Jazz is, first of all, improvisation, life, words, evolution. Real jazz lives on the Mississippi, whether it comes from the hands of a pianist in a Storyville bar, or from a group of musicians playing in a quiet place on the outskirts of Chicago.

Current place of birth

The history of jazz is one of the most original stories in music. His characters and styles, his strong personalities, are extremely attractive, although some trends require increased alertness on the part of the listener. As the head of the US orchestra John Philip Sousa once said, jazz should be listened to with your feet, not with your head. But this was during the 30s, with jazz bands from New Orleans - Buddy Bolden - or the men from Austin High in illegal bars in Chicago. They played music for dancing.

However, starting in the 40s, the public began to listen to jazz with their heads instead of their feet. New forms of sound appear - trying to attract the listener with intellect, cool, free - remain a little on the sidelines. Despite the bad statements and attacks on the part of Souza, the public perceives jazz with even greater enthusiasm. What is the secret of its great vitality?

To talk about jazz as if we were talking about African-American music is not to say much.
This is one of the forms of individual spontaneous expression that is created at the moment. These are improvisation, freedom, songs of protest and marginalization. The roots of jazz should be considered black slavery in the countries of the South, North America - when working on cotton plantations. It was here that the first seeds and shoots sprouted Here were laid the first tunes and melodies of the last popular genre in the history of Western music. A type of urban expression that began to revive in black cafes in New Orleans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

According to statistics, the market for African slaves was approximately 15 million. men, women and children sold in different parts of the world. Most of these people came to America. Cotton plantations and tobacco fields required a lot of labor. The black African was strong and worked for little wages, food and shelter. Apart from this, they had nothing but the memory of the unforgettable songs and dances of their native Africa. Thus, music occupies a central place in the life of a slave, helping to overcome all the hardships and suffering of slavery. This is the main baggage of a slave - rhythm and melody.

Black Africans, who are highly religious, accepted Christianity easily. But, being accustomed to begin their religious ceremonies with song and dance, they soon began to introduce clapping and rhythmic movements into their meetings and ceremonies in the camps of the South. The voices of the dark-skinned people had a very unique timbre; singing melodies really made you move. Black Protestant religious communities created their own hymns calling for disobedience.

Songs about work were added to these themes, prayers and entreaties. Why? Yes, because the slave realized that it was much easier for him to work by singing.
The simplicity of these phrases was probably due to their poor knowledge of the language of the colonists and was developed in energetic poetry and tenderness. According to Jean Cocteau, blues poetry is the last appearance of automatically popular poetry. And blues as a genre is usually jazz.

United States, in search of culture.

Jazz for the USA is one of its best business cards, and all music historians agree on their most significant contribution to world culture.

This process of cultural identity is relatively short. The next stage began: the independence of the colonies. But... what did they have to create their cultural heritage? On the one hand, the European heritage of the indigenous peoples: descendants of the old settlers, recent immigrants, on the other hand, the black American citizen, after such a long time of slavery. And where there is a slave, there is music. Hence the conclusion is drawn that black music was to some extent more popular, at least in the South.

Official protection and recognition.

The rulers realized that this was a new musical phenomenon. Meanwhile, the State Department took control and even organized international tours of American jazz musicians. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellingtong, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack Teagarden, Stanz Getz, Keith Jarrots and others have demonstrated the style all over the world. They performed for kings and queens, Louis Armstrong was received by the Pope at the Vatican, and Benny Goodman and his orchestra toured Russia during the summer of 1962. The ovation was deafening, even Nikita Khrushchev gave a standing ovation.
Naturally, the blues evolved, thus creating its own language: Jazz. What kind of language is this? The use of rhythmic insistence, unusual instrumental timbres, complex solos - improvisations that are difficult to find in other types of music, this is the language of jazz, its soul. Everything is permeated with the magic word: swing. As Duke Ellingtong said - “Swing is something that goes beyond its own interpretation, it does not exist in the musical text, it manifests itself only in constant performance.
In fact, jazz was and is one of the most common ways of understanding black American music. Music that expresses love and sadness, describes the life of the heroes, the bitterness and disappointment of every day. Early jazz was a kind of emotional valve of frustration, a black man in a white man's world.

The Joy of Living New Orleans

The name - New Orleans - is a magical key that helps us find, recognize and love jazz. This city, built and inhabited mainly by French and Spanish immigrants, had an atmosphere different from other states. The cultural level was higher - many of its inhabitants were aristocrats, more bourgeois from the old continent - higher earnings and of course, good restaurants and beautiful houses. Everything that was brought from old Europe - delicate furniture, crystal, silver, books, sheet music and various instruments to brighten the warm spring evenings, keyboards, violins, flutes, etc. all this went primarily to New Orleans. The city was surrounded by high walls to repel attacks by Indians; the city was defended by a garrison of French soldiers, who, of course, had their own orchestra to perform military marches. Thanks to these coincidences, New Orleans became more cheerful and confident.
It was considered a tolerant city in all aspects, including its relations with blacks.
Civil War brought great changes to the country. Slavery was abolished for blacks, they began to move to cities to work, and with them music.

In New Orleans, former slaves were finally able to buy what they saw in music stores. Before that, they made their own tools from gourds, bones, graters, and metal bowls. Now, in addition to their banjos and harmonicas, they could purchase trombones, bugles, clarinets, and drums. The problem was that the former slaves did not have the slightest idea about scores, solfeggio, sheet music, or any musical technique. They simply felt the music and could improvise.

The problem of ignorance was solved with difficulty. But they understood that it was necessary to play as well as to sing, that a musical instrument should be an extension of the voice. And the training began.
If a military band passed through the streets, the blacks were always in the front row and listened attentively. In the church they did not miss a single stanza of sacred music. Gradually they mixed some clapping and adding a few bars of clapping (listening to the foot), they began to introduce their past (slavery) into the blues, thus a new music began to be revived, made from the heart and very poetic.

