Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression, it emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes and response vocals and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms"; as jazz spread around the world, it drew on national and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation.
In the 1930s arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, a hard-swinging, improvisational style and Gypsy jazz were the prominent styles. Bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging "musician's music", played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed near the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, linear melodic lines; the 1950s saw the emergence of free jazz, which explored playing without regular meter and formal structures, in the mid-1950s, hard bop emerged, which introduced influences from rhythm and blues and blues in the saxophone and piano playing. Modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock music's rhythms, electric instruments, amplified stage sound. In the early 1980s, a commercial form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful, garnering significant radio airplay.
Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Afro-Cuban jazz. The origin of the word "jazz" has resulted in considerable research, its history is well documented, it is believed to be related to "jasm", a slang term dating back to 1860 meaning "pep, energy". The earliest written record of the word is in a 1912 article in the Los Angeles Times in which a minor league baseball pitcher described a pitch which he called a "jazz ball" "because it wobbles and you can't do anything with it"; the use of the word in a musical context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a musical context in New Orleans was in a November 14, 1916 Times-Picayune article about "jas bands". In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, "When Broadway picked it up, they called it'J-A-Z-Z', it wasn't called that. It was spelled'J-A-S-S'; that was dirty, if you knew what it was, you wouldn't say it in front of ladies."
The American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz is difficult to define because it encompasses a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years, from ragtime to the rock-infused fusion. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, such as European music history or African music, but critic Joachim-Ernst Berendt argues that its terms of reference and its definition should be broader, defining jazz as a "form of art music which originated in the United States through the confrontation of the Negro with European music" and arguing that it differs from European music in that jazz has a "special relationship to time defined as'swing'". Jazz involves "a spontaneity and vitality of musical production in which improvisation plays a role" and contains a "sonority and manner of phrasing which mirror the individuality of the performing jazz musician". In the opinion of Robert Christgau, "most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz".
A broader definition that encompasses different eras of jazz has been proposed by Travis Jackson: "it is music that includes qualities such as swing, group interaction, developing an'individual voice', being open to different musical possibilities". Krin Gibbard argued that "jazz is a construct" which designates "a number of musics with enough in common to be understood as part of a coherent tradition". In contrast to commentators who have argued for excluding types of jazz, musicians are sometimes reluctant to define the music they play. Duke Ellington, one of jazz's most famous figures, said, "It's all music." Although jazz is considered difficult to define, in part because it contains many subgenres, improvisation is one of its defining elements. The centrality of improvisation is attributed to the influence of earlier forms of music such as blues, a form of folk music which arose in part from the work songs and field hollers of African-American slaves on plantations; these work songs were structured around a repetitive call-and-response pattern, but early blues was improvisational.
Classical music performance is evaluated more by its fidelity to the musical score, with less attention given to interpretation and accompaniment. The classical performer's goal is to play the composition. In contrast, jazz is characterized by the product of i
Bob Haggart
Robert Sherwood Haggart was a dixieland jazz double bass player and arranger. Although he is associated with dixieland, he was one of the finest rhythm bassists of the Swing Era. In 1935, Haggart became a member of the Bob Crosby Band, he arranged and composed "Big Noise from Winnetka", "My Inspiration", "What's New?", "South Rampart Street Parade". He remained with the band until it dissolved in 1942 began working as session musician, with much of his time spent at Decca Records, he recorded with Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald. He and Yank Lawson formed the Lawson-Haggart Band, they led the World's Greatest Jazz Band from 1968–1978, he appeared at jazz festivals until his death on December 2, 1998 in Florida. From Dixie Big Noise from Winnetka Live at the Roosevelt Grill What's New? Makes a Sentimental Journey Enjoys Carolina in the Morning A Portrait of Bix Hag Leaps In The All-Stars at Bob Haggart's 80th Birthday Party The Piano Giants at Bob Haggart's 80th Birthday Party The Music of Bob Haggart Kragting, Ben.
"Bob Haggart Interview". Doctor Jazz Magazine: 10–13. Kragting, Ben. "Bob Haggart Interview". Doctor Jazz Magazine: 10–15. Bob Haggart discography at Discogs Bob Haggart on IMDb Bob Haggart at Find a Grave Bob Haggart Interview NAMM Oral History Library
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most used saxophones; the tenor is pitched in the key of B♭, written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F♯ key have a range from A♭2 to E5 and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists"; the tenor saxophone uses a larger mouthpiece and ligature than the alto and soprano saxophones. Visually, it is distinguished by the bend in its neck, or its crook, near the mouthpiece; the alto saxophone lacks its neck goes straight to the mouthpiece. The tenor saxophone is most recognized for its ability to blend well with the soprano and baritone saxophones, with its "husky" yet "bright" tone; the tenor saxophone is used in classical music, military bands, marching bands and jazz.
