Jazz

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Jazz

Jazz music is one of the most original and innovative of American musical forms. Throughout the twentieth century, jazz evolved to encompass a variety of complex styles and it produced some of the century's greatest composers and musicians.

Jazz originated in the early 1900s, mostly in the South, and especially in New Orleans, Louisiana. Drawing from African American blues and ragtime music, jazz added more complex rhythms and a wider range of tones to create a new style. As it developed in the 1910s and 1920s, a number of important early innovators took jazz in new directions, including Joseph "King" Oliver (1885–1938), Sidney Bechet (1897–1959), Jelly Roll Morton (1890–1941), and especially trumpeter Louis Armstrong (1901–1971). Armstrong was a phenomenal soloist, and he moved the solo instrument to the forefront of jazz. Jazz music often began with a single melody, and then various soloists would add their own touches to it until it became their own. While African American jazz artists such as Armstrong were creating new innovations in jazz, white musicians and band leaders, such as Paul Whiteman (1890–1967), brought a softer version of jazz to white audiences for dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) in the 1920s.

In the 1930s and early 1940s, jazz moved into what was called the "swing era." Bands got bigger and the music became more popular. Rather than consisting of small groups of five to seven musicians, now the big bands (see entry under 1930s—Music in volume 2) might be as large as twenty people, including four to five trumpet players, four to five saxophone players, a drummer, a bassist, and often vocalists. During this time, African American bands continued to be the most innovative. The band led by Fletcher Henderson (1897–1952) was extremely popular, as was the band of Count Basie (1904–1984). Both were known for their driving rhythms and great sound. Even more important was Duke Ellington (1899–1974), who led his own band but was even more important for his songwriting. Ellington wrote popular songs such as "Take the 'A' Train" and "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing." He also extended jazz in a new direction by writing longer pieces of music that resembled classical music in their complexity. His composition "Black, Brown, and Beige," a musical history of African Americans, is a notable example of this development. Following these African American musical leaders, white band leaders such as Benny Goodman (1909–1986), Tommy Dorsey (1905–1956), and Glenn Miller (1904–1944) also made jazz music that excited dancers and listeners, both black and white.

Jazz's popularity as "swing" or "big band" music led younger black musicians in the mid-1940s to break out in a new direction. Feeling that popular jazz music was too simple and bland, musicians such as Charlie Parker (1920–1955), Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993), Thelonious Monk (1917–1982), and Bud Powell (1924–1966) created a new style called "bebop." Bebop was not dance music. It had complex rhythms and lightning-fast solo note runs that favored innovation and personal expression over melody. Parker and Gillespie showcased this new style in such compositions such as "Ornithology," "Ko-Ko," and "Salt Peanuts." Both big bands and swing music faded in the 1950s as rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) became more popular, but jazz in the bebop style continued. Bebop did not draw the large crowds of dancing fans, but it continued to excite loyal listeners in jazz clubs and concert halls across the United States.

In the 1950s and 1960s, jazz moved in new directions again. Bebop continued, including a more soulful version called "hard bop," but the music also developed in other ways. "Cool jazz" emerged under the influence of trumpeter Miles Davis (1926–1991). This style was more introspective and subdued, evoking a wider range of moods than the fiery-fast bebop style. Davis' album The Birth of the Cool remains a landmark work in this style. This period also saw the rise of new and important jazz musicians. Bassist Charles Mingus (1922–1979) brought gospel and blues back into jazz. Mingus also wrote musical works that expressed political views and commented on the problems of racism in America. John Coltrane (1926–1967) emerged on the saxophone as one of the most impressive soloists in the history of jazz on albums such as Blue Train, Giant Steps, and A Love Supreme. This era also produced important white jazz musicians, including pianist and composer Dave Brubeck (1920–), who had hits with his songs "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk," both of which used complex time signatures and rhythms, and saxophonist Stan Getz (1927–1991), who helped fuse Brazilian bossa nova styles with jazz in a way that became very popular in the early 1960s.

In the later 1960s and into the 1970s, jazz continued to move in new directions. "Free" jazz or "avant-garde" jazz took bebop one step further in exciting but difficult compositions that moved away from the standard song and melody composition form. Musicians such as Ornette Coleman (1930–) and Cecil Taylor (1929–) experimented with new and often dissonant sounds (sounding harsh and lacking harmony) in their music. In the 1970s, jazz fusion emerged as a way to combine jazz and rock styles. Musicians such as John McLaughlin (1942–), Chick Corea (1941–), and Herbie Hancock (1940–) used electric guitars and keyboards to extend jazz's sound.

In the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond, jazz music moved on a number of levels. Fusion merged into a lighter, more commercial, form of jazz that many people did not consider jazz at all. Young players continued to emerge, both in the traditional jazz styles and in new innovative ways. Among the most popular of the traditionalists was Wynton Marsalis (1961–). He was also instrumental in forming and leading the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, a group dedicated to keeping alive the classics of jazz. Thus, by the end of the twentieth century, jazz no longer had the popularity it did in the 1930s and 1940s, but it had kept its loyal fans and continued to attract new ones. Because jazz includes so many diverse styles and artists that there is something for everyone to enjoy, jazz keeps its place as one of the most important of American musical styles.

—Timothy Berg