Lecture 5: Jazz

Question 1

WW1 (1914-1918)

Answer 1

• good for economy
• technology = blessing and a curse
• immigrants diversify the US

Question 2

post WWI (1918-1939)

Answer 2

• great depression
• friction of ethnic diversity
• racist organizations thrive
• cars became a symbol of independence
• unified pop culture (tin pan alley, phonograph, radio, rise of broadway)

Question 3

technology and the music business

Answer 3

• records before the great depression, then radio bc its cheaper and films
• licensing and copyright agencies

Question 4

rise of radio

Answer 4

• 1920-1927
• NBC was the first national commercial radio network

Question 5

rise of film

Answer 5

• jazz singer was the first film with sound
• by 1930s there are hundreds of musicals

Question 6

licensing and copyright agencies

Answer 6

• control production and exposure
• who gets the profit

Question 7

james europe

Answer 7

• influential black musicion of the early 1900s
• music director for vernon and irene castle

Question 8

vernon and irene castle

Answer 8

• broadway dance sensations
• james europe
• brought tango/ragtime dance to the average household

Question 9

castle house rag

Answer 9

• violins, cellos, banjos, brass, winds, percussion
• lots of instruments to create contrast in the piece + play over talking and dancing of people
• ragtime and march inspired

Question 10

Jazz

Answer 10

• originally called jass or hot music
• 1900 in new orleans
• hybrid musical culture - white, creole, black (black musicians lived uptown, creole musicians lived downtown and had more formal musical training)

Question 11

genres that influenced jazz

Answer 11

ragtime, march, habanera, tin pan alley, spirituals, blues

Question 12

instrumental roles of jazz

Answer 12

• cornet: main melody
• clarinet: counter melody
• trombone: bass line, slides
• piano: chords, keeps us from getting lost
• drums: heartbeat

Question 13

original dixieland jazz band

Answer 13

• white group lead by nic larocca (the cornest)
• first jazz recording ever - sparked a national fad
• tiger rag

Question 14

tiger rag

Answer 14

• dixieland jazz band
• pre-planned improvisation
• stop-time technique (everyone pauses to let one person improvise)
• shout chorus - last section of a piece where music climaxes

Question 15

the creole jazz band

Answer 15

• black group led by king joe oliver (cornest)
• first recording by black musicions from new orleans

Question 16

dipper mouth

Answer 16

• the creole jazz band
• mature jazz style
• pervasive swing and syncopation
• relaxed, smooth, identifiable melody + harmony

Question 17

louis armstrong

Answer 17

• developed jazz singer’s “swing”
• student of king joe oliver, 2nd cornet in the creole jazz band
• west end blues

Question 18

west end blues

Answer 18

• louis armstrong
• jazz is now an expressive art form
• 12-bar blues form
• prolonged improvisation
• scat singing for the first time