Jazz DayApril 30

Created by ms. Krzanik’s menteesHania Gróbarczyk, Aleksandra Ruhan, Marysia Stabińska, Wiktor Dworak, Sara

Susperregui, Mikołaj Dulewicz and Staś Nikiel

History of Jazz Jazz originated in the late-19th to early-20th century as interpretations of American and European classical music entwined with African and slave folk songs and the influences of West African culture.

The music of New Orleans had a profound effect on the creation of early jazz. In New Orleans, slaves could practice elements of their culture such as voodoo and playing drums. Many early jazz musicians played in the bars and brothels of the red-light district around Basin Street called Storyville.

From 1920 to 1933, Prohibition in the United States banned the sale of alcoholic drinks, resulting in illicit speakeasies which became lively venues of the "Jazz Age", hosting popular music, dance songs, novelty songs, and show tunes.

Jazz began to get a reputation as immoral, and many members of the older generations saw it as a threat to the old cultural values by promoting the decadent values of the Roaring 20s.

As only a limited number of American jazz records were released in Europe, European jazz traces many of its roots to American artists such as James Reese Europe, Paul Whiteman, and Lonnie Johnson, who visited Europe during and after World War I. It was their live performances which inspired European audiences' interest in jazz, as well as the interest in all things American. Soon after becoming widely popularised internationally, Jazz began to evolve. By the end of the 1940s, the nervous energy and tension of bebop was replaced with a tendency towards calm and smoothness, with the sounds of cool jazz, which favoured long, linear melodic lines. It emerged in New York City, as a result of the mixture of the styles of predominantly white swing jazz musicians and predominantly black bebop musicians, and it dominated jazz in the first half of the 1950s.

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) Louis Daniel Armstrong was born in Louisiana and is one of the most influential artists in the history of jazz. He was sent to the Colored Waifs home in 1913 where he learned how to play the cornet; music quickly became his passion. He learned music by listening to jazz artists including a famous cornetist King Oliver.

He played in New York in Fletcher Henderson’s band before returning to Chicago and participating in orchestras. The Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925-28) helped in developing his solo career.

His technique while playing the trumpet was superior to that of the rest. He had a great feeling of swing, he was sophisticated and had a gift for energetic melodies. He is mostly known for the following pieces : “stardust” “la vie en rose” “what a wonderful world”.

Miles Davis ( 1926-1991) Miles Dewey Davis III was a fantastic trumpeter,composer who was a major influence in the 1940s. He began learning how to play the trumpet in his teenage years. He played with jazz bands in St.Louis before going to NY in 1944 to study at the INstitute of Musical Art.

In 1954 he struggled with an addiction which affected his music rather positively since it began a period during which he was considered the most innovative jazz musician. His albums recorded during this time included: ‘Round About Midnight (1956), Working’(1956), Steamin’(1956) Relaxin’ (1956) affecting other artists to a great extent.

Ella Fitzgerald (1917- 1996)Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer that became famous thanks to her wide ranged voice. Her status increased drastically in the 1950s when Norman Granz became her manager. In the years 1956-1964 she recorded a 19- volume series of ‘songbooks’ that included the interpretation of 250 songs by Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and many more. This proved her extraordinary skills.

She did not study the lyrics excessively, her rendition was intuitive. Her jazz vocal recording was one of the best selling ones in history.

Duke Ellington ( 1899 - 1974 ) Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is one of the

most important composers in the history of American music.He’s best known for the over 3,000 songs that he wrote in his lifetime. Some of his most popular compositions include It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), Mood Indigo, Satin Doll and In A Mellow Tone. His famous band, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, is arguably one of the most important big bands of the swing era, alongside the Count Basie Orchestra, and Benny Goodman’s Orchestra.Many of his compositions have become part of standard jazz repertoire and are still played today. His compositions, personality, and band made a huge impact on jazz.

Charlie Parker and Dizzy GillespieCharlie Parker Jr. is one of the most innovative musicians in jazz history and along with trumpeter John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie , he pioneered “bebop” which is still the common language used in jazz today. Parker’s approach to the music radically changed the way musicians played jazz. His style was technical and fast, yet brilliantly melodic. Musicians during his time would study his sound religiously in an effort to sound like him.Musicians such as Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt and Jackie McLean were heavily influenced by Parker, and went on to create legacies of their own. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie’s pioneering of bebop turned jazz of the swing era, which was geared towards dancing, into virtuosic music which featured the soloists primarily. Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.

John Coltrane ( 1926 - 1967 )John William Coltrane has had one of the strongest influences on modern jazz today. His sound is instantly recognizable and his unique innovations in jazz music easily set him apart from others. Perhaps one of his greatest innovations is what we now call Coltrane Changes.

The most well-known tune that he utilized his changes in is the groundbreaking Giant Steps. His record “A Love Supreme” was one of his most notable works, an album he called his “masterpiece”. The succinct, four-suite album, a big seller that went gold decades later , is noted not only for Coltrane's astounding technical vision but for its nuanced spiritual explorations and ultimate transcendence.The work was nominated for two Grammys and is considered a hallmark album by jazz historians around the world.

Jazz musicians today are still heavily influenced by Coltrane and his music. He is one of the most brilliant musicians in the music’s history.

How it’s celebrated There are many ways to celebrate the jazz day. For example: schools would

read their classes a jazz poem, show jazz-related artwork or play one of the famous jazz track or create a lesson or activity related to one of the jazz legends. On the other hand, the public will attend their favorite jazz musician’s concerts - like The Copenhagen Jazz Festival, go to museums - like the New Orleans Jazz Museum - to appreciate artwork or learn about historical jazz legends, but most people just relax in their homes and listen to their favorite jazz tunes. Many auctions will also put up some of the historical famous jazz records for sale so the people can purchase the original vinyls and listen to them on the turntables.

Jazz musical theory The circle of Fifths - a lineup of western notes but not in the regular order. They’re organised by fifths, so between every notes there are three other notes. Instead of going from C do D, it goes from C to G. If you play the circle, you will basically traverse the entire piano. Why do we use this array of sounds you may ask? It’s because fifths are a lot more harmonious and therefore they appeal to our ears a lot more. (it gets more complicated when I tell you that there’s actually a G undertone in the C and that’s why it’s so harmonious, so let’s keep it simple)

A lot of music genres base it’s songs on this array of sounds, Jazz being amongst them.

John Coltrane’s notes

Jazz musical theory John Coltrane - Giant Steps, the most feared song in Jazz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30FTr6G53VU

This piece is among the classics of Jazz. It features the progression of sounds you just learned about - the circle of fifths. The five to one progression can be found in the Giant Steps, in this case, through the II-V-I, which is almost a backbone of classical Jazz. Now why is Giant Steps the most feared song in Jazz? It uses the five to one progression which is common and familiar to most musicians, however the song changes keys as it goes at a very high pace from one sound to another. Even though usually songs feature one to two keys for a dramatic effect, Giant Steps includes 3 - Emaj, G and B, which are additionally separated by a major third (very far from each other), making it a lot more demanding to play along . Coltrane managed to connect these separate keys by putting them into the II-V-I.

Jazz in Movies - Miki Jazz has a long history in movies, and can be seen as early as in 1927, in “the jazz singer”. To this day, we can still hear jazz in movies such as LaLaLand, Whiplash and many more, however the motive of jazz in movies is slowly being taken over by genres like pop, rap or classical music. Thus, we can sadly see that jazz is being slowly forgotten in movies, even though it helped shape the history of film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuxdzesGhBw - jazz in LaLaLand by Justin Hurwitz