Miles Davis.
Charlie “Bird” Parker
Dizzy Gillespie
Most refined and talented bebop pianist. Early years of classical and stride piano. Combines modern harmony in compositional style.
Bud Powell
Had an acting career. 1st to adopt bebop language to Tenor Sax. Influenced John Coltrane. Died of kidney failure.
Dexter Gordon
Rhythmically light, laid back improvs, calm timbre, minimal vibrato, sophisticated and classically based harmonies.
Characteristics of cool jazz
Album by Miles Davis recorded in 1949-1950 released in 1957
Birth Of The Cool
Also known as cool jazz. Associated with white musicians who relocated to California. Heavy classical influence.
West Coast Jazz
Created Third Stream Jazz. Jazz as a classical music.
Miles Davis and Gil Evans
Important composer and arranger for the Claude Thornhill Band, Stan Kenton Orchestra. Adopted bebop language to Baritone Sax.
Gerry Mulligan
Introduced odd meters, polytonality, brought jazz to colleges, and was a social activist.
Dave Brubeck
East coast school of jazz. Embodies the east coast attitude and resists exploration. Dark, heavy passionate timbres.
Characteristics of hard bop
Central figure to hard bop. Press rolls which are intense rumbling of snare drums that boost energy of a soloist. Formed The Jazz Messengers quintet in 1953. Assumed leadership in 1956
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Pianist and composer who was a co-founder of The Jazz Messengers. Combined bop with gospel blues. Inspired funky soul jazz.
Horace Silver
Trumpet player with beautiful tone, virtuous technique, and extremely creative. Formed the last great bebop group.
Clifford Brown
Tenor sax player with brawny timbre, creative energy, authoritative rhythm.
Sonny Rollins
Self-taught piano player influenced by stride. Center of bebop at Minton’s Playhouse. Joined Coleman Hawkins quartet. Possibly had Asperger’s syndrome. 2nd most recorded jazz composer.
Thelonious Monk
Early gospel influence. Bassist with many styles and accomplished virtuoso. Expanded American music scope as a composer. As a spokesman jazz was relevant to civil rights.
Charles Mingus
Architect for Kind of Blue. Miles was a big fan. Piano voicings.
Bill Evans
Fascination with scales. Joined Miles Davis 1950’s quintet. Fired by Miles due to his drug addiction. Worked with Thelonious Monk and rehired by Miles Davis. Beautiful glowing timbre. Emotional urgency. Popularized soprano sax.
John Coltrane
Atmospheric free jazz to African-American popular grooves. Rooted in the Miles Davis experience. Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius.
Weather Report
Important post-bop musician and composer. Combines jazz and funk. Piano player who expanded fusion.
Herbie Hancock
Difficult and highly idiosyncratic. Miles Davis electric groups. Played at the Koln Concert.
Keith Jarrett
Experimented with jazz, rock, and Brazilian music. First Latin oriented group.
Chick Corea & Return to Forever
1980’s representing a renaissance or return to tradition. A work of art must be viewed within the context of the place and time of its creation.
New Historicism
Analyzing works of art as sufficient unto themselves.
New Criticism
1) revival of entire idioms
2) original music that celebrates the past
3) modernist interpretations of jazz classics
Categories of Historicism
Pays homage to the history while moving forward.
Neoclassical Jazz
Virtuosic classical and jazz trumpeter. 1980’s quintet. Blood on the Fields 1997 Pulitzer.
Wynton Marsalis
Second wave of Avant-Garde jazz musicians. Musicians look to past to vary its music.
Avant-Garde Historicism
Four Phases of development
Phase 1 Genesis and Creation
Phase 2 Transition to popular music
Phase 3 Imagination and experimentation
Phase 4 Academia and history
Pulls together all the various schools of jazz. The language that all jazz musicians share. Mainly stems from bebop and history.
Lingua Franca
Best representation of Lingua Franca and modern individuality in jazz today. Represents life after history rather than history in the making. Represent different geographical locations.
Jazz Pianists
