The Devil’s Music: A History of Jazz
The Devil’s Music: A History of Jazz is a new blog that explores the history and origins of this musical genre. Learn about the different styles of jazz and the artists who created them.
Origins of Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States. It originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as “America’s classical music”.
New Orleans
New Orleans is widely regarded as the birthplace of jazz. The earliest form of the music emerged here in the early 1900s, as musicians combined elements of European marching band music with African folk traditions. One of the most important early jazz musicians was Louis Armstrong, who was born in New Orleans in 1901. He started out playing cornet in the city’s street bands, and went on to become one of the most influential jazz trumpet players of all time.
Ragtime and the blues
Ragtime was the first distinctly American musical style and it began in the last decade of the 19th century. It was a descendant of the music played by bands on Mississippi riverboats, music that combined elements of European march music with African rhythms. The first ragtime musician to achieve fame was Scott Joplin, who wrote such classics as “The Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer.”
Jazz began to develop in the early 1900s, influenced by ragtime but also by the blues, a vocal style that originated among black Americans in the Deep South. The blues were originally developed as a way to express the emotions of people who had been uprooted from their homes by slavery and who were now living in an often hostile urban environment. Singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey popularized the blues in the 1920s.
The Spread of Jazz
Jazz started in the early 20th century in the southern United States. African American musicians developed a new style of music by combining elements of European and African music. Jazz quickly spread to other parts of the United States and then to Europe and Asia. Today, jazz is enjoyed all over the world.
From New Orleans to Chicago
In the early years of the twentieth century, New Orleans was the largest city in the American South and a major port, with a large cosmopolitan population that included African Americans, whites, Creoles, and immigrants from Central and South America and the Caribbean. All of these groups contributed to the city’s rich musical culture. Jazz developed in the African American community in New Orleans in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The earliest jazz musicians were probably influenced by the music they heard at Congo Square, where on Sundays African Americans gathered to dance and play music. They were also influenced by European military band music, which was popular in New Orleans at that time.
The first jazz recordings were made by New Orleans musicians in 1917. These recordings were made by a group led by cornet player Nick LaRocca. The best-known tune from these recordings is “Tiger Rag.” In the 1920s, many jazz musicians left New Orleans to live and work in other parts of the United States, particularly Chicago. This migration of jazz musicians from New Orleans to Chicago had a major impact on the development of jazz. In Chicago, they found a new audience for their music among white people who were fascinated by this new style of music.
One of the most important figures in the history of jazz is Louis Armstrong (1900-1971). Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans. He began his career as a teenager, playing trumpet in dance bands. He later moved to Chicago, where he became one of the most popular jazz musicians of his time. His style of playing trumpet and singing helped to define what we think of as jazz today.
From Chicago to New York
During the jazz age, the music spread from its birthplace in New Orleans to other American cities, notably Chicago and New York. In Chicago, a particularly fertile ground for jazz, the music developed a more urban sound, with greater emphasis on solo playing and more complex harmonic progressions. The New York style was more influenced by European classical music traditions and incorporated elements of showmanship that were absent in the more restrained Chicago style.
The Birth of Bebop
In the early 1940s, a new form of jazz emerged: bebop. Bebop was faster and more complex than the swing style that preceded it. It was also more improvisational, allowing musicians to showcase their individual style and virtuosity. Bebop quickly gained popularity among young musicians, and by the end of the decade, it had become the dominant form of jazz.
Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
In the early 1940s, bebop emerged from a combination of musical influences. The harmonic innovations of pianist Thelonious Monk and bandleader Billy Eckstine were significant, as was the Afro-Cuban percussion of Machito and his vocalist sister Graciella Grillo (better known as Graciella Linares). But two bebop pioneers were critical to its development: Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.
Parker, nicknamed “Bird,” was born in Kansas City in 1920. He began playing alto saxophone at age 11 and within a few years was performing professionally with some of the great bandleaders of the day, including Jay McShann, Earl Hines, and Count Basie. Gillespie, five years Parker’s senior, was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. He too began playing professionally in his teens and quickly developed a reputation as an innovative player with a distinctive sound.
The two men first played together in the late 1930s in Broadway nightclubs such as Monroe’s Uptown House and Minton’s Playhouse, where they developed their distinctive improvisational styles. They also began experimenting with the new harmonic possibilities made possible by replacing conventional chord progressions with more complex substitutes based on II-V-I patterns (a chord progression commonly used in jazz).
In 1945, Parker and Gillespie recorded several songs together under the name “The Bebop Boys.” The following year they recorded “Salt Peanuts” and “Shaw ‘Nuff,” two bebop classics that showcased their individual virtuosity as well as their ability to work together as a team. It was clear that bebop had arrived.
Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell
The birth of bebop is often attributed to two musicians: Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. Both were born in the early 1920s and came of age in the early 1940s. They were both deeply influenced by the music of American composer and bandleader Duke Ellington.
