Jazz Midterm Flashcards
What city did jazz music originate in?
New Orleans
Who was one of the very first jazz band leaders and musicians and early ‘inventor’ of jazz music?
Buddy Bolden
What is one of the most important jobs, or roles, of a bassist in a jazz group?
Keeping the time and groove consistent, ‘Walking’ bass lines, often with quarter notes, through a tune’s chord changes.
New Orleans is known as the:
Crescent City
Which one of these musicians was a great early jazz era pianist and composer from New Orleans?
Jelly Roll Morton
What is the musical term for a trombonist sliding up to a note?
Glissando
What does the musical term vibrato mean?
Moving the pitch up and down of a single note to create an interesting effect.
Which early jazz musician, trumpet player, and band leader hired a young Louis Armstrong to be in his group?
King Oliver
Congo Square, where many African dance and music inspired performances took place in the 18th century, was located in which city?
New Orleans
Congo Square, where many African dance and music inspired performances took place in the 18th century, was located in which city?
New Orleans
Besides drum sticks, what other items do jazz drummers often use to keep time with, especially when playing at softer volume?
Brushes
How many measures does a typical jazz blues have in it’s form?
12
What does ‘Polyrhythm’ mean?
The simultaneous use of contrasting
rhythms.
‘AABA’ is a common form of a:
32 bar popular song, where each letter equals 8 bars.
Which vocalist in early jazz music was known as “The Mother of the Blues”?
Ma Rainey
Of the names below, who was one of the greatest Ragtime pianists and composers?
Scott Joplin
A composition is:
An original song written by a composer
An arrangement is:
Taking a song or melody and creating and expanding the way it’s played, often with new harmonies, melodic lines and multiple instruments. A big band or a string orchestra is a perfect example of the sound of
arrangements in music.
One of the great early jazz musicians,
Sidney Bechet played what instrument?
Soprano saxophone
Which famous female vocalist did we listen to in class sing the standard “All Of Me”
Billy Holiday
Which great big band leader famously wrote arrangements high-lighting the sound of specific musicians his band?
Duke Ellington
The original composition by Billy Strayhorn, that we listened to Duke Ellington play in class, was called ‘UMMG’. What does this title stand for?
Upper Manhattan Medical Group
Which famous American songbook composer, mainly writing in the 1920’s-40s’, wrote many popular songs not only for jazz musicians, but also for symphony orchestra, including an opera called “Porgy and Bess”.
George Gershwin
What was the name of the famous, yet segregated, Harlem nightclub in NYC that helped launch Duke Ellington’s career?
The Cotton Club
Who wrote the tune ‘Take The A Train’?
Billy Strayhorn
The 1920’s and 1930’s was when big bands were the most popular form of popular music in the U.S. This time period in jazz history is known as:
The Jazz Era
A ‘rhythm section’ refers to
what combination of instruments?
Piano, guitar, bass and drums
How many musicians are in a
typical jazz big band?
18
What great, super swinging big band leader hailed from Red Bank, New Jersey?
Count Basie
Who was considered the first major soloist and star of jazz music?
(Hint: he played trumpet and sang, and grew up in New Orleans)
Louis Armstrong
Which tenor saxophonist helped popularize the saxophone as a major jazz instrument with his famous 1939 recording of “Body and Soul”
Coleman Hawkins
What was Louis Armstrong’s nickname?
Satchmo
What instrument did the great inventor of Bebop music, Charlie Parker, play?
Alto saxophone
What was the tenor saxophonist Lester Young nickname?
Prez
Who did we listen to in class play a version of the song “Just Friends” with string arrangements?
Charlie Parker
Around the time of WW2, The invention of Bebop music featuring mostly smaller groups, ushered in the end of which era of jazz?
Swing Era and big bands
Which great pianist did we listen to
in class, who also was one of the fathers
of Bebop music and played and recorded
with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie?
Bud Powell
Bebop jazz tended to be played by mainly:
Small groups - trios, quartets &
quintets
Which trumpet player below was also one
of the inventors/creators of bebop music?
He played trumpet in many groups
with Charlie Parker, and also wrote a lot
of great bebop tunes.
Dizzy Gillespie
Which bebop tenor saxophonist did we
listen to in class playing one of his original
tunes called “Cheese Cake”?
Dexter Gordon
Did Count Basie write his own arrangements
for his big band?
No, he hired professional arrangers like
Neal Hefti to write his big band arrangments.
( and in the early days of the Basie big band, the players
in the band would improvise arrangements on the spot.)
Did Duke Ellington write his own arrangements
for his big band?
Yes, always.
Where did Harry Carney play his baritone sax in 1958?
In Holland (featured in Duke Ellington’s “sophisticated lady”)
