Atestat engleza jazz by Ioana Georgescu

COLEGIUL NAŢIONAL “EMIL RACOVIŢĂ” CLUJ-NAPOCA Anul şcolar 2009-2010

Lucrare scrisă pentru obţinerea certificatului de competenţă la limba engleză

JAZZ

Autor: Ioana-Lucia Georgescu Clasa a XII-a C Profesor coordonator: Monica Cotul

MAI 2010

Table of Contents:

Introduction ............................................................................................................... page 3 Chapter 1: The Music 1.1. Origins .................................................................................................... page 5 1.2. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Definitionâ&#x20AC;? of jazz ................................................................................ page 6 1.3. The Music of New Orleans .................................................................... page 6 1.4. The Immersion of Recordings ................................................................ page 7 1.5. The Jazzmen ........................................................................................... page 8 Chapter 2: The Jazz Age 2.1. The Functions of Jazz ............................................................................. page 9 2.2. The Public Opinion on Jazz .................................................................... page 9 2.3. Old vs. New Jazz .................................................................................. page 11 Chapter 3: Famous Jazz Musicians 3.1. Duke Ellington ..................................................................................... page 12 3.2. Louis Armstrong ................................................................................... page 12 3.3. Benny Goodman ................................................................................... page 13 3.4. Ella Fitzgerald ...................................................................................... page 13 3.5. John Coltrane ........................................................................................ page 14 3.6. Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement .................................................... page 14 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... page 17 Bibliography ............................................................................................................ page 18 Annex ...................................................................................................................... page 19

Introduction “There is no squabbling so violent as that between people who accepted an idea yesterday and those who will accept the same idea tomorrow.” (Christopher Morley)

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about jazz is probably a damply lightened club with a group of musicians performing a slow, background tune. Some might even consider it boring, monotonous or pretentious. Since its immersion in the beginning of the 20th century, jazz has received mixed reviews, being considered unnatural, abnormal or even immoral. Still, the cultural impact of jazz music is undeniable, definitory of a fascinating and somewhat obscure period in history: the jazz age. Focusing on improvisation and unwilling to conform to standards imposed by society, jazz musicians have been regarded as defiant of moral values, thus being shunned by the general public. However, the rebellious spirit of the music represents one of the main appeals to the fans of the genre. Due to their inability to identify with the common mentality, the music is appreciated by those who do not obey normal standards – Negroes, adolescents and intellectuals. The feelings of resentment towards the world expressed by jazz music fit the adolescence‟s troubled years as a glove. This type of music is a way of dealing with frustration and rebellion. As a member of this category, I myself am attracted by this type of music. I cannot tell what exactly attracts me to it, but it is definitely more than the need for rebellion. Perhaps it is the fact that I can identify with the somewhat simple, relaxed and honest feeling that the music offers, as opposed to modern music. My fascination with the music, as well as the historic era – reading “The Great Gatsby” might have induced this affinity – has led me to the desire to discover more. By this paper, I wish to present the evolution of jazz starting with its origins in the slave songs of the late 19th century and continuing with the impact that the musicians of New Orleans have had upon jazz, as well as the popularization and spread of the music after the introduction of the phonograph recordings. The 1920s – The Jazz era – brought the consecration of the music genre, both as the accompaniment of dancers and as a form of entertainment through the stage

performances of musicians. However, the music has been frowned upon too, opinions being divided between the rebellious youth and the conservatory elder. Towards the middle of the 1920s, jazz developed into a more melodious and harmonious style, as opposed to the syncopated and â&#x20AC;&#x153;raggedâ&#x20AC;? sound of the New Orleans years. Jazz interprets have become famous all around the world, for their performance, as well as their social activism, the music being a bridge between the ethnic communities in the USA, the last chapter being dedicated to the most famous jazzmen of all time. This information and an analysis of its impact upon society leads to a better understanding of it both as a musical genre and a social manifestation, and only this way can an honest and fair appreciation of jazz be made.