The use of this music was used by blacks at funerals, as being the lower class of society, charity organisations or companies did not really support the economic peace of ex-slaves in public life, but when it came to death they gave some amounts of money. Thus, relatives organized a lavish funeral, which was accompanied by a group of musicians and plenty of support from family, friends and neighbors. In a long procession to the cemetery, slow and sad music sounded. Upon return, the theme changed and fast music was played, or rather jazz improvisations. Because the general opinion was that the deceased was in heaven, and they should rejoice with Him. In addition, due to the lack of relaxation after long sighs and emotions, the environment always demanded from the musicians that the final part of the ceremonies should always be fun.
Experts therefore believe that at the funerals of blacks, jazz began to be played for the first time.

Jazz is a musical movement that originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. Its emergence is the result of the interweaving of two cultures: African and European. This movement will combine spirituals (church chants) of American blacks, African folk rhythms and European harmonious melody. Its characteristic features are: flexible rhythm, which is based on the principle of syncopation, the use of percussion instruments, improvisation, and an expressive manner of performance, characterized by sound and dynamic tension, sometimes reaching the point of ecstasy. Jazz was originally a combination of ragtime and blues elements. In fact, it grew out of these two directions. The peculiarity of the jazz style is, first of all, the individual and unique play of the jazz virtuoso, and improvisation gives this movement constant relevance.

After jazz itself was formed, a continuous process of its development and modification began, which led to the emergence of various directions. Currently there are about thirty of them.

New Orleans (traditional) jazz.

This style usually means exactly the jazz that was performed between 1900 and 1917. It can be said that its emergence coincided with the opening of Storyville (New Orleans' red light district), which gained its popularity due to bars and similar establishments where musicians playing syncopated music could always find work. The previously widespread street orchestras began to be replaced by the so-called “Storyville ensembles,” whose playing was increasingly acquiring individuality compared to their predecessors. These ensembles later became the founders of classical New Orleans jazz. Vivid examples of performers of this style are: Jelly Roll Morton (“His Red Hot Peppers”), Buddy Bolden (“Funky Butt”), Kid Ory. It was they who carried out the transition of African folk music into the first jazz forms.

Chicago Jazz.

In 1917, the next important stage in the development of jazz music began, marked by the appearance of immigrants from New Orleans in Chicago. New jazz orchestras are being formed, the playing of which introduces new elements into early traditional jazz. This is how an independent style of the Chicago school of performance appears, which is divided into two directions: hot jazz of black musicians and Dixieland of whites. The main features of this style: individual solo parts, changes in hot inspiration (the original free ecstatic performance became more nervous, full of tension), synthetics (the music included not only traditional elements, but also ragtime, as well as famous American hits) and changes in instrumental playing (the role of instruments and performing techniques has changed). Fundamental figures of this movement (“What Wonderful World”, “Moon Rivers”) and (“Someday Sweetheart”, “Ded Man Blues”).

Swing is an orchestral style of jazz of the 1920s and 30s that grew directly from the Chicago school and was performed by big bands (The Original Dixieland Jazz Band). It is characterized by the predominance of Western music. Separate sections of saxophones, trumpets and trombones appeared in the orchestras; The banjo is replaced by a guitar, tuba and sassophone - double bass. The music moves away from collective improvisation; the musicians play strictly adhering to pre-written scores. A characteristic technique was the interaction of the rhythm section with melodic instruments. Representatives of this direction: , (“Creole Love Call”, “The Mooche”), Fletcher Henderson (“When Buddha Smiles”), Benny Goodman And His Orchestra, .

Bebop is a modern jazz movement that began in the 40s and was an experimental, anti-commercial movement. Unlike swing, it is a more intellectual style that places a lot of emphasis on complex improvisation and places more emphasis on harmony than melody. Music of this style is also characterized by a very fast tempo. The brightest representatives are: Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Charlie Parker (“Night In Tunisia”, “Manteca”) and Bud Powell.

Mainstream. Includes three movements: Stride (northeastern jazz), Kansas City style and West Coast jazz. Hot stride reigned supreme in Chicago, led by such masters as Louis Armstrong, Andy Condon, and Jimmy Mac Partland. Kansas City is characterized by lyrical plays in the blues style. West Coast jazz developed in Los Angeles under the leadership of , and subsequently resulted in cool jazz.

Cool jazz (cool jazz) emerged in Los Angeles in the 50s as a counterpoint to the dynamic and impulsive swing and bebop. Lester Young is considered to be the founder of this style. It was he who introduced a style of sound production unusual for jazz. This style is characterized by the use of symphonic instruments and emotional restraint. Such masters as Miles Davis (“Blue In Green”), Gerry Mulligan (“Walking Shoes”), Dave Brubeck (“Pick Up Sticks”), Paul Desmond left their mark in this vein.

Avante-Garde began to develop in the 60s. This avant-garde style is based on a break from the original traditional elements and is characterized by the use of new techniques and means of expression. For the musicians of this movement, self-expression, which they carried out through music, came first. Performers of this movement include: Sun Ra (“Kosmos in Blue”, “Moon Dance”), Alice Coltrane (“Ptah The El Daoud”), Archie Shepp.

Progressive jazz arose in parallel with bebop in the 40s, but it was distinguished by its staccato saxophone technique, a complex interweaving of polytonality with rhythmic pulsation and elements of symphonic jazz. The founder of this trend can be called Stan Kenton. Prominent representatives: Gil Evans and Boyd Rayburn.

Hard bop is a type of jazz that has its roots in bebop. Detroit, New York, Philadelphia - this style was born in these cities. In its aggressiveness, it is very reminiscent of bebop, but blues elements still predominate in it. Featured performers include Zachary Breaux (“Uptown Groove”), Art Blakey and The Jass Messengers.

Soul jazz. This term is commonly used to describe all black music. It draws on traditional blues and African-American folklore. This music is characterized by ostinato bass figures and rhythmically repeating samples, due to which it has gained wide popularity among various masses of the population. Hits in this direction include the compositions of Ramsey Lewis “The In Crowd” and Harris-McCain “Compared To What”.

Groove (aka funk) is an offshoot of soul, but is distinguished by its rhythmic focus. Basically, the music of this direction has a major coloration, and in structure it consists of clearly defined parts for each instrument. Solo performances fit harmoniously into the overall sound and are not too individualized. Performers of this style are Shirley Scott, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Gene Emmons, Leo Wright.

