Jazz
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Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island
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A little about JazzThe word 'Jazz' conveys a number of meanings:
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There are many influences contributing to the development of jazz including European harmony, gospel singing and the rhythms of West Africa. Since its humble beginnings jazz has embraced a number of different styles such as Dixieland the principle musicians of this style included Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and pianist Jelly roll Morton. Jazz also incorporated elements of blues and principle musicians from the blues/jazz era included composer W.C Handy, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday.
The 1920’s saw jazz develop in to a more sophisticated style and making use of bigger orchestration, (big band) as it spread across metropolitan areas such as New York, Paris and London. The spread of jazz culture around the world has brought about a great many changes to the style and many scholars suggest that to properly understand the dissemination of jazz we need to consider the different cultures that were involved in its evolution. Globalisation and local cultures have played a role in the development of jazz to the point where there are distinguishable differences between jazz found in New York, Paris, London and indeed other parts of the world.
The 1930’s saw a rise in a style known as swing, whilst bebop arose in the 1940’s where tempi were fast and virtuosic playing was needed and generally smaller groups were used, (around 7). Finally we saw an emergence of free jazz in the 1960’s which set out to alter and break down the conventions of jazz. Free jazz is considered avant garde whilst taking jazz back to its religious roots.
The 1920’s saw jazz develop in to a more sophisticated style and making use of bigger orchestration, (big band) as it spread across metropolitan areas such as New York, Paris and London. The spread of jazz culture around the world has brought about a great many changes to the style and many scholars suggest that to properly understand the dissemination of jazz we need to consider the different cultures that were involved in its evolution. Globalisation and local cultures have played a role in the development of jazz to the point where there are distinguishable differences between jazz found in New York, Paris, London and indeed other parts of the world.
The 1930’s saw a rise in a style known as swing, whilst bebop arose in the 1940’s where tempi were fast and virtuosic playing was needed and generally smaller groups were used, (around 7). Finally we saw an emergence of free jazz in the 1960’s which set out to alter and break down the conventions of jazz. Free jazz is considered avant garde whilst taking jazz back to its religious roots.