CHAPTER 1: THE MUSIC

1.1. Origins Slavery is a process generally thought of as inhumane and condemnable, that can therefore have no positive consequences. Still, unlikely as it may seem, in such an environment, music flourished, slavesâ&#x20AC;&#x; songs being the most peaceful, but also the most powerful means of expressing the suffering and dreadful conditions to which they were subjected1. Because of slavery, the music of Western Europe met that of West Africa, Afro-American music evolving into one of the greatest sources of inspiration for music worldwide. Its universal acceptance has been facilitated by factors of social and historical concern. The American rural South was the source of Afro-American music, due to the fact that most slaves lived there. Negro folklore was best preserved and expressed in these communities, though it was not regarded with interest only after the abolition of slavery. However, folklore was mostly appreciated by the agrarian society, the collapse of that leading to the loss of interest towards Afro-American folklore. With the industrialization process in development, at the beginning of the 20th century, large Afro-American populations migrated to the North, settling in cities such as Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Detroit. The new way of life offered by large cities provided Afro-Americans with the access to improved education, better wages, greater independence and some degree of greater personal freedom. Still, the social separation between the two races persisted because of segregation. It ensured the preservation of the ethnic identity of the African-American population, but limited the employment opportunities for most Afro-Americans; many were able to find work in entertainment, providing "low-class" entertainment in dances, minstrel shows, and in vaudeville, by which many marching bands formed. An increasing number of Afro-American musicians learned to play European instrument, especially the violin, which they used to parody European dance music. In turn, European-American performers in blackface popularized this music internationally, combining it with European harmonic accompaniment.

See annex, page 19

1.2. “Definition” of Jazz Jazz is a music genre hard to define, all definitions being vague ones, a trait that defines the music itself. With its preponderant improvisation, jazz music absorbs and uses everything in sight. The earliest jazz musicians in the United States played with elements drawn from brass marching bands, Spanish dances, English religious songs, Romanticism‟s piano music, Negro folksongs and West Indian religious cult music. In 1924 an editorial writer for “The New York Times” called jazz a „return to the humming, hand-clapping or tom-tom beating of savages‟. By 1987, the United States Congress passed a resolution which designated jazz as „an outstanding model of individual expression‟ and „a rare and valuable national American treasure.‟ Writers have offered several definitions of the term in the pre-war period, claiming it to be a verb that meant to make something livelier or faster or to be full of energy. In 1913, a San Francisco sportswriter used the word to describe a kind of liveliness shown by baseball players, for instance: “Everybody on the team has come back full of the old „jazz‟ ”. The term has often carried negative associations, part of the reason why some musicians, such as Duke Ellington, rejected the label. A New York newspaper article commented in 1917 that „a strange word has gained wide-spread use in the ranks of our producers of popular music. It is „jazz‟, used mainly as an adjective descriptive of a band. The groups that play for dancing seem infected with the virus that they try to instill as a stimulus to others. They shake and jump and writhe in ways to suggest a return to the medieval jumping mania.‟

1.3. The Music of New Orleans Between 1910 and 1920, the seeds of jazz began to take root. New Orleans, the vibrant and chromatic port city in which ragtime was based, was home to a number of budding musicians and a new style2. Ragtime music is a music genre characterized by it syncopated or “ragged” rhythm. The city displayed a blend of African, Caribbean and European cultures, unique among American cities. A major port and commercial centre, New Orleans attracted black Americans from rural communities in Louisiana and neighboring states, offering economic incentives, educational opportunities and more 2

See annex, page 19

relaxed racial codes. At the same time, many residents had to endure poverty and sharp tensions that divided neighborhoods and districts according to ethnicity, class and skin colour. The foundations of jazz were established by Afro-Americans in this environment. Many early jazz performers played in the brothels and bars of the red-light district, called "Storyville". In addition, numerous marching bands played at lavish funerals arranged by the African-American community. The instruments used in marching bands and dance bands became the basic instruments of jazz: brass and reeds tuned in the European 12tone scale and drums. Small bands of primarily self-taught Afro-American musicians, many of whom came from the funeral-procession tradition of New Orleans, played a crucial role in the development and dissemination of early jazz, traveling throughout the Deep South3. From around 1914 on, musicians playing in vaudeville shows took jazz to western and northern US cities. The “Original Dixieland Jass Band” made the music's first recordings early in 1917, and their "Livery Stable Blues" became the earliest released jazz record.

1.4. Immersion of Recordings The music of the Afro-Americans was not a part of the mainstream culture of the country, being performed in segregated environments. By the intervention of the phonograph record, with its neutral, depersonalized mechanism, Negro music spread and became much more popular. This newly gained popularity lead to the development of “race records”, made by white-owned record companies and aimed exclusively at AfroAmerican audience. The

record

allowed

Negro

music

flexibility

and

the

possibility

experimentation, artists being able to promote their music and local traditions all around the United States. Most jazzmen came into contact with the music not by hearing jazz live, but by listening to records. The development of jazz was influenced by who was put on records at a particular time. The technical limitations of recordings influenced the form of the music itself. The length of the songs was reduced consistently, leading to a concentrated music, which did not include the typical jazz solos that made up most of a 3

See annex, page 20

live performance. Typical jazz-units consisted of three lead or melody-carrying instruments (cornet, clarinet, and trombone) with piano and drums accompaniment in the rhythm section. Improvisation, which lies at the base of jazz music, was more or less absent in the early years of jazz recordings. The formal patterns, the „set‟ quality of many of the instrumental lines, the functions of instruments within the ensemble and the use of breaks were similar in most songs, the music being repetitive and predictable. However, technical aspects of recording also influenced the songs, making them sound different from what could be heard during live performances.