Monk was a self-taught pianist who developed a unique style that combined elements of stride piano, jazz, and blues. He was known for his inventive use of dissonance and unpredictability. Powell was a classically trained pianist who turned to jazz after being exposed to the music of Art Tatum and Fats Waller. He was known for his virtuosic technique and hard-driving style.
Both Monk and Powell were involved in the development of bebop, a new style of jazz that featured complex chord progressions, fast tempos, and extended improvisations. Bebop was characterized by its angular melodies, syncopated rhythms, and chromatic harmonies. It was initially met with resistance from older generations of jazz musicians, but it quickly caught on with younger audiences.
Monk and Powell were two of the most important innovators in bebop. They both made significant contributions to the style and helped to shape the sound of modern jazz.
The Cool Jazz Era
Miles Davis and Gil Evans
Miles Davis and Gil Evansfirst collaborated on the album “Miles Ahead,” which was released in 1957. This album was different than anything that had been released before, as it featured Davis’ trumpet playing over Evans’ lavish orchestrations. The two men continued to work together over the next few years, releasing the albums “Sorcerer” (1957), “Milestones” (1958), and “Porgy and Bess” (1959).
The Miles Davis-Gil Evans collaboration came to an end in 1968, but their work together had a profound impact on jazz. Their albums are considered to be some of the finest examples of cool jazz.
Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan
In the late 1940s, a new type of jazz began to develop that was more restrained and intimate than the hot jazz of the earlier part of the decade. This style became known as “cool jazz,” and it featured a lighter, more lyrical approach than other forms of the music. Cool jazz was often based on intricate melodic lines and long, flowing chord progressions, and it made use of advanced harmonic concepts such as modal playing.
One of the leading exponents of cool jazz was trumpeter Chet Baker, who rose to fame in the 1950s with his delicate yet powerful playing. Baker’s style was influenced by both bebop and hard bop, but he brought a unique lyrical quality to his solos that set him apart from other players. He often used space and silence in his solos to create a sense of tension and release, and his sound was noted for its beauty and fragility. Baker’s good looks and movie-star charisma also made him one of the most popular figures in jazz, and he recorded extensively for both mainstream labels and smaller independent companies.
In the early 1950s, Baker collaborated with saxophonist Gerry Mulligan in a groundbreaking group that featured an unusual frontline combination of trumpet and baritone saxophone. The group’s sparse arrangements placed a heavy emphasis on group interaction, and they were able to create a sound that was both intimate and driving. The Baker-Mulligan band proved to be highly influential, and it helped pave the way for the rise of West Coast jazz in the 1950s.
The Free Jazz Movement
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new style of jazz known as free jazz began to develop. This type of jazz was characterized by its freedom from the traditional rules of harmony and melody. Instead, free jazz musicians sought to create music that was more spontaneous and expressive.
Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor
In the late 1950s, two young African American musicians living in New York City began to develop a new musical style that would have a profound impact on the course of jazz. Ornette Coleman, a self-taught alto saxophonist, and Cecil Taylor, a classically trained pianist, were both influenced by bebop but sought to take the music in new directions.
Coleman’s approach was based on what he called “harmolodics,” a theory of melody, harmony, and rhythm that emphasized freedom of expression over traditional chord progressions and beats. He developed a unique style of playing that relied on instinct and improvisation rather than classical techniques. Coleman’s bands featured unusual instrumentation, including trumpets, violins, and drums played in unexpected ways; his approach was often compared to that of free jazz pioneer Albert Ayler.
Like Coleman, Cecil Taylor was interested in expanding the possibilities of jazz. He believed that jazz should be seen as a “serious” art form on par with classical music, and he sought to create an improvised music that was more than just entertainment. Taylor’s style was highly technical and cerebral; he often used extended techniques such as clusters of notes played at breakneck speed or elaborate runs up and down the keyboard. His approach was sometimes compared to that of European avant-garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Albert Ayler and Archie Shepp
In the 1960s, a new form of jazz known as free jazz began to emerge. Free jazz was characterized by a complete freedom of expression and improvisation, with no regard for traditional harmonic or rhythmic structures. The music was often quite loud and aggressive, and it often incorporated elements of other genres such as rock and roll, blues, and even noise music.
Two of the most important pioneers of free jazz were saxophonists Albert Ayler and Archie Shepp. Ayler’s style was based on a powerful and emotive use of extended technique, such as multiphonics (producing two or more notes at the same time), overblowing (producing notes above the range of the instrument), and circular breathing (a technique used to sustain a note for a very long time). Shepp’s style was more rooted in the African-American tradition, utilizing field hollers, moans, and other vocalizations in his playing. He also frequently incorporated political and social commentary into his music.
While free jazz was initially met with much resistance from both critics and audiences, it has since come to be regarded as one of the most important movements in jazz history.
