COURSE TEXT:
MUSIC 11
(History of Jazz and Rock)
[Sixth Edition]
by
DR. LARRY H. GRANDY
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
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1. THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
Music consists of common elements that are found throughout all musical cultures. These common elements are: 1) Timbre; 2) Pitch; 3) Dynamics; 4) Duration; and 5) Silence. Within these five common music elements are various sub-elements that may or may not be found in all musical compositions.
Throughout the centuries, musical thought or theory has developed differently among cultures. Today, music history or cultural styles can be very broadly defined as Western musical development, Eastern musical development, or “Primitive” musical development. Within these broad categories, musical cultures can be more specific. For example, under Western Music, we can include music of Western Europe or the United States, while under Eastern music, we can place music of India or Japan. The “Primitive” category could include music of Africa or the Australian Aborigines. Within these three broad musical categories, certain common similarities exist. For example, within Western music (music of the Western musical culture, not Country and Western music), the use of the major-minor tonality system is common for all the sub-styles of Western music, while the Eastern musical cultures usually include a more "nasal" vocal production as a common musical ingredient. There are many differences and similarities in the music of the Earth's cultures, but the only common elements found in all musical cultures are the five elements mentioned earlier: Pitch, Timbre, Dynamics, Duration, and Silence. (Throughout this course we will concentrate on music of the Western musical culture thus most of the common elements will focus on music of the Western heritage).
The vibration of an object such as a string, a reed, or a drumhead generates musical sounds. The buzzing of lips or the vibration of an audio speaker will also generate musical sound. In a guitar, the guitar string vibrates when plucked or strummed.
2 Vibrating lips produces the trumpet sound. An enclosed volume of air that vibrates as it is split generates the flute’s sound. A vibration is characterized by its amplitude (extent of its vibration) and by its frequency (number of vibrations per second). The greater the frequency, the higher the pitch or sound. The louder the sound, the greater the amplitude. Each pitch is determined by a specific number of vibrations per second. The piano has a basic sound or pitch range of about 30 cycles per second (low pitch) to approximately 4000 c.p.s. (highest sound). "Cycle per second" is abbreviated with the letters "c.p.s."
Pitch is defined as the highness or lowness of sound. If a piano key is struck on the far left of the piano keyboard, a low-pitched sound will be produced while inversely, if a piano key on the far right of the keyboard is struck, a high-pitched sound will be produced. There is a wide range of aural pitches available to musicians today, ranging from the very low pitches (perhaps the low pitches of a tuba, string bass, electric bass, or synthesizer) to very high pitches (such as the high pitches of a piccolo, violin, electric guitar, or synthesizer).
Within the major element of Pitch are two important sub-elements called melody and harmony. These two sub-elements are very important even though they may not be used in all music.
Melody is the horizontal element of pitch or musical texture and it may occur either without any addition (monophonic), in combination with other melodies (polyphonic, contrapuntal, counter-melodies), or with harmonies (homophonic). Melodies may consist of scale-like passages, skips, leaps, or basically a succession of musical tones. A melody can portray a wide variety of sounds, styles, or emotions. Some melodies can be very jagged, angular, or chaotic sounding. They can also be very smooth, calm, and restrained. Most melodies in popular music seem to be simple and easy to sing, while melodies in more extravagant art forms are more demanding and
3 complex. (Of course, the preceding sentence is an over simplification and one can find many styles of melodies in different types of music. Plus there is no connotation of quality assigned to the words "simple" or "complex")
An example of a smooth, calm melody can be heard in Glenn Miller's theme song, "Moonlight Serenade." In contrast to the smooth melody is the jagged, skip filled melody of Duke Ellington's theme song, "Take the 'A' Train."
A simple definition of harmony could be "the sounding of two or more tones at the same time." Under the sub-element of harmony, chords or chord progressions are an important aspect.