1.5. The Jazzmen The cities were the places were jazz musicians performed and the ones that allowed them the possibility to experiment and innovate. However, jazzmen were not born in the cities. They came from smaller communities in North Carolina, Florida or Missouri. In the Border States and the Deep South the folk elements of Negro music that were at the foundation of jazz music were preserved. Jazz musicians have always been a subculture of music, a select group, most of them facing financial difficulties and unable to make a living out of performances. They formed a closed community, with a small number of fans, almost as a cult, while being rejected by the rest of society. The jazz community is one that values innovation and vision, not tradition, an anarchistic one, unaccepting of the mainstream culture and the standards imposed by society. In his memoirs, Sidney Bechet described how black American jazz expression embodied memory, pride and the happiness that followed emancipation: “All that waiting, all that time when that song was far-off music, waiting music, suffering music… It was joy music now… It wasn‟t spirituals or blues or ragtime, but everything all at once, each one putting something over on the other.”

CHAPTER 2: THE JAZZ AGE “Jazzin’, everybody’s jazzin’ now!”

2.1. The Functions of Jazz Jazz in the 1920s was fluid and unstable. The term could refer to Jelly Roll Morton, Vincent Lopez, T.S.Eliot‟s “The Waste Land” or Gershwin‟s “Rhapsody in Blue”. Jazz music, despite all of its associations, had two main functions. The first and most important role was to accompany dance, due to the lively and syncopated rhythms that invited to movement and fun4. Some recordings even specified the particular dance step for which the music was suitable. James P. Johnson‟s song „Charleston‟, written in 1923, inspired a popular craze for this dance, and its characteristic rhythmic motive turned up in individual solos and arrangements played by jazz orchestras. Jazz musicians accompanied social dancers, as well as professional ones, in vaudevilles and musical theatres. The second function of jazz was that of providing entertainment, as the performances often had a comedic touch or novelty component. Jazz bands were visually stimulating, with players throwing objects such as hats and drumsticks in the air, striking dramatic poses while singing and taking part in stage business. Jazz was often appreciated based on the visual representation, along with the music itself.

Jazz

musicians often performed in theatres, together with other artists. Louis Armstrong once had a performance where the background was that of a church; he played the role of a preacher, called Reverend Satchelmouth, and dressed as a man of the church while performing.

2.2. Public Opinion on Jazz During the 1920s, jazz generated a fever as it spread throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and other parts of the globe. This expansion occurred on one hand through the export of recordings, published sheet music and arrangements, and by traveling ensembles. On the other hand, American jazz was taken over by people from all over the world, who began performing, and recording jazz music, as well as writing about 4

See annex, page 20

it. Articles on jazz appeared more and more often in newspapers, periodicals and literary magazines. The public reaction to jazz varied across the USA. In the beginning, it was condemned for being improper, even immoral. According to John Philip Sousa, jazz „excites the baser instincts‟ and „offends people with musical taste already formed, preventing the formation of musical taste by others‟. American society was powerfully influenced by the Prohibition, when the sale of alcoholic drink was forbidden, resulting in illegal speakeasies – representative of the jazz age. The wild and loud parties all had jazz bands performing, the music being, in the eyes of conservative critiques, the manifestation of the depravation and decadent moral values of the „roaring 20s‟. Professor Henry Van Dyck of Princeton University wrote that “it is not music at all. It‟s merely an irritation of the nerves of hearing, a sensual teasing of the strings of physical passion.” Even the media began to degrade jazz. The New York Times took stories and altered headlines to pick at Jazz. For instance, villagers used pots and pans in Siberia to scare off bears, and the newspaper stated that it was Jazz that scared the bears away. Another story claimed that Jazz caused the death of a celebrated conductor, when the actual cause of death was a heart attack. Not everyone associated jazz exclusively with the USA. American cultural critic Waldo Frank considered it to be emblematic of the „Machine‟ and symbolized the diseased, industrialized society. Still, the supporters of jazz were not absent. Carl Engel, head of the Music Division of the Library of Congress, noted that „jazz finds its last and supreme glory in the skill for improvisation exhibited by its performers… good jazz is music that is recklessly fantastic and joyously grotesque‟. For some, jazz symbolized the spirit and temper of contemporary American life. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in “Tales of the Jazz Age” or “The Great Gatsby”, described the rebellious hedonism of the younger generation, with their “anything goes” spirit, while W.J. Henderson claimed that jazz expressed „ebulliency, our carefree optimism, our nervous energy and our extravagant humor‟.