Free jazz got its start in the late 50s thanks to the efforts of such innovative masters as Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. Its characteristic features are atonality and a violation of the chord sequence. This style is often called “free jazz,” and its derivatives include loft jazz, modern creative and free funk. Musicians of this style include: Joe Harriott, Bongwater, Henri Texier (“Varech”), AMM (“Sedimantari”).

Creative appeared due to the widespread avant-garde and experimentalism of jazz forms. Such music is difficult to characterize in certain terms, since it is too multifaceted and combines many elements of previous movements. The first followers of this style include Lenny Tristano (“Line Up”), Gunter Schuller, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cirilla (“The Big Time Stuff”).

Fusion combined elements of almost all musical movements existing at that time. Its most active development began in the 70s. Fusion is a systematic instrumental style characterized by complex time signatures, rhythm, elongated compositions and the absence of vocals. This style is designed for a less broad masses than soul and is its complete opposite. At the head of this trend are Larry Corall and the band Eleventh, Tony Williams and Lifetime (“Bobby Truck Tricks”).

Acid jazz (groove jazz" or "club jazz") arose in Great Britain in the late 80s (heyday 1990 - 1995) and combined funk of the 70s, hip-hop and dance music of the 90s. The emergence of this style was dictated by the widespread use of jazz-funk samples. The founder is considered to be DJ Giles Peterson. Performers in this direction include Melvin Sparks (“Dig Dis”), RAD, Smoke City (“Flying Away”), Incognito and Brand New Heavies.

Post-bop began to develop in the 50s and 60s and is similar in structure to hard bop. It is distinguished by the presence of elements of soul, funk and groove. Often, when characterizing this direction, they draw a parallel with blues rock. Hank Moblin, Horace Silver, Art Blakey (“Like Someone In Love”) and Lee Morgan (“Yesterday”), Wayne Shorter worked in this style.

Smooth jazz is a modern jazz style that arose from the fusion movement, but differs from it in the intentional polishing of its sound. A special feature of this area is the widespread use of power tools. Famous performers: Michael Franks, Chris Botti, Dee Dee Bridgewater (“All Of Me”, “God Bless The Child”), Larry Carlton (“Dont Give It Up”).

Jazz-manush (gypsy jazz) is a jazz movement specializing in guitar performance. Combines the guitar technique of the gypsy tribes of the Manush group and swing. The founders of this direction are the Ferre brothers and. The most famous performers: Andreas Oberg, Barthalo, Angelo Debarre, Bireli Largen (“Stella By Starlight”, “Fiso Place”, “Autumn Leaves”).

Jazz was born in New Orleans. Most histories of jazz begin with a similar phrase, usually with the obligatory clarification that similar music developed in many cities of the American South - Memphis, St. Louis, Dallas, Kansas City.

The musical origins of jazz, both African American and European, are numerous and too long to list, but it is impossible not to mention its two main African American predecessors.

You can listen to jazz songs

Ragtime and blues

For about two decades turn of XIX-XX centuries - a short heyday of ragtime, which was the first type of popular music. Ragtime was performed primarily on the piano. The word itself translates as “ragged rhythm,” and this genre received its name because of the syncopated rhythm. The author of the most popular plays was Scott Joplin, nicknamed the “King of Ragtime.”

Example: Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag

Another equally important predecessor of jazz was the blues. If ragtime gave jazz its energetic, syncopated rhythm, blues gave it a voice. And literally, since the blues is vocal genre, but primarily figuratively, since the blues is characterized by the use of blurred notes that are absent in the European sound system (both major and minor) - blues notes, as well as a colloquially shouted and rhythmically free manner of performance.

Example: Blind Lemon Jefferson - Black Snake Moan

The birth of jazz

Subsequently, African-American jazz musicians transferred this style to instrumental music, and wind instruments began to imitate the human voice, its intonations and even articulations. So-called “dirty” sounds appeared in jazz. Every sound should have a peppery quality. A jazz musician creates music not only with the help of different notes, i.e. sounds of different heights, but also with the help of different timbres and even noises.

Jelly Roll Morton - Sidewalk Blues

Scott Joplin lived in Missouri and the first known published blues was called the "Dallas Blues." However, the first jazz style was called "New Orleans Jazz".

Cornetist Charles "Buddy" Bolden combined ragtime and blues by playing by ear and improvising, and his innovation influenced many of the more famous New Orleans musicians who later smashed new music around the country, primarily in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles: Joe "King" Oliver, Bunk Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Kid Ory and, of course, the king of jazz, Louis Armstrong. This is how jazz took over America.

However, this music did not immediately receive its historical name. At first it was called simply hot music (hot), then the word jass appeared and only then jazz. The first jazz record was recorded by a quintet of white performers, the Original Dixieland Jass Band, in 1917.

Example: Original Dixieland Jass Band - Livery Stable Blues

The Swing Era - Dance Fever

Jazz emerged and spread as dance music. Gradually, dance fever spread throughout America. Dance halls and orchestras multiplied. The era of big bands, or swing, began, lasting about a decade and a half from the mid-20s to the end of the 30s. Never before or since has jazz been so popular.
A special role in the creation of swing belongs to two musicians - Fletcher Henderson and Louis Armstrong. Armstrong influenced a huge number of musicians, teaching them rhythmic freedom and variety. Henderson created the format of a jazz orchestra with its later division into a saxophone section and a wind section with a roll call between them.

Fletcher Henderson - Down South Camp Meeting

The new composition has become widespread. There were about 300 big bands in the country. The leaders of the most popular of them were Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Chick Webb, Jimmy Lunsford, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman. The orchestras' repertoire includes popular melodies that are called jazz standards, or sometimes called jazz classics. The most popular standard in the history of jazz, Body and Soul, was first recorded by Louis Armstrong.

From bebop to post-bop

In the 40s The era of large orchestras ended quite abruptly, primarily for commercial reasons. Musicians began to experiment with small compositions, thanks to which a new jazz style was born - bebop, or simply bop, which meant a whole revolution in jazz. This was music intended not for dancing, but for listening, not for a wide audience, but for a narrower circle of jazz lovers. In a word, jazz ceased to be music for the entertainment of the public, but became a form of self-expression for musicians.