A chord is the sounding of three or more tones at the same time. Traditional chords usually consist of three tones (called a triad), four tones (seventh chord), five tones (ninth chord), six tones (eleventh chord), and seven tones (thirteenth chord). Usually simple harmonies (commonly found in popular music such as rock, country, and folk), consist primarily of triads, while more complex harmonies (commonly found in classical and jazz), utilize seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords. An example of a song with simple chords would be Chuck Berry's "Maybelline" while a song with complex chords would be Charlie Parker's "Orinthology." Remember there is absolutely no quality connotation with the simple or the complex in music. Some simple music is excellent while other simple music is low quality and the same holds true with complex music.
Two predominant types of chordal sounds are called 1) major chords, and 2) minor chords. Some musicians simply state that major chords by themselves seem to have a brighter, happier sound while minor chords present a darker, more somber mood. The Western harmonic musical heritage is predominantly constructed on these two types of chords and the harmonic system is called the Major-Minor tonality (This system was
4 fully developed by the early 1700s and was considered quite experimental by the society of the time).
Chords can be thought of as individual words in musical sentences. These musical sentences are called chord or harmonic progressions. The musician has many different words (chords) to use in his or her musical vocabulary.
The next major element of music is Timbre. Timbre (pronounced "tamber") can also be called tone color. Each musical instrument produces a unique aural "fingerprint" or timbre; thus a flute will sound different from a guitar. To our ears the flute sounds different from a guitar just as to our eyes the color blue looks different from red (unless of course you are color-blind). As with visual colors, aural colors can be mixed, thus forming a different or hybrid musical timbre or tone color. If a trumpet and a trombone play the same melody on the same pitches, our ears will hear a mixed timbre that will sound different from either the trumpet or trombone played alone. Musicians have almost an unlimited palette of timbres to choose from.
How do these timbres sound different to our ears? As mentioned before, all instruments (and voices) produce unique instrumental timbres; yet these timbres are really produced by composite sounds that actually result from the simultaneous sounding of many pure sounds called partials (or overtones). The lowest and predominant partial is called the fundamental and this is the one that the ear identifies as the actual pitch of the sound. But in addition to the fundamental, there are other partials that are not heard distinctly but are nevertheless very important to the specific timbre of the sound. The reason that these other partials are not actually heard distinctly is their amplitude or intensity is much less than that of the fundamental's.
All of the instrument's partials or overtones combine to form its unique timbre. Each partial in a flute sound has unique varying amplitude, much like each human has a
5 unique fingerprint. Our ears can discern these tonal fingerprints and can differentiate between the timbres. Combining instruments (each with its unique musical fingerprint of partials), can create new timbres much like a chef creates a spicy chili. The chili may taste different from another chili because of its proportions of certain ingredients. Musical timbre is the same except that musical timbre is tasted by our ears and not by the taste buds.
Another common element of music is Dynamics. Quite simply, this is the loudness or softness in music. Some music might be loud almost continuously (such as Heavy Metal Rock) while other music may be entirely soft. Probably most music uses varying degrees of loudness and softness.
In Western music, certain terms are used to designate volume. Piano, as a dynamic marking indicates, soft while forte suggests a loud volume. There are other terms used to suggest various shadings of dynamics (mezzo-piano {medium soft}, mezzo-forte {medium loud}, pianissimo {very soft}, and fortissimo {very loud}). If a musical tone starts soft and builds to loud, we use the term "crescendo" while the opposite, loud to soft, is called "decrescendo."
The fourth major element is Duration. Duration is defined as how long does the sound last. In other words, does your ear hear the tone for 1/4 of a second or does it hear it for ten seconds? The duration of musical sounds can be very short, very long, or an endless variety of combinations of long and short sounds.
A sub-element of duration is "rhythm." Rhythm is used throughout life. Our hearts beat to a rhythm, we walk to a rhythm, the waves at a beach roll with a rhythm, and so forth. Rhythm in music is a very important sub-element of duration, and in some popular music, it may actually be the most important musical ingredient.
6 Rhythm in music contains the duration quality of sounds. Sometimes rhythm may be entirely free of constant pulse (beat) but in most popular music, rhythm occurs in a constant pulse formula. Normally in popular music, rhythm is metrical with a repetition of sound, either felt or heard. This felt or heard reoccurring pulse is called the beat. The beat is what we dance to, clap our hands to, or stomp our feet with. Sometimes the beat is very strong (such as in hard-driving jazz or rock), or it may be very subtle and fragile.