2.3. Old vs. New Jazz A concert staged by Paul Whiteman in New York in 1924 crystallized conflicting views of jazz in the 1920s. Entitled „An Experiment in Modern Music‟, Whiteman‟s event sought, among other things, to suggest that the old „discordant‟ jazz, the style of the small bands in New Orleans, was being replace by „the really melodious music of today‟ – Modern Jazz. Gershwin‟s “Rhapsody in Blue” was referred to in the press as a „Jazz rhapsody‟. For Whiteman and others, jazz was a form of American popular music, not necessarily racially marked, suitable for polite dancing by urban sophisticates or adaptable by composers for use in the concert hall.

CHAPTER 3: FAMOUS JAZZ MUSICIANS

3.1. Duke Ellington A prominent figure in the history of jazz, his music stretched into various other genres, including blues, gospel, film scores, popular and classical. Duke Ellington5 (29th April 1899 – 24th May 1974), over a career of more than 50 years, lead his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, and world tours. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and extraordinary charisma, he is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an artistic level similar to that of classical music. His reputation increased after his death, receiving a special award citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board in 1999. Ellington called his music “American Music” rather than jazz, and liked to describe those who impressed him as “beyond category”. These included many of the musicians who were members of his orchestra, some of whom are considered among the best in jazz in their own right, but it was Ellington who melded them into one of the most well-known jazz orchestral units in the history of jazz. Ellington led his band from 1923 until his death in 1974. His son Mercer Ellington, who had already been handling all administrative aspects of his father's business for several decades, led the band until his own death from cancer in 1996. At that point, the band dissolved. Paul Ellington, Mercer's youngest son and executor of the Duke Ellington estate, kept “The Duke Ellington Orchestra” going from Mercer's death onwards.

3.2. Louis Armstrong Nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, Louis Armstrong6 (4th August 1901 – 6th July 1971) was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music‟s focus from collective improvisation to solo performers. With his distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential

5 6

See annex, page 21 See annex, page 21

singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or vocalizing using syllables instead of actual lyrics. Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and deep, instantly recognizable voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general.

3.3. Benny Goodman Benny Goodman7 (30th May 1909 – 13th June 1986) was the leader of one of the most popular musical groups in America in the mid 1930s, being known as the “King of Swing”, “Patriarch of the Clarinet”, “The Professor” and “Swing‟s Senior Statesman”. His 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critic Bruce Eder as “the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz‟s „coming out‟ party to the world of „respectable‟ music.” Goodman‟s bands launched the careers of many major names in jazz. During an era of segregation, he also led one of the first racially integrated musical groups. Goodman continued to perform to nearly the end of his life, concomitantly exploring his interest in classical music.

3.4. Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald 8 (25th April 1917 – 15th June 1996), also known as “The First Lady of Song” and “Lady Ella”, was famous for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. She is considered one of the supreme interprets of the Great American Songbook. Over a career of 59 years, she received fourteen Grammy Awards, was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush. 7 8

See annex, page 21 See annex, page 21

3.5. John Coltrane John William Coltrane9 (23rd September 1926 – 17th July 1967), sometimes referred to as „Trane‟, helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz. He organized at least fifty recording sessions as a leader during his recording career, also appearing as a sideman on many other albums, notably with trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. As his career progressed, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. He influenced innumerable musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history. He received many awards, among them a posthumous Special Citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board in 2007 for his “masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz.”

3.6. Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement From the days when jazz ceased to cater to popular audiences, and instead became solely about the music and the musicians who played it, jazz has been symbolically linked to the civil rights movement. The music, which appealed to whites and blacks alike, provided a culture in which the collective and the individual were inextricable, and in which one was judged by his ability alone, and not by race or any other irrelevant factors. “Jazz,” Stanley Crouch writes, “predicted the civil rights movement more than any other art in America.” Not only was jazz structured similarly to ideals of the civil rights movement. Jazz musicians took up the cause, using their celebrity and their music to promote racial equality and social justice. Louis Armstrong, despite being criticized by activists and black musicians for playing into an “Uncle Tom” stereotype by performing for mainly white audiences, had a subtle way of dealing with racial issues. In 1929 he recorded “(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue?” – a song from a popular musical. The lyrics include the phrase: “My only sin / Is in my skin / What did I do / To be so black and blue?”