The pioneers of the new style were pianist Thelonious Monk, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Charlie Parker, pianist Bud Powell, trumpeter Miles Davis and others.

Groovin High - Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie

Bop laid the foundations for modern jazz, which is still predominantly the music of small bands. Finally, bop sharpened jazz's constant desire to search for something new. An outstanding musician aimed at constant innovation was Miles Davis and many of his partners and the talents he discovered, who later became famous jazz performers and jazz stars: John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Wynton Marsalis.

Jazz of the 50s and 60s continues to evolve, on the one hand, remaining true to its roots, but rethinking the principles of improvisation. This is how hard bop, cool...

Miles Davis - So What

...modal jazz, free jazz, post-bop.

Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island

On the other hand, jazz begins to absorb other types of music, for example, Afro-Cuban and Latin. This is how Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian jazz (bossanova) appeared.

Manteca - Dizzy Gillespie

Jazz and rock = fusion

The most powerful impetus for the development of jazz was the appeal of jazz musicians to rock music, the use of its rhythms and electric instruments (electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizers). The pioneer here was again Miles Davis, whose initiative was picked up by Joe Zawinul (Weather Report), John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Herbie Hancock (The Headhunters), Chick Corea (Return to Forever). This is how jazz-rock or fusion arose...

Mahavishnu Orchestra — Meeting Of The Spirits

and psychedelic jazz.

Milky Way - Weather Report

History of jazz and jazz standards

The history of jazz is not only about styles, movements and famous jazz performers, it is also about many beautiful melodies that live in many versions. They are easily recognized, even if they don’t remember or don’t know the names. Jazz owes its popularity and attractiveness to such wonderful composers as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Hoggy Carmichael, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kernb and others. Although they wrote music primarily for musicals and shows, their themes, taken up by representatives of jazz, became the best jazz compositions of the twentieth century, which were called jazz standards.

Summertime, Stardust, What Is This Thing Called Love, My Funny Valentine, All the Things You Are - these and many other themes are known to every jazz musician, as well as compositions created by the jazzmen themselves: Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Paul Desmond and many others (Caravan, Night in Tunisia, 'Round Midnight, Take Five). This is a jazz classic and a language that unites both the performers themselves and the jazz audience.

Modern jazz

Modern jazz is a pluralism of styles and genres and a constant search for new combinations at the intersections of directions and styles. And modern jazz performers often play in a variety of styles. Jazz is susceptible to influence from many types of music, from avant-garde and folk music to hip-hop and pop. It turned out to be the most flexible type of music.

The recognition of the worldwide role of jazz was the proclamation by UNESCO in 2011 of International Jazz Day, which is celebrated annually on April 30.

A small river, the source of which was in New Orleans, in just over 100 years turned into an ocean that washes the whole world. American writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald once called the 20s. the age of jazz. Now these words can be applied to the twentieth century as a whole, since jazz is the music of the twentieth century. The history of the emergence and development of jazz almost fits into the chronological framework of the last century. But, of course, it doesn't end there.

1. Louis Armstrong

2. Duke Ellington

3. Benny Goodman

4. Count Basie

5. Billie Holiday

6. Ella Fitzgerald

7. Art Tatum

8. Dizzy Gillespie

9. Charlie Parker

10. Thelonious Monk

11. Art Blakey

12. Bud Powell

14. John Coltrane

15. Bill Evans

16. Charlie Mingus

17. Ornette Coleman

18. Herbie Hancock

19. Keith Jarrett

20. Joe Zawinul

Text: Alexander Yudin

How a type of music developed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. as a result of the synthesis of elements of two musical cultures - European and African. Of the African elements, one can note polyrhythmicity, repeated repetition of the main motive, vocal expressiveness, improvisation, which penetrated into jazz along with common forms of Negro musical folklore - ritual dances, work songs, spirituals and blues.

Word "jazz", originally "jazz band", began to be used in the middle of the 1st decade of the 20th century. in the southern states to refer to the music created by small New Orleans ensembles (composed of trumpet, clarinet, trombone, banjo, tuba or double bass, drums and piano) in the process of collective improvisation on themes of blues, ragtime and popular European songs and dances.

To get acquainted, you can listen and Cesaria Evora, and, , and many others.

So what is it Acid Jazz? This is a funky musical style with built-in elements of jazz, 70s funk, hip-hop, soul and other styles. It can be sampled, it can be live, and it can be a mixture of the latter two.

Mostly, Acid Jazz puts emphasis on music rather than text/words. This is club music that aims to get you moving.

First single in style Acid Jazz was "Frederick Lies Still", author Galliano. This was a cover version of the work Curtis Mayfield "Freddie's Dead" from the movie "Superfly".

Great contribution to the promotion and support of style Acid Jazz contributed Gilles Peterson, who was a DJ on KISS FM. He was one of the first to found Acid Jazz label In the late 80s - early 90s, many performers appeared Acid Jazz, which were like “live” teams - , Galliano, Jamiroquai, Don Cherry, and studio projects - PALm Skin Productions, Mondo GroSSO, Outside, And United Future Organization.

Of course, this is not a style of jazz, but a type of jazz instrumental ensemble, but still it was included in the table, because any jazz performed by a “big band” stands out very much from the background of individual jazz performers and small groups.
The number of musicians in big bands usually ranges from ten to seventeen people.
Formed in the late 1920s, it consists of three orchestra groups: saxophones - clarinets(Reels) brass instruments(Brass, later groups of trumpets and trombones emerged), rhythm section(Rhythm section - piano, double bass, guitar, percussion instruments). The Rise of Music big bands, which began in the USA in the 1930s, is associated with a period of mass enthusiasm for swing.

Later, right up to the present day, big bands performed and continue to perform music of a wide variety of styles. However, in essence, the era of big bands begins much earlier and dates back to the times of American minstrel theaters in the second half of the 19th century, which often increased the performing cast to several hundred actors and musicians. Listen The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, And His Orchestra and you will appreciate all the charm of jazz performed by big bands.

