Patrick A. Thilmany
December 1995

History of Jazz

Jazz: Musical Hybridization

In African cultures, at times of festivals and celebrations, musical activity is the center. Such celebrations can continue for days as the extreme, and for many hours as the norm. The master drummer is the leader of such activity and earns his place through skills of timing, tonal inflection, and subtleties we do not understand. As the music evolves, many drum players layer the story of the master drummer with their own reflection of the story, and the participants dance, clap, and sing out of their own natural response and improvisation of the theme.

All of this activity carries a characteristic of "call-and-response" to varying degrees, and yields a hetrophonic result. If we try to analyze the rhythms and over-lapping meters through Western music's forms of measures, and 2 and 4 beats to the bar, we can only catch a glimpse of the complexity of the polyrhythms and polymeters. The African's penchant for micro-second time divisions and complex rhythm structures which evoke a physical response of movement, and at times a consciousness-altering response, woven into the context of Western European formats of 2 and 4 beats to the bar, gave rise to the syncopation which showed itself in America, as transplanted Africans adopted the Western musical forms and instruments. This syncopation stirred audiences to tap their feet, clap their hands, and dance with an emotional quality not before seen in the evolution of Western classical music, which was at its peak during the "Romantic Period"-- at the same time the "Black" influence on Western music forms (circa 1860), began to make its way into the consciousness of America via Vaudeville, Minstrel Shows, Revues, and Ragtime as personified in Scott Joplin.

Blue notes against traditional harmony yields an impression of quarter tones and microtonality that is utilized in African music, which allows the communication of an emotional quality between performer and listener (tension & release). This scale structure came to be known as the "Blues Scale" consisting of a flatted 3, 5, and 7.

The European classical form of the March became the basis of jazz which developed in New Orleans in association with parades, festivals, celebrations and funerals. The funeral particularly points out the hybrid marriage between Catholicism and the African spiritual beliefs. A street band would play somber spirituals on the way to a burial site and break into raucous improvisation in celebration of the deceased passing into a better world.

In 1610 the first slaves were sent to North America, generally through the port of New Orleans, where they were placed on Southern plantations, or in the homes of the well-to-do of New Orleans. The exposure to the Christian churches, in particular the Catholic Church, struck a resonant chord in the slave population due to similarities in rituals, icons and holy-day celebrations. I would speculate that the call-and-response of the Gregorian Chants utilized in the Catholic Church also struck a response to the slaves' native form of music based on call-and-response as well. The conditions of slavery and being in a strange land, combined with exposure to all the aforementioned influences, yielded a homogenized culturization of music utilized by the slaves to alleviate pain, tell their stories, celebrate, and seek relief in God. This culturization became the basis of the "settled America's" own new music. "Spirituals", "Hollers" and "Work Songs" became the basis for the New Testament Gospel music and the "storytelling blues". It is generally agreed that the blues provided the basis for what became jazz. The soulful flatted notes of the blues scale, and the syncopated rhythm structure came to expression in Ragtime music and the various show formats that were gaining popularity in America.

The proliferation of cheap pianos in the U.S. (United States) offered a source of entertainment to almost anyone. Pianos were thus available to black musicians playing in the whore houses of New Orleans. These pianos provided a rhythmic and harmonic basis for spontaneous bands to form as entertainment for "clients" of bordellos and saloons, or could be played by solo artists.

The small black marching bands of New Orleans actually developed the first acceptable and recognized jazz style in the U.S., later to be known as "Dixieland". "Funeral Marches", in particular, would be considered the style which became Dixieland. Based on the beat structure of the Western music, and the utilization of traditional Marching Band brass instruments, black musicians would break into improvised solos simultaneously around a melodic theme, as part of the joyous celebration after the burial of the dead. This style brought the black musicians back to their native heritage of complex rhythms and improvised polytonality within a structure recognized by the white population of the U.S.. The coronet, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, and drums were the predominant instruments of early Dixieland. The banjo, an American adaptation of a native African instrument, also featured prominently in the original era of Dixieland, although it is now becoming a rapidly lost art in favor of the Bluegrass 5 string banjo and its finger-picking style.

