Jazz Unit Flashcards
In what time period was jazz the shit?
1910’s - 1950’s
Who were the major SINGERS in jazz?
Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin, Bessy Smith, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., and Billie Holiday!
Who were the major INSTRUMENTALISTS in jazz?
Miles Davis (trumpet), Louis Armstrong (trumpet), John Coltrane (saxophone), Bix Beiderbecke (piano), Dizzy Gillespie (trombone), and Bill Evans (piano)!
Who were the major COMPOSERS in jazz?
George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk, Irving Berlin, and Chet Baker!
What instruments are used in jazz?
The saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass, and drums.
What family of instruments is the Saxophone a part of?
The woodwind family! - NOT brass
What instruement is played by pushing air between a reed and mouthpiece at different speeds?
The saxophone.
What does pushing air in the saxophone do?
It creates octave change.
If you unbent a trumpet how long would it be?
6 ½ feet.
What factors contribute to changing pitch on a trumpet?
The position of lips on the mouthpiece– NOT the amount of air pushed onto a reed. AND the buzzing of lips.
How does buzzing your lips impact the sound of the trumpet?
The faster the vibration and smaller the airway the higher the sound and vica versa for the low end of sound.
How is sound changed on a woodwind?
By changing the amount of air pushed onto the reed.
Which brass instrument has the biggest range?
The trombone due to the size of the mouthpiece.
How is sound changed on the trombone?
The adjustment of lip buzz, airway size and position of the slide on the trombone contribute to a change in pitch and octave.
How is sound made on the trombone?
By sliding the slide bar– instead of valves–, buzzing lips, and the size of airway.
What is the feeling usually emitted from the trombone in jazz music?
Weak, sad, crying, etc.
What are some words that describe the piano?
Bright (beautiful), Mello (Rich), Big (Grand)
How many keys is the piano comprised of?
88 white and black keys.
How is sound created on the piano?
By pressing down on the keys which makes a hammer thrust into tuned strings.
What is the most versatile instrument in jazz?
The piano because of its ability to both blend in tone, play solos and perform up to 10 notes in one given rhythm.
How is the string bass played in jazz?
By plucking the strings with one hand and holding the ridges at the top with the other.
How is sound created on the string bass?
By vibrating tightly adjusted strings which emanate sound through a sound board that echoes from the center of the instrument.
What is lowest of every instrument in the string family and every instrument played in most jazz music?
The string bass.
What is the most important fact about the bass in jazz music?
It’s the lowest pitched instrument in the Jazz band and is the anchor for almost every song.
How are the drums played?
Using multiple drums sticks ranging from hard end to soft depending on the tempo, style and mood of the song being played.
What is the primary rhythmic instrument in jazz music along with the string bass?
The drums.
What instrument in the jazz band is the primary source of tempo, rhythm and beat?
The drums.
How is jazz harmony and theory unique?
It often extends beyond normal major and minor chords, often adding extensions. Most common extensions are the 7th scale degree and the occasional 2nd and 6th.
Does jazz use swing eighths or normal eighths?
Swing eighths. – Inspired by Cuban dance music.
Describe the difference between straight eighths and swung eighths.
Straight eights follow a 1, 2 beat making it very robotic. Swing eighths follow a 1, 2, 3 beat; swings from highs to lows making it dance-able.
Which two intervals are usually active in jazz chords?
3rd & 7th
Where did jazz rise to fame?
New Orleans!
How was New Orleans different and why did it accept jazz while it was slandered?
It was strongly Afro-Cuban influenced and had a strong liberal presence flooded in a culture of music and celebration.
Why did jazz rise in Louisiana?
Offered education to African Americans.
Why was music such an active part of the culture in New Orleans?
The culture was heavily drenched in celebration and festivals.
Why were many different minority groups in the area attracted to New Orleans?
African Americans grew the culture of brass big bands and were very involved in the city’s culture.
How did brass big bands grow in the town?
They collaborated with groups that were meant to help emancipated African Americans post Civil War.
What two groups of people got together to grow Jazz culture in the city of New Orleans?
African Americans and Cuban immigrants.
What was the prominent way that jazz grew and expanded throughout New Orleans and further?
Dance and celebration.
How did the genre’s execution change as the style grew?
It become something that was no longer played by highly trained musicians and grew into every neighborhood and community inside and outside New Orleans creating a “porch concert” atmosphere.
What actively helped jazz grow in New Orleans?
Porch concerts, dance and celebration, brass big bands, etc.
Who and when was the first jazz recording?
The Original Dixieland Band, in 1917 New York.
What was Louie Armstrong’s main contribution to the Jazz genre in terms of changing how things were done in Jazz bands?
He developed a style apart from the brass band feel which changed started highlighting soloists in jazz.
How did Jazz originate from African music and cultures?
Jazz music was based on African American Spirituals– songs conceived and sung exclusively by slaves while working.
How did Creoles in the 1800’s change African American spirituals to help create Jazz music?
Creoles used it as the foundation of their early performing days and advanced these spiritual traditions from their simple forms to more advanced forms.
Who was Scott Joplin?
A ragtime composer who is considered the most prolific composer of the sub-genre.
What is a rag?
A piece of music written for the genre Ragtime. Known as black music and unsuitable for upper-class white citizens.
Why was Ragtime not widely accepted in America?
It celebrated the “liberation” of Black people in the U.S. and the Whites were pressed. Not to mention, they would say it was “dirty” music and unsuitable for White ears.
How did jazz travel to big cities?
African Americans and Creoles alike traveled to major cities, and they brought with them the style of jazz music.
How did jazz find its way in cities?
Cities like Chicago and New York were hotspots for Jazz music in the 1920’s. Then it grew into a major continental style of music for all of North America.
What big change happened to jazz and jazz big-bands with the introduction of microphones?
Singers became more common.
What piece of electronic equipment helped the growth of Jazz in big cities?
The microphone.
Where was vocal music almost exclusively in prior to jazz?
In classical music for the popular medium.
What is crooning?
A vocal technique in jazz music where the singer would sing in smooth tones songs that are mostly on both sides of the emotional spectrum.
What sort of topics do crooning songs cover?
Most Crooning songs cover light topics meant to entertain and relax the listener or deeper and more emotional material like rejection, loss and even death.
How did Crooning advance the jazz genre?
It added another layer of depth; singing.
Why is Crooning considered cultural appropriation?
The White folk were all over it and were recognized for it.
What is scating?
The practice of singing random sounds and syllables along to a melody that is entirely created by the performer NOT the composer.
What is improvisation in jazz?
The art of using your own musical intuition to create the sound delivered in performance. Something ENTIRELY created by the performer(s).
What was America’s most popular style of music in the 30’s, 40’s and early 1950’s?
Jazz, babe, jazz.
How did crooning grow in popularity?
Crooning became a popular event in nightclubs and concert halls and theatres across the country. Not to mention, popular radio stations across the nation would play crooning jazz music– along with big-band jazz music by the likes of Duke Ellington and Count Bassie and his Orchestra.