The beat is a constant force; yet the speed of the beat (tempo) can vary greatly. Many times the tempo (speed of the beat) depends upon such elements as musical mood or emotion. Romantic ballads will usually have a slow tempo while up-tempo jitterbug dance pieces of the 1940s and 1950s will have a fast beat. In other words, beat does not have just one speed but it has an infinite number of possibilities.
Popular music usually has beat patterns in groups of twos, threes, their multiples, or their combinations. For example, if the music has a “two beat pattern” it would be counted: 1,2;1,2;1,2;1,2 etc. while a “three beat pattern” would be counted, 1,2,3;1,2,3;1,2,3 etc. Each beat would be of equal duration or length. In most rock music the beat pattern is called 4/4 (also known as "common time"). 4/4 is defined musically with each beat unit having four equal length beats (multiples of two) but each beat is not stressed equally. 4/4 time would be counted: 1,2,3,4;1,2,3,4; etc. In 4/4, the first and third beats are considered "strong" (which means those beats are stressed) while two and four are considered "weak" (which means those beats are not stressed). Strong and weak beats are the ebb and flow of duration. Usually in popular music, words and/or harmonies change on strong beats while the weak beats are “enhanced”, providing a forward drive or momentum. In rock drumming, the bass drum usually provides the kick for the strong beats while the snare drum and hi-hat (the two small cymbals which open and close together) accent the weak beats. Most popular music, including jazz and rock,
7 enhance or accent the weak beats. This enhanced stressing of weak beats is called syncopation.
If the music is grouped in three beat patterns (1,2,3;1,2,3) the first beat is strong followed by weak beats of two and three. Whatever the beat pattern, the first beat of the grouping is called the downbeat.
Even though most jazz and rock music combines the beat in patterns of twos or threes, some music (especially some styles of jazz) group beats into units of varying lengths. These types of groupings are called odd-meters. For example, a piece of music could be written in 5/4 (perhaps grouped 3+2) and would be counted: 1,2,3,4,5;1,2,3,4,5 etc. with beats one and four being strong while beats two, three, and five being weak ({1,2,3}+{1,2}).
The final common element of all music is silence. Even though music is an aural art form, silence is an important element. Without silence, music would become just an indistinguishable mush of sound. Silence can provide the clarity in music.
Music is a combination of many ingredients that will vary according to the style of music and the creativity of the composer and musician. The five elements of music (Pitch, Timbre, Dynamics, Duration, and Silence) are found in all music, but the sub-elements, melody, harmony, and rhythm, may not be found in all music.
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2. THE ROOTS OF JAZZ
Where did jazz originate? What musical, social, and cultural ingredients combined to form jazz? These questions, and their respective answers, are important for the student of jazz history to investigate
Jazz is the only indigenous American art form and it is truly a cultural product of the United States. Western and African musical culture were the seeds of jazz, but America was the soil where jazz grew and prospered. Jazz is not a music of any one culture but is actually a blending of a variety of traditions, heritages, and philosophies.
During the early history of America, slavery was a standard social practice. Slaves were forcibly brought from Africa to America. While in America, the displaced African's (including African musicians who brought their musical traditions and talents with them) would learn from already established Western musical theories and performance practices. At the same time, Western musicians would learn African (Eastern) musical theories and performance practices from the African musicians.
Traditional African culture places a great emphasis on music, much more so than Western societies. Music is an important aspect of many of the day-to-day activities of the traditional African societies. As a musical expression, early African music placed a great emphasis on rhythmic activity with a more simplistic use of melody and harmony. African rhythms can be sophisticated, complex and advanced while the melodies and harmonies can be simple. This strong emphasis on musical tradition and usage was brought with the African populations during their forced exile of slavery to America.