Jazz style that developed in the early to mid-40s of the 20th century and ushered in the era of modern jazz. Characterized by fast tempo and complex improvisations based on changes in harmony rather than melody.
The ultra-fast tempo of performance was introduced by Parker and Gillespie in order to keep non-professionals away from their new improvisations. Among other things, a distinctive feature of all bebopists was their shocking behavior. "Dizzy" Gillespie's curved trumpet, Parker and Gillespie's behavior, Monk's ridiculous hats, etc.
Having emerged as a reaction to the widespread spread of swing, bebop continued to develop its principles in the use of expressive means, but at the same time revealed a number of opposing trends.

Unlike swing, which is mostly the music of large commercial dance orchestras, bebop is an experimental creative movement in jazz, associated mainly with the practice of small ensembles (combos) and anti-commercial in its orientation.
The bebop phase marked a significant shift in the emphasis of jazz away from popular dance music to a more highly artistic, intellectual, but less mass “music for musicians”. Bop musicians preferred complex improvisations based on strumming chords instead of melodies.
The main instigators of the birth were: saxophonist, trumpeter, pianists Bud Powell And Thelonious Monk, drummer Max Roach. If you want Be Bop, listen , Michel Legrand, Joshua Redman Elastic Band, Jan Garbarek, Modern Jazz Quartet.

One of the styles of modern jazz, formed at the turn of the 40s - 50s of the 20th century based on the development of the achievements of swing and bop. The origin of this style is primarily associated with the name of the Negro swing saxophonist L. Young, who developed a “cold” style of sound production that was opposite to the sound ideal of hot jazz (the so-called Lester sound); It was he who first introduced the term “kul” into everyday use. In addition, the premises of cool jazz are found in the work of many bebop musicians - such as C. Parker, T. Monk, M. Davis, J. Lewis, M. Jackson and others.

At the same time cool jazz has significant differences from bopa. This was manifested in a departure from the traditions of hot jazz that bop followed, in a rejection of excessive rhythmic expressiveness and intonation instability, and in a deliberate emphasis on specifically black flavor. Played in this style: , Stan Getz, Modern Jazz Quartet, Dave Brubeck, Zoot Sims, Paul Desmond.

With the gradual decline in activity in rock music starting in the early 70s, and with a decrease in the flow of ideas from the world of rock, fusion music became more straightforward. At the same time, many began to realize that electric jazz could become more commercial, producers and some musicians began to look for such combinations of styles to increase sales. They really successfully created a type of jazz that was more accessible to the average listener. Over the past two decades, many different combinations have emerged for which promoters and publicists like to use the phrase "Modern Jazz", used to describe the "fusions" of jazz with elements of pop, rhythm and blues and "world music".

However, the word "crossover" more accurately describes the essence of the matter. Crossover and fusion achieved their goal of increasing the audience for jazz, especially among those who were fed up with other styles. In some cases, this music is worthy of attention, although generally the jazz content in it is reduced to zero. Examples of the crossover style range from (Al Jarreau) and vocal recordings (George Benson) to (Kenny G), "Spyro Gyra" And " " . In all this there is the influence of jazz, but, nevertheless, this music fits into the field of pop art, which is represented by Gerald Albright, George Duke, saxophonist Bill Evans, Dave Grusin,.

Dixieland is the broadest designation for the musical style of the earliest New Orleans and Chicago jazz musicians who recorded records from 1917 to 1923. This concept also extends to the period of subsequent development and revival of New Orleans jazz - New Orleans' Revival, which continued after the 1930s. Some historians attribute Dixieland only to the music of white bands playing in the New Orleans jazz style.

Unlike other forms of jazz, the musicians' repertoire of pieces Dixieland remained quite limited, offering endless variations of themes within the same tunes composed throughout the first decade of the 20th century and included ragtimes, blues, one-steps, two-steps, marches and popular tunes. For performance style Dixieland characteristic was the complex interweaving of individual voices into the collective improvisation of the entire ensemble. The opening soloist and the other soloists who continued his play seemed to oppose the “riffing” of the rest of the wind instruments, right up to the final phrases, usually performed by the drums in the form of four-beat refrains, to which the entire ensemble responded in turn.

The main representatives of this era were The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Joe King Oliver, and his Famous Orchestra, Sidney Bechet, Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Paul Mares, Nick LaRocca, Bix Beiderbecke and Jimmy McPartland. Dixieland musicians were essentially looking for a revival of the classic New Orleans jazz of yesteryear. These attempts were very successful and, thanks to subsequent generations, continue to this day. The first of the Dixieland revivals took place in the 1940s.
Here are just some of the jazzmen who played Dixieland: Kenny Ball, Lu Watters Yerna Buena Jazz Band, Turk Murphys Jazz Band.

Since the early 70s, a German company has occupied a separate niche in the jazz style community ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music- Modern Music Publishing House), which gradually became the center of an association of musicians who professed not so much an attachment to the African-American origin of jazz, but rather the ability to solve a wide variety of artistic problems, without limiting themselves to a certain style, but in line with the creative improvisational process.

Over time, a certain personality of the company nevertheless developed, which led to the separation of the artists of this label into a large-scale and clearly defined stylistic direction. Label founder Manfred Eicher's focus on combining diverse jazz idioms, world folklore and new music into a single impressionistic sound academic music allowed, with the help of these means, to claim depth and philosophical understanding of life values.

The company's main recording studio, located in Oslo, clearly correlates with the dominant role in the catalog of Scandinavian musicians. First of all, they are Norwegians Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Nils Petter Molvaer, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen. However, the geography of ECM covers the whole world. Europeans are here too Dave Holland, Tomasz Stanko, John Surman, Eberhard Weber, Rainer Bruninghaus, Mikhail Alperin and representatives of non-European cultures Egberto Gismonti, Flora Purim, Zakir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu, Nana Vasconcelos, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Anouar Brahem and many others. The American Legion is no less representative - Jack DeJohnette, Charles Lloyd, Ralph Towner, Redman Dewey, Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie, Leo Smith. The initial revolutionary impulse of the company's publications turned over time into a meditative and detached sound of open forms with carefully polished sound layers.

