Jazz Music History and Legendary Musicians

1902: 12-year-old Jelly Roll Morton "invents" jazz and thus begins jazz music history. From the red-light district of New Orleans, Morton combines ragtime, French quadrilles and the hot blues played by Buddy Bolden, the notoriously hard-living cornet player.

1917: The Original Dixieland Band makes the first recording, "Livery Stable Blues." It sells a million copies, launching this new music form. Freddie Keppard rejects the chance to make the first record - he was afraid other musicians would copy his style.

1925: Louis Armstrong "Satchmo", with his Hot Fives and Hot Sevens recordings, revolutionizes this music form, encouraging solo improvisation over ensemble playing.

1929: The swing era rises - Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie's groups.

1935: West 52d St. Manhattan N.Y. becomes the playground for Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk.

1936: At the Congress Hotel, Chicago, Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson sit in with Benny Goodman's ensemble. Two years later, Billie Holiday joins Artie Shaw's band.

1939: While playing "Cherokee" during a Harlem jam session, Charlie Parker happens upon a harmonic discovery that leads to be-bop, a more intricate style, both harmonically and rhythmically.

1943: Ascendency to the concert hall: The first of Duke Ellington's annual Carnegie Hall concerts and the premiere of "Black, Brown and Beige," his influential work about the history of American blacks.

1951: On the heels of Miles Davis's "Birth of the Cool", musicians Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan form the "cool school" - turning down the volume and intensity.

1951: Sidney Bechet relocates to Paris, the first of many American ex-patriates including Kenny Clarke, Arthur Taylor and Bud Powell, where racial tension is less and European audiences were are appreciative.

1954: George Wein, a pianist and singer, rewrites his resume by inviting musicians to Newport, R.I., for the first Newport Festivals.

1956: Ella Fitzgerald makes the first of several "Songbook" recordings for Verve, the impresario Norman Granz's new recording label. The "Songbooks" makes Fitzgerald an international star.

1959: Several records that expand the very possibilities of improvisation: Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue," John Coltrane's "Giant Steps," and Ornette Coleman's "Shape of Jazz to Come."

1964: The avant-garde gains mainstream recognition as Thelonious Monk makes the cover of Time magazine, which christens him the high priest of bebop.

1969: Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew," a primordial jazz-rock fusion record, sells 500,000 copies, turning on many rock fans to the new music form.

1972: New York's "loft" scene blooms, with experimental, post bebop players performing in lofts like Ali's Alley.

1979: On Jan. 5, Charles Mingus dies in Cuernavaca, Mexico, at the age of 56. That same day, 56 whales beach on the Mexican coast.

1984: Virtuoso trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, at 22, wins a Grammy for his "neo-bop" record "Think of One." The same night, with impeccible technique, he takes a Grammy for his recording of classical trumpet concertos.

1991: Marsalis is appointed artistic director of the new Jazz at Lincoln Center program.

Jazz History - Legendary Dixieland Musicians

Dixieland Jazz

Dixieland began in the 1880's in New Orleans. The large marching groups were made up of black jazz musicians and were often used for funeral processions and the large Mardi Gras celebration. The instrumentation of these bands were usually cornets, clarinets, trombones, tubas, banjos and drums. The beauty of Dixieland jazz lies in it's collective improvisation - three lead instruments improvising in a countrapuntal way. Usually one instrument plays the melody while the other two improvise in a melodically blended way, responding to each other, and creating this unique sound.

The earliest recordings are from the 1920's and early 30's. Trumpet player/vocalist Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong was the most important figure of this period. He played with the Hot Five and the Hot Seven. The style of these groups is referred to as New Orleans or Dixieland. It is characterized by collective improvisation - all performers simultaneously play improvised melodic lines. Louis is credited with the invention of scat - singing improvised nonsense syllables. Other notable performers include clarinetist Johnny Dodds, soprano saxophone player Sidney Bechet, trumpeter King Oliver, and trombonist Kid Ory.

Other styles popular during this period were piano jazz, including ragtime, Harlem stride, and boogie-woogie. These styles are distinct, but are characterized by rhythmic, percussive left hand lines and fast, full right hand lines. Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton were early ragtime pioneers. Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson popularized the stride left hand pattern (bass note, chord, bass note, chord). Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis developed this into the faster moving left hand patterns of boogie-woogie. Earl "Fatha" Hines was a pianist who was known for his right hand, in which he did not often play full chords or arpeggios, playing instead "horn-like" melodic lines. Art Tatum is considered to be the greatest pianist and one of the most technically gifted. His harmonic insights paved the way for many after, and is sometimes considered a precursor of bebop.

The Big Bands are normally associated with a slightly later era, but there were several large bands playing during this period, including Fletcher Henderson. Bix Beiderbecke was a cornet soloist who played with several bands and was considered a legend in his time.