While in America, these new African-Americans still expressed themselves through their musical traditions. Since they were in America, their old musical traditions could not be reproduced exactly for many reasons, including not being allowed to use traditional African instruments. To understand a comparable situation, let us assume that
9 we have a fictional American rock band that is forcibly taken to a foreign country. While in slavery, the rock musicians still desire to create their music. Unfortunately, their new "owners" give them permission to perform their rock music, but the rock band is not allowed to use any electric guitars, an electric bass, a drum set, keyboards, or any type of electronic instruments. This would cause quite a problem for the rock band, but if they have a strong enough desire to create their music, they would have to find a way to do so with the resources (instruments etc.) that were available to them. This imaginary scenario was exactly what the African musicians faced as slaves in America.
Along with finding new instruments, the African musicians were being exposed to the Western musical culture. This exposure was a vital essence to the evolution of jazz. These new Western melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and aural traditions affected the African musicians tremendously. Of course, White musicians were also being affected by what they heard from the African musicians. As time passed, the give and take between the African and Western musical traditions would blossom into what would be called Jazz.
To this day, elements that started with the African slaves can still be heard in jazz and rock. One example still in use is the African "call and response" method of early African songs. In a call and response, the soloist sings a portion of a melody while the group responds afterwards (much like a musical question and answer).
Another example is "pitch-bending." During the advent of jazz, the musicians would bend pitches for expressive purposes. This bent pitch catches our ears because the ear does not know where the pitch will actually end up, thus creating a musical surprise. Countless jazz and rock musicians use this technique today. Listen to a rock lead-guitar solo and count all the pitch-bends utilized. Most of today's synthesizers even have a pitch-bend device built in.
10 The roots of jazz are from African and Western musical traditions blended together. Over a period of many years, these traditions exchanged musical qualities and slowly evolved into jazz. The African emphasis on rhythm combined with Western theoretical musical thought (including Western music’s melodies, harmonies, timbres, and forms) created a new music for all musicians and audiences to enjoy. As the jazz musical tree grew, other sub-styles of music grew from the trunk of jazz. Music styles such as Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Funk, Rap, and Rock and Roll are all descendants of jazz and the jazz heritage.
3. THE BLUES
Before we enter the first major style of jazz, one form of music must be examined first. This form of music is not exactly a style but more of a musical foundation. This foundation is found is most styles of both jazz and rock as well as in many other styles of popular music, including country, gospel, and even some contemporary classical compositions. The broad term used to denote this musical foundation is The Blues.
The origin of the Blues is not etched in stone. Over a period of many years, a more or less standardized blues scale and harmonic progression has been established, but these standardized concepts can and are performed in a wide variety of musical expressions. Blues can be sad, happy, slow, fast, vocal, instrumental, or just about any style or form the musician creates.
One generally accepted theory on the evolution of the now standard "blues scale" (starting arbitrarily on C: C, Eb, F, Gb, G, Bb) is the thought that perhaps the African Pentatonic scale (C: C, D, E, G, A) was influenced by the Western diatonic scale (C: C, D, E, F, G, A, B) and slowly combined to form the hybrid blues scale. As mentioned earlier, bent notes were in standard usage in the early days of jazz, thus this pitch bending
11 could have created the loose tonal center of the "flat-third", "flat-fifth", and "flat-seventh" of the blues scale. These "unstable" blue-notes give the blues one of its special qualities. Along with the standard blues scale, a standard blues harmonic progression has developed. This progression is now known as the 12 bar blues (I, I, I, I, IV, IV, I, I, V, IV, I, I). Each Roman numeral consists of one bar of four beats (if in a four-beat grouping) and the pattern will probably keep repeating itself throughout the blues composition. Of course there are variations on the blues scale, along with the harmonic progression, but once again, the preceding is considered standard practice.
Traditional blues lyrics are usually simple but they are at times very poignant. Many blues lyrics are written in iambic pentameter. When blues lyrics are written in the iambic pentameter style, the twelve bar blues chord progression will be broken down into three equal segments (four bars each). The first section of lyrics (called the "A" section) usually repeats (second "A") with a different lyric (called the "B" section) comprising the last section of four bars. The full lyric can be represented as "A A B". An example of this style is Ma Rainey's, "Don't Fish in My Sea."
My daddy come home this mornin' drunk as he could be, (A) My daddy come home this mornin' drunk as he could be, (A) I knowed by that he's done got bad on me. (B) He used to stay out late, now he don't come home at all,
He used to stay out late, now he don't come home at all, I know there's another mule kickin' in my stall.