It is included in pieces written for symphony orchestra. In concert bands, the tenor plays a supporting role, sometimes sharing parts with the euphonium and trombone. In jazz ensembles, the tenor plays a more prominent role as a member of a section that includes the alto and baritone saxes. Many of the most innovative and influential jazz musicians have been tenor saxophonists; these include Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. The work of younger players such as Michael Brecker and Chris Potter has been an important influence in more recent jazz; the tenor saxophone is one of a family of fourteen instruments designed and constructed in 1846 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian-born instrument maker and clarinetist. Based on an amalgam of ideas drawn from the clarinet, flute and ophicleide, the saxophone was intended to form a tonal link between the woodwinds and brass instruments found in military bands, an area that Sax considered sorely lacking.
Sax's patent, granted on 28 June 1846, divided the family into two groups of seven instruments, each ranging from alto down to contrabass. One family, pitched alternatively in B♭ and E♭, was designed to integrate with the other instruments common in military bands; the tenor saxophone, pitched in B♭, is the fourth member of this family. The tenor saxophone, like all saxophones, consists of an conical tube of thin brass, a type of metal; the wider end of the tube is flared to form a bell, while the narrower end is connected to a single reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. At intervals down the bore are placed between 23 tone holes. There are two small speaker holes which, when opened, disrupt the lower harmonics of the instrument and cause it to overblow into an upper register; the pads are controlled by pressing a number of keys with the fingers of the left and right hands. The original design of tenor saxophone had a separate octave key for each speaker hole, in the manner of the bassoon.
Although a handful of novelty tenors have been constructed'straight', like the smaller members of the saxophone family, the unwieldy length of the straight configuration means that all tenor saxophones feature a'U-bend' above the third-lowest tone hole, characteristic of the saxophone family. The tenor saxophone is curved at the top, above the highest tone-hole but below the highest speaker hole. While the alto is bent only through 80–90° to make the mouthpiece fit more in the mouth, the tenor is bent a little more in this section, incorporating a slight S-bend; the mouthpiece of the tenor saxophone is similar to that of the clarinet, an wedge-shaped tube, open along one face and covered in use by a thin strip of material prepared from the stem of the giant cane known as a reed. The reed is shaved to come to an thin point, is clamped over the mouthpiece by the use of a ligature; when air is blown through the mouthpiece, the reed vibrates and generates the acoustic resonances required to produce a sound from the instrument.
The mouthpiece is the area of the saxophone with the greatest flexibility in shape and style, so the timbre of the instrument is determined by the dimensions of its mouthpiece. The design of the mouthpiece and reed play a big role in. Classical mouthpieces help produce a warmer and rounder tone, while jazz mouthpieces help produce a brighter and edgier tone. Materials used in mouthpiece construction include plastic and various metals e.g. bronze and stainless steel. The mouthpiece of the tenor saxophone is proportionally larger than that of the alto, necessitating a larger reed; the increased stiffness of the reed and the greater airflow required to establish resonance in the larger body means the tenor sax requires greater lung power but a looser embouchure than the higher-pitched member
Mustang! (Donald Byrd album)
Mustang! is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd featuring performances by Byrd with Sonny Red, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Walter Booker, Freddie Waits recorded in 1966 and released on the Blue Note label in 1967 as BLP 4238. The CD reissue included two bonus tracks recorded in 1964; the Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars and stated "Byrd performs high-quality straight-ahead jazz that fits the modern mainstream of the era". All compositions by Donald Byrd except as indicated"Mustang" - 8:30 "Fly Little Bird Fly" - 5:27 "I Got It Bad" - 5:54 "Dixie Lee" - 6:43 "On the Trail" - 7:44 "I'm So Excited by You" - 5:41 "Gingerbread Boy" - 9:01 Bonus track on CD reissue "I'm So Excited by You" - 7:17 Bonus track on CD reissueRecorded on November 18, 1964 and June 24, 1966. Tracks 1-6 Donald Byrd - trumpet Sonny Red - alto saxophone - except track 3 Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone McCoy Tyner - piano Walter Booker - bass Freddie Waits - drumsTracks 7-8 Donald Byrd - trumpet McCoy Tyner - piano Jimmy Heath - tenor saxophone Walter Booker - bass Joe Chambers - drums
Paul Chambers