Big band Jazz

In the 1930's the nation was at war and there was economic depression. This is the generation when jazz (Big band) crossed the barrier and became "popular" music and was played in ballrooms. The Big band music became more structured as the emphasis was on ensemble playing. There were two types of big bands: the white bands that played refined arrangements and the black bands that emphasized improvisation.

The mid 30's was the swing era and saw Big bands as the popular music of the day. Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Willie Bryant , Bix Beiderbecke , Harry James, Les Brown, Stan Kenton and Count Basie led some of the more popular jazz bands. The styles of these musicians can be summarized by saying they concentrated primarily on playing melodically, on the swing feel, and on the development of an individual sound. The blues was an important element of this music. Most of these musicians recorded in small groups as well as with large ensembles. The small groups are included in the next section - Swing

Jazz History - Legendary Swing Musicians

Swing

The mid 30's was the swing era and saw the Big Bands as the popular music of the day. There were also some important small group swing recordings during the 1930's and 1940's. These differed from earlier small groups because they featured very little collective improvisation. This music emphasized the individual soloist. Goodman, Ellington, and Basie recorded often in these small group settings. Major saxophonists of the era include Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Ben Webster. Trumpet players include Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Cootie Williams, and Charlie Shavers. Pianists include Ellington, Basie, Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, and Oscar Peterson; guitarists include Charlie Christian, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessell, and Django Reinhardt; vibraphonists include Lionel Hampton; bassists include Jimmy Blanton, and Slam Stewart; drummers include Jo Jones. Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald were important singers in this era.

Jazz History - Legendary Bebop Musicians

Bebop Jazz

Bebop jazz is a musical style for virtuoso musicians. This style of jazz produced four changes: it required a greater understanding of jazz theory; complex instrumental melodies were introduced; complicated chords and rhythms were added to the rhythm section; and a cult of serious musicians evolved. The improvisational style shifted from adorning an original melody to organizing new patterns of quick, active, melodic lines. The musical pattern often ended abruptly with two notes, suggesting the word "be-bop". Musicians developed relationships between distended chords and esoteric scales. These notes are called melodic extensions and were added to chords by pianists to add harmonic color.

The birth of bebop jazz in the 1940's is considered the beginning of modern jazz. This style grew out of the small swing groups, but placed a much higher emphasis on technique and on complex harmonies, rather than on singable melodies. Alto saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker was the father of this movement, and trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie ("Diz") was his primary cohort. His quintet and other small group recordings that featured Dizzie and Bird formed the foundation of bebop and most modern jazz.

Jazz History - Legendary Cool Musicians

Cool Jazz

Both jazz and classical music originated in simple dance forms and both have developed these forms into large sophisticated structures. Both musical streams have influenced each other greatly. Third stream represents a formal merger of classical music and jazz. The term was coined to describe music that channeled together jazz and classical elements. Third stream combines jazz and classical composition procedures. Some modern classical composition is melodically angular and harmonically dissonant. This atonal style first appeared when jazz bands turned to classically trained arrangers. Serial or 12 tone techniques invaded jazz compositions in the 1950's and 1960's. It used orchestral instruments such as cellos, oboes, bassoons and French horns and imitates classical music. Avant-garde assimilated the tonal qualities of classical composers such as Wagner, Debussy, Schoenberg and others. Cool jazz composers borrowed the large extended forms of the Baroque and Classical periods.

Although Miles Davis first appeared on the bebop recordings of Charlie Parker, his first important session as a leader was called The Birth Of The Cool. The cool jazz style has been described as a reaction against the fast tempos and the complex melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic ideas of bebop. These ideas were picked up by many west coast musicians, and this style is also called West Coast jazz. This music is generally more relaxed than bebop. Other musicians in this style include saxophonists Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan, and trumpet player Chet Baker. Stan Getz is also credited with the popularization of Brazilian styles such as the bossa nova and samba. These and a few other Latin American styles are sometimes collectively known as Latin jazz.

Jazz History - Legendary Hard Bop Musicians

Hard Bop Jazz

Hard Bop started in the 50's. It has been described as an extension of bebop and a backlash against cool jazz. This style downplayed the technically demanding melodies of bebop without compromising intensity, by maintaining the rhythmic drive of bebop and including blues and gospel music. Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers were the most well-known for this style of jazz. Art Blakey's early groups included pianist Horace Silver, trumpet player Clifford Brown, and saxophonist Lou Donaldson. Clifford Brown also co-led a group with Max Roach that is one of the great quintets in jazz history. Miles Davis also recorded several albums in the early 1950's. There were also groups that included organists, such as Jimmy Smith, with even more blues and gospel influence. Stanley Turrentine was a popular tenor saxophonist of this jazz style.