If you don't like my ocean, don't fish in my sea, Don't like my ocean, don't fish in my sea, Stay out of my valley, and let my mountain be. I ain't had no lovin' since God knows when, I ain't had no lovin' since God knows when,
That's the reason I'm through with these no good triflin'men. Never miss the sunshine till the rain begin to fall,
12 You'll never miss you ham till another mule be in your stall.
The history of blues vocal performance is generally divided into two broad categories. Each category represents an approximate era. The first era existed from the mid to late l800s to the early l930s. This first era contained two generally recognized performance styles. The first performance style can be called country or rural blues while the second style can be represented by the label of city or urban blues.
Country blues were generally sung by men with very simple accompaniments and instrumentation. The male blues singer would sing his blues song with perhaps just a guitar as background. The lyrics were simple and the sound of the music was raw and unpolished. Some of the most famous blues singers of this style were men such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Huddie Ledbetter, Big Bill Broonzy, and Blind Lemon Jefferson.
City blues singers consisted of men and women vocalists. The sound of city blues had a much more polished and sophisticated sound than country blues. Instead of just a simple background, the city blues singer might use a small combo to back the vocals. Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Chippie Hill were some of the most famous blues vocalists of this style.
After l930, the blues performance style began to change. Along with the blues vocalists, some instrumentalists started to create excellent performances of the blues. At times, a great blues artist could perform on an instrument as well as sing. Early blues instrumentalists copied vocal performance style, but as musical time progressed, some vocalists actually began to copy the emerging blues instrumentalists. Some of the great blues vocalists from this era were Joe Turner (later to influence early Rock and Roll), Joe Williams, and Jimmy Rushing (Both Williams and Rushing sang with the great Count Basie band). Blues performers who could sing and play instruments were greats such as Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, B.B. King, and Ray Charles.
13 As mentioned earlier, the blues are used in all styles of popular music. Some examples include: "Rock Around the Clock" performed by Bill Haley and the Comets (l954); "409" by the Beachboys (l961); "Reeling and Rockin" by Chuck Berry (late l950s); "In the Mood" performed by Glenn Miller (l941); "Hound Dog" performed by Elvis Presley (l957); and "Can't Buy Me Love" by the Beatles (l965).
The blues is a music foundation that developed over a period of years and is found within all styles of music. It can represent many emotions and today's musical artists still find it fresh and usable.
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4. RAGTIME (l890-l915)
The first major style of jazz and perhaps the first popular American style of music was Ragtime. This style is basically a solo piano style even though during the Ragtime era some ragtime ensembles did exist, usually at wealthy establishments.
Since Ragtime is usually a solo instrumental style, the music developed as a powerful piano sound and the piano needed to literally be a complete “band-in-a-box.”. The left hand plays bass notes and chords while the right hand plays melodic lines. This style of playing is difficult and physically demanding. Along with the powerful sound of Ragtime, its melodic lines involve a generous amount of intricate syncopation.
Much of Ragtime is composed music and is written as sheet music. Musicians who could compose and write Ragtime music could be rewarded financially because they could sell their compositions, much like musicians today sell records and tapes. During the era of Ragtime, radio, television, and stereos had not yet been invented or were not in wide distribution; therefore other means of home entertainment were needed.
Player pianos became very popular in America during the late 1800s and are the direct ancestor of today’s home entertainment systems. Citizens could have live music in their homes, even if they could not play an instrument, simply by purchasing a player piano. These mechanical instruments used piano rolls as a source of music. Piano rolls were sold at music stores (much like records/CDs are today) and the Ragtime artists made the piano rolls (copied by mass-production). With these player pianos, Ragtime could be heard in all towns throughout America.
Since Ragtime was the popular music of its time, the music was used for festive occasions. Besides being used in saloons and hotels, Ragtime was also performed at civic celebrations. Cakewalks and ragtime piano contests were popular in communities throughout the nation. People also could dance to this popular jazz style.
15 Ragtime compositions incorporated many of the classical Western musical devices. These rags were composed in a very traditional classical format of balance and form. Each rag usually contained four major melodies, each equal importance. The rag's formal sections were contrasting in nature. Perhaps the first section could be loud and active, followed by a second contrasting section of softer less active music.