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the extent of his work in this short period, but by his impeccable timekeeping and intonation, virtuosic improvisations, he was known for his bowed solos. Chambers recorded about a dozen albums as a leader or co-leader, as a sideman, notably as the anchor of trumpeter Miles Davis's "first great quintet" and with pianist Wynton Kelly. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 22, 1935, to Paul Lawrence Chambers and Margaret Echos, he was brought up in Michigan following the death of his mother. He began playing music with several of his schoolmates on the baritone horn, he took up the tuba. "I got along pretty well, but it's quite a job to carry it around in those long parades, I didn't like the instrument that much". Chambers became a string bassist around 1949, his formal bass training began in earnest in 1952, when he began taking lessons with a bassist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Chambers did some classical playing himself, with a rehearsal group called the Detroit String Band. He studied at Cass Technical High School intermittently from 1952 to 1955, played in Cass' symphony, in various other student groups, in one of which he played baritone saxophone; when he left for New York City at the invitation of tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette, he had a working knowledge of many instruments. Jazz bass players were limited to timekeeping with drums, until Duke Ellington's bassist Jimmy Blanton began a transformation in the instrument's role at the end of the 1930s. Chambers was about 15 years old when he started to listen to Charlie Parker and Bud Powell, his first jazz influences. Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown were the first bassists he admired, these were followed by Percy Heath, Milt Hinton and Wendell Marshall for their rhythm section work, Charles Mingus and George Duvivier for their technical prowess and for their efforts in broadening the scope of jazz bass. Blanton was his all-time favorite.
Chambers played his first gig at a bar in the Hastings Street area. He played in clubs with Thad Jones, Barry Harris and others. From 1954 on through 1955, he gained significance touring with such musicians as Bennie Green, George Wallington, J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding. In 1955 he joined the Miles Davis quintet and stayed with the group until 1963, he appeared including Kind of Blue. One of Chambers's most noted performances was on that album's first track, "So What", which opens with a brief duet featuring Chambers and pianist Bill Evans. Chambers' contribution on Kind of Blue is considered to be some of the most rhythmically and harmonically supportive bass playing in the history of jazz. From 1963 until 1968 Chambers played with the Wynton Kelly trio, he freelanced as a sideman for other important names in jazz throughout his career. During the course of his lifetime Paul Chambers developed addictions to both heroin, he was hospitalized at the end of 1968 with what was thought to be a severe case of influenza, but tests revealed that he in fact had tuberculosis.
As his organ functions deteriorated, Chambers lapsed into a coma for 18 days. It is believed that his addictions to alcoholism contributed to his health problems. On January 4, 1969 he died of tuberculosis aged 33. Chambers' accompaniment and solos with Davis and other leaders remain influential, he and Slam Stewart were among the first jazz bassists to perform bowed features. From his role in the Davis band, Chambers was the bassist in two rhythm sections; the first, with Red Garland on piano and Philly Joe Jones on drums, came to be known as "the rhythm section," that name featured on a celebrated album by saxophonist Art Pepper, Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. The second, with Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb, made many sessions as a unit, recording albums with John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, by themselves under Kelly's name on albums such as Kelly Blue. Paul Chambers was in great demand as a session musician, played on numerous albums during the period he was active including such landmarks as Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners, Coltrane's Giant Steps, Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth.
Many musicians wrote songs dedicated to Chambers. Long-time fellow Davis bandmate, pianist Red Garland, wrote the tune "The P. C. Blues", Coltrane's song "Mr. P. C." is named after Chambers. Tommy Flanagan wrote "Big Paul", performed on the Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane Prestige 1958 LP. Max Roach wrote a drum solo called "Five For Paul", on a 1977 drum solo LP recorded in Japan, Sonny Rollins wrote "Paul's Pal" for him as well. In an interview fellow bassist Charlie Haden recalled his admiration to Chambers: "he first guy, distinctive to me—when I was 19 or so—was Paul Chambers, who I heard on all those Prestige and Riverside records. There’s an underrated player! He had a way of playing chromatic notes in his bass lines, just unreal, he would go up into the high register, skip down, tying it together… He had this great sound, this great time." Chambers' Music Whims Of Chambers Westlake Bounce The Music Of John Graas Paul Chambers Quintet Bass on Top High Step We Three 1st Bassman Go! Paul Chambers discography at Discogs Paul Chambers on IMDb Paul Chambers at Find a Grave
