The origins of modern jazz are rooted in African music culture. After Christopher Columbus discovered a new continent and Europeans settled there, ships of merchants of living goods increasingly followed the shores of America.
Exhausted by hard work, homesick and suffering from the cruel treatment of warders, slaves found solace in music. Gradually, Americans and Europeans became interested in unusual melodies and rhythms. So there was jazz. What is jazz, and what are its features, we will consider in this article.
Features of the musical direction
The music of African-American origin belongs to jazz, which is based on improvisation (swing) and a special rhythmic construction (syncope). Unlike other directions, where one person writes music and the other performs, jazz musicians simultaneously act as composers.
The melody is created spontaneously, the periods of writing, the performance are separated by a minimum period of time. So it turns out jazz. What is an orchestra improvisation ? This is the ability of musicians to adapt to each other. At the same time, each improvises his own.
The results of spontaneous compositions are stored in musical notation (T. Cowler, G. Arlene “Happy all day”, D. Ellington “Don't you know what I love?”, Etc.).
Over time, African music was synthesized from European. Melodies appeared combining plasticity, rhythm, melody and harmony of sounds (CHEATHAM Doc, Blues In My Heart, CARTER James, Centerpiece, etc.).
Directions
Allocate more than thirty directions of jazz. Let's consider some of them.
1. The blues. Translated from English, the word means "sadness", "melancholy." The blues song was originally called the African American solo lyric song. Jazz blues is a twelve-cycle period corresponding to a three-line poetic form. Blues compositions are performed at a slow pace, some understatement is traced in the texts. Famous blues artists are Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and others.
2. Ragtime. The literal translation of the name of the style is torn time. In the language of musical terms, “reg” refers to sounds additional between beat beats. The direction appeared in the USA, after being carried away overseas by the works of F. Schubert, F. Chopin and F. Liszt. The music of European composers was performed in the style of jazz. Later, original compositions appeared. Ragtime is typical for the works of S. Joplin, D. Scott, D. Lamb and others.
3. Boogie-woogie. The style appeared at the beginning of the last century. Owners of inexpensive cafes needed musicians to play jazz. What musical accompaniment implies the presence of an orchestra, it was understood by itself, but inviting a large number of musicians was unprofitable. The sound of various instruments was compensated by pianists, creating numerous rhythmic compositions. Boogie features:
- improvisation;
- virtuoso technique;
- special accompaniment: the left hand performs an ostantant motor configuration, the interval between the bass and the melody is two to three octaves;
- continuous rhythm;
- pedal exception.
Boogie Woogie was played by Romeo Nelson, Arthur Montana Taylor, Charles Avery and others.
Style legends
Jazz is popular in many countries of the world. Everywhere there are stars that surround the army of fans, but some names have become a true legend. They are known and loved around the globe. Such musicians, in particular, include Louis Armstrong.
It is not known how the fate of the boy from the poor Negro district would have been if Louis had not been in the correctional camp. Here the future star was recorded in a brass band, however, the collective did not play jazz. What is the blues, and how is it performed, the young man discovered for himself much later. Armstrong gained world fame thanks to diligence and perseverance.
The founder of jazz singing is considered Billy Holiday (real name Eleanor Feigan). The singer reached the peak of popularity in the 50s of the last century, when she changed the scenes of nightclubs to theatrical stages.
Life was not easy for the owner of the three-octave range Ella Fitzgerald. After the death of her mother, the girl ran away from home and led a not-so-decent lifestyle. The start of the singer’s career was a performance at the Amateur Nights music contest.
George Gershwin is world famous. The composer created jazz works based on classical music. An unexpected manner of performance captivated the audience and colleagues. Concerts were invariably accompanied by a standing ovation. The most famous works of D. Gershwin are “Rhapsody in blues tones” (in collaboration with Fred Grof), the operas “Porgy and Bess”, “American in Paris”.
Also popular jazz artists were and remain Janice Joplin, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis and others.
Jazz in the USSR
The emergence of this musical direction in the Soviet Union is associated with the name of the poet, translator and theater-goer Valentin Parnakh. The first jazz band concert under the guidance of a virtuoso took place in 1922. Later A. Tsfasman, L. Utesov, Y. Skomorovsky formed the direction of theatrical jazz, combining instrumental performance and operetta. E. Rosner, A. Varlamov, O. Lundstrom did a lot to popularize jazz music.
In the 40s of the last century, jazz was widely criticized as a phenomenon of bourgeois culture. In the 50-60s, attacks on performers stopped. Jazz ensembles were created both in the RSFSR and in other union republics.
Today, jazz is freely performed at concert venues and in clubs.