Some mainstream adherents deny the path chosen by the musicians of this trend; however, jazz, as a world culture, develops despite these objections and produces very impressive results.

In contrast to the refinement and coolness of the cool style, the rationality of progressive on the East Coast of the United States, young musicians in the early 50s continued the development of the seemingly exhausted bebop style. The growth of self-awareness of African Americans, characteristic of the 50s, played a significant role in this trend. There was a renewed focus on staying true to African-American improvisational traditions. At the same time, all the achievements of bebop were preserved, but many developments of cool were added to them both in the field of harmony and in the field of rhythmic structures. The new generation of musicians, as a rule, had a good musical education. This current, called "hardbop", turned out to be quite numerous. Trumpeters joined in Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Donald Byrd, pianists Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, drummer Art Blake, saxophonists Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Cannonball Adderley, double bassist Paul Chambers and many others.

Another technical innovation turned out to be significant for the development of the new style: the appearance of long-playing records. It became possible to record long solos. For musicians, this has become a temptation and a difficult test, since not everyone is able to speak out fully and succinctly for a long time. Trumpeters were the first to take advantage of these advantages, modifying Dizzy Gillespie's style to a calmer but deeper playing. The most influential were Fats Navarro And Clifford Brown. These musicians paid the main attention not to virtuosic high-speed passages in the upper register, but to thoughtful and logical melodic lines.

Hot jazz is considered to be the music of the New Orleans pioneers of the second wave, whose highest creative activity coincided with the mass exodus of New Orleans jazz musicians to the North, mainly to Chicago. This process, which began shortly after the closure of Storyville due to the US entry into World War I and the declaration of New Orleans as a military port for this reason, marked the so-called Chicago era in the history of jazz. The main representative of this school was Louis Armstrong. While still performing in the King Oliver ensemble, Armstrong made revolutionary changes to the concept of jazz improvisation at that time, moving from traditional schemes of collective improvisation to the performance of individual solo parts.

The very name of this type of jazz is associated with the emotional intensity characteristic of the manner of performing these solo parts. The term Hot was originally synonymous with jazz solo improvisation to highlight the differences in approach to soloing that occurred in the early 1920s. Later, with the disappearance of collective improvisation, this concept began to be associated with the method of performing jazz material, in particular with the special sound that determines the instrumental and vocal style of performance, the so-called hot intonation: a set of special methods of rhythmization and specific intonation features.

Perhaps the most controversial movement in jazz history arose with the advent of "free jazz". Although the elements "Free Jazz" existed long before the term itself appeared, in “experiments” Coleman Hawkins, Pee Wee Russell and Lenny Tristano, but only towards the end of the 1950s through the efforts of such pioneers as the saxophonist and pianist Cecil Taylor, this direction took shape as an independent style.

What these two musicians created together with others, including John Coltrane, Albert Euler and communities like Sun Ra Orchestra and a group called The Revolutionary Ensemble, consisted of various changes in the structure and feel of the music.
Among the innovations that were introduced with imagination and great musicality was the abandonment of the chord progression, which allowed the music to move in any direction. Another fundamental change was found in the area of ​​rhythm, where "swing" was either revised or ignored altogether. In other words, pulse, meter and groove were no longer essential elements in this reading of jazz. Another key component was related to atonality. Now musical expression was no longer based on the usual tonal system.

Piercing, barking, convulsive notes completely filled this new sound world. Free jazz continues to exist today as a viable form of expression, and is in fact no longer as controversial a style as it was in its early days.

Perhaps the most controversial movement in jazz history arose with the advent of "free jazz".

A modern style direction that emerged in the 1970s on the basis of jazz-rock, a synthesis of elements of European academic music and non-European folklore.
For the most interesting compositions Jazz-rock is characterized by improvisation, combined with compositional solutions, the use of harmonic and rhythmic principles of rock music, the active embodiment of the melody and rhythm of the East, the introduction of electronic means of sound processing and synthesis into music.

In this style, the range of application of modal principles has expanded, and the range of different modes, including exotic ones, has expanded. In the 70s, jazz-rock became incredibly popular; the most active musicians joined it. Jazz-rock, which is more developed in terms of the synthesis of various musical means, is called “fusion” (fusion, merging). An additional impulse for “fusion” was another (not the first in the history of jazz) bow towards European academic music.

In many cases, fusion actually becomes a combination of jazz with conventional pop music and light rhythm and blues; crossover. Fusion music's ambitions for musical depth and empowerment have remained unfulfilled, although in rare cases the search continues, for example in groups like "Tribal Tech" and in ensembles Chica Corea. Listen: Weather Report, Brand X, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, Spyro Gyra, Tom Coster, Frank Zappa, Urban Knights, Bill Evans, from the new Niacin, Tunnels, CAB.

Modern funk refers to popular styles of jazz of the 70s and 80s, in which accompanists play in a black pop-soul style, while solo improvisations have a more creative and jazzy character. Most saxophonists in this style use their own set of simple phrases that consist of bluesy shouts and groans. They build on a tradition adopted from saxophone solos in rhythm and blues vocal recordings like King Curtis's Coasters recordings. Junior Walker with vocal groups of the Motown label, David Sanborn from "Blues Band" by Paul Butterfield. A prominent figure in this genre - who often played solos in the style Hank Crawford using funk-like accompaniment. Much of the music , and their students use this approach. , also work in the style of "modern funk".

The term has two meanings. Firstly, this means of expression in jazz. A characteristic type of pulsation based on constant deviations of the rhythm from the supporting beats. Thanks to this, the impression of great internal energy is created, which is in a state of unstable equilibrium. Secondly, the style of orchestral jazz, which emerged at the turn of the 1920s and 30s as a result of the synthesis of Negro and European stylistic forms of jazz music.

Initial definition "jazz-rock" was the clearest: a combination of jazz improvisation with the energy and rhythms of rock music. Up until 1967, the worlds of jazz and rock existed practically separately. But by this time, rock becomes more creative and more complex, psychedelic rock and soul music emerge. At the same time, some jazz musicians began to get tired of pure hardbop, but they did not want to play difficult avant-garde music. As a result, two different idioms began to exchange ideas and join forces.