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan was an American jazz tenor saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, some rhythm and blues groups, he moved to New York City in 1957. He recorded with Horace Silver, J. J. Johnson, Kenny Dorham, among others, he was part of the Charles Mingus Sextet, during its 1964 European tour. Jordan toured Africa with Randy Weston, performed in Paris while living in Belgium. In years, he led his own groups, performed with Cedar Walton's quartet Eastern Rebellion, led a big band. Jordan was married to Shirley Jordan, a designer and former owner of Clothing Manufacturing Corporation in New York, he married Sandy Jordan, a graphic artist and Honorary Founders Board member of the Jazz Foundation of America. Jordan died of lung cancer at the age of 61 in New York City. 1957: Blowing in from Chicago with John Gilmore 1957: Cliff Jordan 1957: Jenkins and Timmons with John Jenkins and Bobby Timmons 1957: Cliff Craft 1960: Spellbound 1961: A Story Tale with Sonny Red 1961: Starting Time 1962: Bearcat 1965: These are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly 1968: Soul Fountain 1972: In the World 1973: Glass Bead Games 1974: Half Note 1975: Night of the Mark VII 1975: On Stage Vol. 1 1975: On Stage Vol. 2 1975: On Stage Vol. 3 1975: Firm Roots 1975: The Highest Mountain 1976: Remembering Me-Me 1977: Inward Fire 1978: The Adventurer 1978: Hello, Hank Jones 1981: Hyde Park After Dark with Victor Sproles, Von Freeman, Cy Touff 1984: Repetition 1984: Dr. Chicago 1984: Two Tenor Winner with Junior Cook 1985: The Rotterdam Session with Philly Joe Jones and James Long 1986: Royal Ballads 1987: Live at Ethell's 1989: Blue Head with David "Fathead" Newman 1989: Masters from Different Worlds with Ran Blake and Julian Priester 1990: Four Play with Richard Davis, James Williams & Ronnie Burrage 1989-90: The Mellow Side of Clifford Jordan 1990: Play What You Feel 1991: Down Through the Years With Paul Chambers Paul Chambers Quintet With Sonny Clark Sonny Clark Quintets With Richard Davis Epistrophy & Now's the Time Dealin' With Eric Dolphy Iron Man Conversations With Art Farmer Mirage You Make Me Smile Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn Blame It on My Youth Ph.
D. Live at Sweet Basil With Dizzy Gillespie To Bird with Love With Slide Hampton Roots With John Hicks and Elise Wood Luminous With Andrew Hill Shades With J. J. Johnson J. J. Inc. With Charles McPherson Con Alma! With Carmen McRae Any Old Time Carmen Sings Monk With Charles Mingus Mingus in Europe Volume I Mingus in Europe Volume II Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy Cornell 1964 Astral Weeks Town Hall Concert Revenge! Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop With Mingus Dynasty Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris, Vol. 1 Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris, Vol. 2 With Lee Morgan Here's Lee Morgan Expoobident Take Twelve With Pony Poindexter Pony's Express With Freddie Redd Lonely City With Dizzy Reece Manhattan Project – with Roy Haynes, Art Davis, Charles Davis, Albert Dailey)With Max Roach Percussion Bitter Sweet It's Time Speak, Speak! With Sahib Shihab The Jazz We Heard Last Summer With Horace Silver Further Explorations With Charles Tolliver Music Inc. With Mal Waldron What It Is With Cedar Walton Spectrum The Electric Boogaloo Song A Night at Boomers, Vol. 1 A Night at Boomers, Vol. 2 The Pentagon With Joe Zawinul Money in the Pocket Clifford Jordan Leader discography, accessed November 7, 2012 Clifford Jordan obituary in the New York Times, accessed January 24, 2019
I'm Tryin' to Get Home
I'm Tryin' to Get Home is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd featuring performances by Byrd with a large brass section and vocalists recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label in 1965 as BLP 4188. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 2 stars and stated "despite some strong moments, the date does not quite reach the heights of A New Perspective although it has plenty of interesting moments". All compositions by Donald Byrd"Brother Isaac" - 4:54 "Noah" - 6:59 "I'm Tryin' to Get Home" - 7:01 "I've Longed and Searched for My Mother" - 8:35 "March Children" - 7:17 "Pearly Gates" - 2:05Recorded on December 17 & December 18, 1964. Donald Byrd - trumpet, flugelhorn Joe Ferrante, Jimmy Owens, Ernie Royal, Clark Terry, Snooky Young - trumpet Jimmy Cleveland, Henry Coker, J. J. Johnson, Benny Powell - trombone Jim Buffington, Bob Northern - french horn Don Butterfield - tuba Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone Herbie Hancock - piano Freddie Roach - organ Grant Green - guitar Bob Cranshaw - bass Grady Tate - drums Duke Pearson - arranger Coleridge Perkinson - director, conductor Unidentified musicians - percussion Unidentified chorus - vocals
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