Of the early pioneers in jazz, one has to look to the brass instruments as the foundation of the "jazz" sound as it developed into the unique "dirty" buzz sounds of the jazz solo. One of the earliest recognized greats was Buddy Bolden, a renowned coronetist who set the standard and the ideal for other aspiring black coronetists and trumpet players. He was followed by several notables including King Oliver and others, but the most well known was Louis Armstrong. Kid Ory set the standard on trombone, while Johnny Dodds established the clarinet standard. There were so many names involved in the early years of jazz that this short overview has neither the room nor the time to give credit to all to whom credit is due.

The leaders of the jazz piano style should also be mentioned when discussing the birth of jazz and blues in New Orleans. Jelly Roll Morton and Fate Marable set the stage for the future innovation of yet to come piano styles which would weigh heavily on the evolution of harmonic structures, comping methods and the diverging of jazz styles.

"A wave of vulgar, of filthy and suggestive music has inundated the land. Nothing but ragtime prevails. No seaside resort this summer has been without its ragtime orchestra, its weekly cakewalk. Worse yet, the fashionable idle folk of Newport have been the chief offenders. Society has decreed that ragtime and cakewalking are the thing, and one reads with amazement and disgust of historical and aristocratic names joining in this sex dance, for the cakewalk is nothing but an African danse du ventre (i.e. belly dance), a milder edition of African orgies, and the music is degenerate music. Ragtime rhythm's present usage and marriage to words of veiled lasciviousness should banish it from polite society."

While New Orleans was perking away with jazz and blues, several East Coast personalities were trying to prove jazz as legitimate music to the high society crowd of the East Coast. The first recording of jazz was done in New York by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB) in 1917. ODJB was an all white group trying to put forth Dixieland as a legitimate and commercially viable music form. They toured Europe with their version of Dixieland, and are therefore credited with introducing jazz to the world. It should be noted that blues and jazz had found their way to Europe earlier than 1914 via many of the black musicians, found the European audiences more accepting of their skin color, and financially more rewarding than the audiences of the U.S. outside of New Orleans. This migration gave rise to the famous "Hot Club" in Paris.

In 1924 Paul Whiteman, a big band leader, commissioned several works to bring jazz to the high society of New York. In the form of a contest these works were presented at New York's Aeolian Hall. George Gershwin wrote "Rhapsody in Blue" for this contest. The piece left the audience stunned, and established jazz as "true art" among the influential movers and shakers of the East Coast. Although it should be noted that Martin Williams, a respected jazz critic, stated about Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (69),

"In his Rhapsody in Blue George Gershwin, according to the phrase of the twenties, 'made an honest woman' of jazz. Perhaps he lay down with her and produced a bastard? Or perhaps, since she was an honest woman to begin with, Gershwin only borrowed a few of her jewels?"

"The Rhapsody and Gershwin's other 'serious' works are basically European concert music, and a rhythm here, a slur or blue note there-even a twelve-bar blues form-can't really make them jazz."

Notables of the Chicago and New York jazz scene were: Louis Armstrong (trumpet), Mamie Smith (vocal), Clara Smith (vocal), Bessie Smith (vocal), Earl Hines (piano), Bix Biederbecke (trumpet), Sidney Bechet (clarinet), and Fats Waller (piano).

The other center for the development of an urban blues style was Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas City musicians had a distinctly different, less gritty approach to blues, swing and jazz. This style primarily evolved from the "cutting sessions" that went on each night in the clubs after hours. These sessions were not only competitive, but they encouraged a camaraderie, etiquette, and education for the participants that allowed them to refine their facility and limits. Pianist Sammy Price once remarked (Williams 23),

"Jam sessions in Kansas City? I remember once at the Subway Club, on Eighteenth Street, I came by a session at about ten o'clock and then went home to clean up and change my clothes. I came back a little after one o'clock and they were still playing the same song."