Since 1967, guitarist Larry Coryell, vibraphonist Gary Burton, in 1969 drummer Billy Cobham with the group "Dreams", in which the Brecker brothers played, they began to explore new spaces of style.
By the end of the 60s, Miles Davis had the necessary potential to transition to jazz rock. He was one of the creators of modal jazz, on the basis of which, using 8/8 rhythm and electronic instruments, he took a new step by recording the albums “Bitches Brew”, “In a Silent Way”. Along with him at this time is a brilliant galaxy of musicians, many of whom later become fundamental figures in this movement - (John McLaughlin), Joe Zawinul(Joe Zawinul) Herbie Hancock. Davis's characteristic asceticism, brevity, and philosophical contemplation turned out to be just the thing in the new style.

By the early 1970s jazz rock had its own distinct identity as a creative jazz style, although it was ridiculed by many jazz purists. The main groups of the new direction were "Return To Forever", "Weather Report", "The Mahavishnu Orchestra", various ensembles Miles Davis. They played high-quality jazz-rock that combined a huge range of techniques from both jazz and rock. Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Ska - Jazz Foundation, John Scofield Uberjam, Gordian Knot, Miriodor, Trey Gunn, trio, Andy Summers, Erik Truffaz- you should definitely listen to it to understand how diverse progressive and jazz-rock music is.

Style jazz-rap was an attempt to bring together African-American music of past decades with a new dominant form of the present, which would pay tribute and infuse new life into the first element of this - fusion - while also expanding the horizons of the second. The rhythms of jazz-rap were completely borrowed from hip-hop, and the samples and sound texture mainly came from such genres of music as cool jazz, soul-jazz and hard bop.

The style was the coolest and most famous of all hip-hop styles, and many artists demonstrated an Afro-centric political consciousness, adding historical authenticity to the style. Considering the intellectual bent of this music, it is not surprising that jazz-rap never became a favorite of the street parties; but then no one thought about it.

The representatives of jazz-rap themselves called themselves supporters of a more positive alternative to the hardcore/gangsta movement, which displaced rap from its leading position in the early 90s. They sought to spread hip-hop to listeners who could not accept or understand the growing aggression of urban music culture. Thus, jazz-rap found the bulk of its fans in student dormitories, and was also supported by a number of critics and fans of white alternative rock.

Team Native Tongues (Afrika Bambaataa)- this New York collective, consisting of African-American rap groups, has become a powerful force representing the style jazz-rap and includes groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and The Jungle Brothers. Soon began their creativity Digable Planets And Gang Starr also gained fame. In the mid-to-late 90s, alternative rap began to be divided into a large number of substyles, and jazz-rap no longer often became an element of the new sound.

INTRODUCTION
Culture - (from Latin cultura - cultivation, upbringing, education, development, veneration), a historically determined level of development of society and man, expressed in the types and forms of organization of people's lives and activities, as well as in the material and spiritual values ​​they create. The concept of culture is used to characterize the material and spiritual level of development of certain historical eras, socio-economic formations, specific societies, nationalities and nations (for example, ancient culture, socialist culture, Mayan culture), as well as specific spheres of activity or life ( K. labor, artistic K., K. everyday life). In a narrower sense, the term "K." relate only to the sphere of people’s spiritual life.
This is how the term “culture” is revealed in the TSB. And, therefore, we can conclude that jazz is an integral part of musical culture, although many people, especially the older generation, do not recognize this, or recognize it very limitedly. This is a rather primitive approach, since jazz music, just like any music and culture, has its own brilliant people and brilliant works. Talents that have gone down in the history of music for centuries.
This form of musical art is becoming increasingly widespread in our time. Due to the relevance of this style in the modern world, I chose this particular topic for my essay, the goals of which were:

briefly describe the path traveled by jazz music;
highlight the main directions;
describe brilliant musical experimenters and idols of many generations of this trend in music.

1 ORIGINS OF JAZZ
The very name “jazz” in Arabic says “to be permitted.” This slave music eventually broke the totalitarian regimes where classical orchestras reigned, completely subordinate to the will of the conductor's baton. According to the research of history and American culture professor Penny Van Eschen, the US State Department tried to use jazz as an ideological weapon against the USSR and the expansion of Soviet influence into third world countries. Jazz arose as a combination of several musical cultures and national traditions. It originally arrived in embryonic form from African lands. Any African music is characterized by a very complex rhythm, the music is always accompanied by dancing, which consists of rapid stamping and clapping (black musicians easily finger the strings of a banjo, tap dance on a tambourine and castanets, and at the same time perform incredible steps with their feet). On this basis, at the end of the 19th century, another musical genre, ragtime, emerged. Subsequently, ragtime rhythms combined with blues elements gave rise to a new musical direction - jazz.
The origins of jazz are connected with the blues. It arose at the end of the 19th century as a fusion of African rhythms and European harmony, but its origins should be sought from the moment of the importation of slaves from Africa to the territory of the New World. The brought slaves did not come from the same family and usually did not even understand each other. The need for consolidation led to the unification of many cultures and, as a result, to the creation of a single culture (including musical) of African Americans. The processes of mixing African musical culture and European (which also underwent serious changes in the New World) occurred starting from the 18th century and in the 19th century led to the emergence of “proto-jazz”, and then jazz in the generally accepted sense.
The cradle of jazz was the American South and, above all, New Orleans. On February 26, 1917, in the New York studio of the Victor company, five white musicians from New Orleans recorded the first jazz record. The significance of this fact is difficult to overestimate: before the release of this record, jazz remained a marginal phenomenon, musical folklore, and then stunned all of America for several weeks. The recording belonged to the legendary "Original Dixieland Jazz Band".
Improvisation plays a fundamental role in true jazz. Also, many styles of jazz are distinguished by a special performance technique: “swinging” or swing. In addition, jazz is distinguished by syncopation (emphasis on weak beats and unexpected accents) and a special drive. The last two components arise in ragtime, and then are transferred to the playing of orchestras (bands), after which the word jazz appears to denote this new style of music playing, which entered the American lexicon on October 6, 1917, when this word was explained in an article in Literature Digest as “a person’s desire to shake, jump and grimace,” first written as Jass, then as Jasz, and only in 1918 acquired its modern form.
Another feature of the jazz style is the unique individual performance of a jazz virtuoso. The key to eternal youth in jazz is improvisation. After the appearance of the brilliant performer who lived his entire life in the rhythm of jazz and still remains a legend - Louis Armstrong, the art of jazz performance saw new and unusual horizons: vocal or instrumental solo performance becomes the center of the entire performance, completely changing the idea of ​​jazz.
Jazz is not only a certain type of musical performance, but also a unique, cheerful era.

