Jazz

Jazz music in the United States has roots dating back to the arrival of the first African American slaves in North America. Originally, the blues sound was a combination of rhythms made by instruments brought from Africa, combined with the fiddle strains and songs from white settlers from the British Isles. This blend evolved until it emerged in the 1890s as a type of music called ragtime. Ragtime eventually became jazz.

New Orleans, Louisiana , is considered the birthplace of jazz. Most early residents of New Orleans were Creole, people of Spanish, French, or African descent, and the early musicians brought the sound of their particular heritage to create a genre of jazz that became known as Dixieland. Another term for this type of music, which was played on brass instruments, is creole jazz. Dixieland music is marching band music with offbeat rhythms and improvised solos. Early Dixieland musicians included pianist Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton (1885–1941) and cornet player Joe “King” Oliver (1885–1938). Morton is considered to be the first jazz composer.

Leaders of the band

One of the most famous jazz musicians was Louis Armstrong (1901–1971). Armstrong was born in New Orleans and learned to play the cornet as a young teen. Throughout the 1920s, he performed in Chicago, Illinois , and New York City, eventually landing a long-term engagement at Connie's Inn, a popular and glamorous nightclub in New York City's Harlem. Armstrong became known for his ability to improvise. His career spanned decades and included performing on Broadway and singing. He is heralded as a key figure in the evolution of jazz music.

Often taking jazz in new directions was Miles Davis (1926–1991), a jazz trumpeter and composer. While never as technically talented as some of his contemporaries, Davis was influential in jazz circles for his style, which became known as cool jazz.

Another jazz great was Duke Ellington (1899–1974), who regularly performed at the Cotton Club, a music hot spot of the 1920s. Ellington played piano but was most influential as a composer and bandleader. Along with bandleader Fletcher Henderson (1898–1952), he created the Big Band sound, which features a jazz orchestra with more than one musician playing each instrument. Ellington's signature sound was one that incorporated mutes and growl techniques in the horns.

Thomas “Fats” Waller (1904–1943) was another jazz great who made a name for himself playing piano in Harlem nightclubs. Jazz was the premier genre of music throughout the 1920s, and its popularity knew no bounds. Paul Whiteman (1890–1967) was a bandleader who was promoted as the Jazz King. His most famous contribution to jazz was a 1924 concert that introduced the new song “Rhapsody in Blue,” written by George Gershwin (1898–1937). George and his brother Ira (1896–1983) were the most successful songwriters of the Jazz Age, and their music combined elements from jazz, classical, and even opera. These crossover sounds found a strong fan base in white audiences.

Beyond the Jazz Age

As America entered the Great Depression (1929–41), jazz decreased in popularity. Its sound was simply too celebratory, and Americans were not in any mood to celebrate. Millions had lost their jobs and homes, and their daily lives were a struggle. The new music of choice was folk music , the lyrics of which reflected this new experience of loss and injustice.

There were a couple of exceptions. Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a jazz singer. She began singing jazz with the orchestra of bandleader Chick Webb (1909–1939) in the mid-1930s. Before the end of the decade, she had recorded several hit songs and gained notoriety. Fitzgerald left the band in 1942 to embark on what would be a successful solo career. Benny Goodman (1909–1986) was another popular jazz musician whose clarinet style eventually fused into a type of music called swing. Goodman was one of only a few white jazz musicians who was able to build a career with his music.

Jazz had its loyal followers, however. Music of the 1940s included jazz, but its sounds were often incorporated and mixed with those of classical, blues, and swing. Jazz pianist William “Count” Basie (1904–1984) was also a bandleader whose band performed for more than fifty years. He incorporated jazz in a structured, orchestral setting and his band backed some of the most prominent jazz vocalists of the time, including Billie Holiday (1915–1959), Lester Young (1909–1959), and Herschel Evans (1909–1939). Pianist Thelonious Monk (1920–1982) made his first recordings in the mid-1940s and often collaborated with other jazz greats including saxophonist Sonny Rollins (1930–), saxophonist John Coltrane (1926–1967), Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker (1920–1955).

Charlie “Yardbird” Parker was a jazz saxophonist considered by historians to be one of the great jazz pioneers. Parker's sound eventually fused into a form of jazz called bebop. This form is characterized by fast tempos and improvisations that are based on harmony rather than melody. Parker's work in 1945 with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993) took the jazz world by storm.

The first annual Newport Jazz Festival was established in July 1954. This was an act of courage on the part of socialites Elaine and Louis Lorillard. Among wealthy white crowds, jazz was considered inappropriate for the more sedate, proper country-club audiences. But six thousand jazz lovers paid up to $5 a ticket for the two-day Rhode Island program. Twenty-six thousand fans attended the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival and were entertained by two hundred musicians. The event moved to New York City in 1972 and became a two-site festival when it returned to Newport in 1981. Since 1986, it has been known as the JVC Jazz Festival.

The 1960s, like the 1930s, featured folk music, again, because its lyrics reflected the political and social unrest of the era. The 1970s were not notable for jazz music, either, although some musicians experimented with jazz-rock fusion. The early 1980s saw artists like Pat Metheny (1954–), Al Jarreau (1940–), George Benson (1943–), Chuck Mangione (1940–), and Kenny G (1956–) on the charts. Not one of these musicians was a jazz purist, but each mixed jazz sounds with other genres such as pop, rhythm and blues, and fusion. In an era of mixed sound, two names stood out in jazz circles. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1961–) surprised the jazz world with his mastery of technique. By the time he was nineteen years old, Marsalis had signed a contract with a major recording label. Having studied classical music as a teen, Marsalis became the first musician ever to win Grammy Awards in both jazz and classical in the same year (1984).

Harry Connick Jr. (1967–) reached stardom at the age of twenty when he released his first recording in 1988. Connick's New Orleans–style piano playing and smooth vocals made him a favorite crossover artist whose music was played on jazz and pop music radio stations. Like his contemporary Marsalis, he had studied both classical and jazz; at one point, he had studied piano under the tutelage of Marsalis's father, Ellis.

Although jazz was not one of the more popular music genres of the 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century, it maintained a loyal following. Some new musicians arrived on the scene, most notably singer-pianist Diana Krall (1964–). In an era when musicians relied upon elaborate stage performances and music videos to enhance their acts and popularity, jazz musicians had difficulty competing.