With the "Stock Market Crash of 1929", and the ensuing Great Depression, jazz suffered a severe setback. Money dried up, and Dixieland and combo jazz had few venues in the U.S.. Black musicians found their income cut drastically. Many had to leave jazz as their mainstay, or work in Europe, where jazz and blues were still well received. The center of the entertainment industry in this country shifted solidly to New York, as the commercial aspects of the Chicago jazz scene dried up. The popularity of the big band survived due primarily to live radio broadcasts in large dance halls featuring dance music. This gave rise to the Swing Era. Paul Whiteman and others had set the stage for the success of big bands throughout the 1920's by playing music with a jazz flavor but was danceable, for affluent, East Coast audiences. These swing bands also gave rise to the songbirds and pop singers. Billie Holiday got her start as a big band pop singer and went on to establish the standard for female jazz singers. Through the 1930's up to W.W. II, saw an astounding growth of dance crazes as well as the peaking of jazz in the form of Big Band Swing (Swing is King). Four types of Big Bands coexisted during this era. The commercial "Big Band" played very little jazz, and focused on commercial dance music. "MOR (Middle of the Road) Bands" played commercial and jazz. Some of the most established names from the Swing Era came out of the MOR stream. These included the Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Miller, Les Brown, and many others. The "White Bands", such as Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, and Gene Krupa, took the road less traveled and played jazz arrangements with strong jazz soloists. The "Black Bands" actually left the most lasting influence on the future of jazz. Names such as Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong set the standards that future jazz musicians would try to meet, exceed, or rebel against, as in "Bop".

Boogie-Woogie was also an outgrowth of blues techniques which catered to the desire for a moving bass line to create a forward momentum. Some standard and trend setters in Boogie-Woogie piano were Clarence Smith, Freddie Slack and Mary Lou Williams.

As I look at these two styles of piano playing I am reminded of the two basic styles of guitar accompaniment which utilize the same premise as Stride and Boogie Woogie. Both techniques are popular methods for accompanying with guitar in blues, pop, rock, etc.. The Boogie pattern is almost the foundation of rock and rockabilly, while Stride is almost the foundation of country western and ballad forms, albeit a much more simplified version within a narrower range.

Mainstream jazz in the form of big bands and combos continued on, but lost much financial support due to influx of capital to the lucrative Rock format being pushed by the music industry. Buddy Rich is probably most known to the general public due to his prowess on drums and the success of his band. Maynerd Ferguson has continued success as a jazz trumpet player and band leader due to his ability to appeal to young audiences with his innovative style.
Jack Wheaton in his book All That Jazz says (152),

"Bop, or bebop, was the first jazz-style that could truly be called fine art. Divorced completely from dance and novelty music, mainly instrumental and wildly independent, bop burst upon the public like a space ship landing on the lawn of the White House. Bop was born in the after-hours jam sessions where serious, involved jazz musicians had the opportunity to experiment and try new ideas."

The West Coast had a reactionary inclination to bop, and developed its own "Cool Jazz". Lester Young is credited by some as the actual creator of "Cool Jazz". Again, the names are well known throughout American society, perhaps more so than the stars of bop, due to the soothing nature of "Cool Jazz" on the listeners' ears. Miles Davis cut across the boundaries of bop, pop, rock and fusion with his unique style and wide acceptance among young listeners. Dave Brubeck also cut across all age groups with his understated "Cool Jazz" style.

Hard bop developed on the East Coast, primarily in the Philadelphia area as a reaction against "Cool Jazz" straying too far from its blues & Gospel origin. John Coltrane probably will go down in history as the premiere saxophonist of the "Hard Bop" stream. Pianist, Thelonious Monk will probably be required study for students of American jazz due to his tremendous impact on the jazz scene.

• Feather, Leonard. The Passion For Jazz. New York: Horizon Press, 1980.
• Ramsey, Frederic Jr. and Smith, Charles Edward. Jazzmen. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1939.
• Sales, Grover. Jazz: America's Classical Music. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1984.
• Wheaton, Jack. All That Jazz. New York: Ardsley House, 1994.
• Williams, Martin. Jazz Heritage. New York: Oxford UP, 1985.