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The lyrics, out of the context of the show, and sung by a black performer in that period, were a risky and weighty commentary. Armstrong became a cultural ambassador for the U.S. during the cold war, performing jazz all over the world. In response to increasing turmoil swirling around the desegregation of public schools, Armstrong was outspokenly critical of his country. After the 1957 Little Rock Crisis, when the National Guard prevented nine black students from entering a high school, Armstrong canceled a tour to the Soviet Union, and said publicly, “the way they‟re treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell.” Billie Holiday incorporated the song “Strange Fruit” into her set list in 1939. Adapted from a poem by a New York high school teacher, “Strange Fruit” was inspired by the 1930 lynching of two blacks, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. It juxtaposes the horrid image of bodies hanging from trees with a description of the idyllic South. Holiday delivered the song night after night, often overwhelmed by emotion, causing it to become an anthem of early civil rights movements. Lyrics to “Strange Fruit”: “Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop. ” Benny Goodman, a preeminent white bandleader and clarinetist, was the first to hire a black musician to be part of his ensemble. In 1935 he made pianist Teddy Wilson a member of his trio. A year later, he added vibraphonist Lionel Hampton to the lineup,

which also included drummer Gene Krupa. These steps helped push for racial integration in jazz, which was previously not only taboo, but even illegal in some states. Goodman used his fame to spread appreciation for black music. In the 1920s and 30s, many of the orchestras that marketed themselves as jazz bands consisted only of white musicians, and played a mawkish style of music that only drew sparingly from the music that black jazz bands were playing. In 1934, when Goodman began a weekly show on NBC radio called “Let‟s Dance,” he bought arrangements by Fletcher Henderson, a prominent black bandleader. His thrilling radio performances of Henderson‟s music brought awareness of the jazz of black musicians to a broad and mainly white audience. Duke Ellington‟s commitment to the civil rights movement was complicated. Many felt that a black man of such esteem should be more outspoken, but Ellington often chose to remain quiet on the issue. He even refused to join Martin Luther King‟s 1963 march on Washington, D.C. However, Ellington dealt with prejudice in subtle ways. His contracts always stipulated that he would not play before segregated audiences. When he was touring the South in the mid 1930s with his orchestra, he rented three train cars in which the entire band traveled, ate, and slept. This way, he avoided the grasp of Jim Crow laws, and commanded respect for his band and music. Ellington‟s music itself fueled black pride. He referred to jazz as “AfricanAmerican classical music,” and strove to convey the black experience in America. He was a figure of the Harlem Renaissance, an artistic and intellectual movement celebrating black identity. In 1941 he composed the score to the musical “Jump for Joy,” which challenged traditional representation of blacks in the entertainment industry. He composed “Black, Brown, and Beige” in 1943 to tell a history of American blacks through music.

Conclusion

The Jazz era, with all of its exuberance, nonconformism and rebellion, has come and gone, but not without an impact upon society. The insight into the history of jazz, the cultural manifestation of great ideas and ideals, stands as a testimony towards the social implications that jazz has had in history. Starting with its roots in the suffering and desire of freedom of the enslaved AfroAmericans, it has evolved into a genre that is performed and appreciated worldwide. Jazz musicians are some of music‟s most famous figures, people that have sent a powerful message to all generations. Whatever anyone‟s personal taste towards music, there‟s no denying that jazz has fueled the emancipation of the Afro-American population, jazzmen being seriously involved in the human rights movements. All in all, the glamour, the excess and the flappers might not be definitory to today‟s recession-affected world. Still, rebellion, the feeling of exclusion and the unwillingness to conform to society‟s standards is still present, being appreciated by people today just as almost a century ago. The elaborate sophistication and alleged pretentiousness of the music still keeps a feeling of relaxed simplicity and naturalness, just like a warm cup of coffee on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Bibliography: 

American Folklore – Voice of America Forum Lectures – edited by Tristram Coffin, III



“Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians”



M.Charlot, G.Hocmard, J.R.C.Yglesias – “Let’s go on!” – Armand Colin – Longman, 1977



en.wikipedia.org/



jazz.about.com/

Annex:

African-American dance from the late 18th century

Jazz Band in New Orleans

The King & Carter Jazzing Orchestra photographed in Houston, Texas, January 1921

The Roaring 20s

Dance of the 1920s

Louis Armstrong

Benny Goodman

John Coltrane

Duke Ellington

Ella Fitzgerald