2 MAIN CURRENTS
Currently, there are many jazz movements, among which the following groups can be distinguished:
- Spiritual, sir
- Work songs
- Minstrels
- Ragtime
- Boogie Woogie
- Traditional jazz
- Chicago style
- Commercial jazz
- Swing
- "Modern jazz" bebop
- Cool jazz
- Hard bop
- Progressive
- Modern jazz
- Jazz rock
Let us characterize some of them.
2.1 Spiritual, sir
Spirituals arose as a result of the introduction of blacks to the religion of whites. In the Protestant church, the most widespread in America, blacks were first introduced to polyphonic choral hymns. This circumstance allowed them to quickly master the simple melody and harmony of such hymns, where from the very beginning they began to introduce elements of improvisation into choral singing.
Spirituals are examples of highly developed, highly artistic folklore that emerged in the Southern states in the 19th century. The main attractive factor of such music is the high culture of choral performance, combining an expressive melody with a complex system of polyphonic echoes, imitations, sharp rhythms and fresh, unusual-sounding harmony.
Spiritual is one of the branches of the African-American folk style, which largely determined the further development of jazz. The deep interpenetration of elements of European and African music synthesized and closely intertwined Anglo-Celtic and Negro musical harmonies. This is one of those first synthetic Afro-European cultures that acquired in America the role of national folklore, developing on the social and cultural soil of the country. The melodic and harmonic principles of constructing European church hymns were adopted by blacks and transferred into the mainstream of their own musical traditions. From this arose a different kind of hymns, which are distinguished, along with a clear setting of European forms, also by the use for the first time of the simplest step harmonies, going back to the ancient traditions of African choral singing (harmonic linearia, ribbon voicing, etc.) Plagal phrases, reduced seventh chords or non-chords, ellipsis (the expected tonic is replaced by a lowered VI degree), replacing triads with a quarter-sex chord, etc.
The significance of spirituals in the development of jazz lies in the development of the principles of melodic design of closed and open positions, in the introduction of harmonic parallelism, in the creation of polyphonic forms.
Thanks to the accompaniment of the singing of many spirituals, with stamping of feet and clapping of hands, the division of the ensemble into melodic and rhythmic groups was established. Such concepts as “bit” and then “off beat” became firmly established in practice.
BEAT - the beat of the pulse of jazz. This is an absolutely regular, equally strong, elastic flow of uniform metrical accents that create internal movement. In Negro music-making, uniform accents of all four beats of the “four beat” measure, or accentuation of the second and fourth beats, are traditional. In contrast, whites tend to emphasize the first and third beats, while the second and fourth are considered light two beats.
OFF BEAT is an expression of the ecstatic nature of jazz. This is a more complex concept than simple syncopation. This is a kind of rhythmic atmosphere of jazz. The essence of this concept is that melodic accents should fall between metric accents (between the main beats - the beat). Origin (off beat) comes from African music. All African drum music consists of off beats. In traditional jazz, in solo or group improvisation, the off-beat technique is used by each performer in his own way. In the swing style (see below), due to the combination of instruments into groups, the diverse off-beat game is combined into a single type of movement for the entire group. Off beat becomes the main rhythmic principle in jazz.
2.2 Work songs
During the period of slavery, work songs of blacks were an important part of black folklore. Performed solo and in groups without accompaniment. From the musical side, work songs are a song form with underdeveloped melody and are characterized by a short breathing structure. The roll call between the soloist and the choir (the “call” and “response” technique), which is also typical for Africans, permeates such chants. The most important stylistic feature is also untempered melodic sounds, alternating musical intonations with shouts and sighs. For jazz, the most important aspect in work songs turned out to be intonation - the Shaut effect. Shout - shout, shout - denotes a style of singing that is “screaming in nature.” This style was directly transferred from African music-making to the African-American performance sphere. "Shout effects" can be found in all vocal and instrumental forms of jazz to this day.

2.3 Minstrels
They originate from ancient folk musical performances, which in turn originate from the performances of jugglers. Originated in North America in the 18th century.
Since the mid-19th century, they have been developing under the influence of African-American folklore. Anglo-Celtic everyday songs were processed, modified, and improvised.
In the thirties century before last The banjo appears in minstrel music, which gives it a specific flavor. Gradually, black elements began to predominate in minstrel music. Syncopation, an ostinato sequence of short, often pentatonic motifs, a descending movement of the melody, characteristic chord accompaniment associated with banjo fingering (a sequence of parallel seventh chords), and the use of a variety of percussion instruments - all this gives the music of minstrels a bright originality.
The contrast between soloists, choir and instruments is given on a smaller scale, as a deliberate effect that disrupts the smoothness of the melody. In the depths of minstrel comedy, the first harbingers of pop jazz or Dixieland arose. This resulted in instrumental music with a fast, syncopated march. Subsequently separated from the minstrel show, these marches turned into the Cack-Walk dance (salon version) or ragtime (variety version), which becomes one of the first components of the mature jazz style.
2.4 Ragtime
Rag Time - ragged rhythm. It arose at the end of the 19th century. Received sensational success and distribution at the beginning of the 20th century. Known mainly as a style of piano playing. It is characterized by a peculiar syncopated melody, a clear rhythm and a “swinging” bass in the left hand.
Its immediate predecessors are the "jig piano" and the "cake walk" combination - rhythmics and "plantation banjo". But its general melodic, harmonic and formal qualities are of European origin.
etc.................