The most important ragtime performer and composer was Scott Joplin. Joplin was a classically educated musician who even composed opera. Other important musicians of this era were Tom Turpin, Joseph Lamb, and James Scott.
Ragtime lasted until about l915 when the other jazz styles began to catch the public's ear. In the l970s, Ragtime (especially Scott Joplin) was "rediscovered" due to the very popular and successful movie, "The Sting" starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. The musical score won an Academy Award for best movie soundtrack. Hollywood producers and many other American citizens rediscovered the great music of Scott Joplin almost half a century after his death.
5. NEW ORLEANS DIXIELAND (1900-1920)
Even while Ragtime was evolving, another style of jazz was developing. In the southern part of America, a port city with a strong economic base was becoming a prime breeding ground for a new style of jazz. The resulting jazz style, from the port city of New Orleans, became known as New Orleans style Dixieland.
During the early part of the twentieth century, New Orleans established itself as a major metropolitan area. As with other economic centers throughout history, the arts usually blossom within such areas of economic power. When Venice, Italy in the l500s and l600s was an economic power, the music of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras
16 found a fertile cultural soil to grow and evolve. France and Germany in the l700s and l800s were both economic powers with a resulting artistic expansion occurring within each country's society. The United States of the early l900s had the same economic expansion and power, which once again allowed the arts to flourish, and New Orleans was a center of this new opportunity.
New Orleans was a city that had a unique tolerance for different cultures and peoples. Perhaps its history encouraged this tolerance. During the city's early history, New Orleans was a French possession for almost fifty years. In 1764, it became a Spanish possession for almost forty years. After a brief return to French rule, New Orleans finally became part of the United States in l803 through the Louisiana Purchase. Thus, many different cultures at one time or another flourished in New Orleans. With this tradition of a cultural melting pot, New Orleans was a perfect location for the continuing blend of African and Western music that would evolve as jazz.
Several key physical, cultural, and economic phenomena existed in New Orleans that had a profound effect on the new style of jazz. First, the New Orleans Creole (French and African-American heritage) population had the tradition of serious, classical musical training which, when mixed with the less sophisticated oral musical tradition, slowly evolved into a new jazz style.
Second, a tradition of a special type of funeral procession was very popular in New Orleans. This funeral procession involved the use of a marching band. Throughout history, mobile musicians had been used during funerals, but in New Orleans, the musicians were used in a special manner. As the marching band led the funeral procession to the cemetery on the outskirts of the city, the band would play slow, somber music. After the ceremony, the band would again play somber music until the procession reached the gates of the cemetery where the marching band would spontaneously start to
17 play an up-tempo, happy style of music. This fast and lively style of music would lead the funeral procession back to town and hopefully help to psychologically lift the mood of the mourners.
Third, along with other aspects of New Orleans' strong economic base, the city had a very special thirty-two block section of town that was called Storyville. Storyville was New Orleans' city sanctioned and regulated "red-light" district. Within each block of Storyville were usually at least four two-story houses of prostitution. The bottom floor usually was a saloon, while the top floor contained rooms for their "business" propositions. These saloons, as with many nightclubs of today, strove to have the newest and most popular music of the time performed live during business hours for their customers' enjoyment and relaxation. The hot, new music of the time was New Orleans Dixieland; thus the Storyville saloons provided ample employment for jazz musicians.
As New Orleans Dixieland began to evolve, certain instrumental and stylistic characteristics became evident. A standard instrumentation consisted of trumpet (or cornet), clarinet, trombone, banjo, tuba, and drums. These bands also had to march during parades and funeral processions; thus the above instruments were all capable of being portable and available for a marching band.
The trumpet was usually the loudest instrument of the Dixieland bands, and most of the time the trumpet player was the leader of the band. The trumpet player/leader was often called "King." The main musical role of the trumpet was to supply the melody line and to offer improvisations. Usually the trumpet player could alter the melody to suit an improvisatory style; yet the melody would not be changed to the extent that the public could not easily recognize the melody. Basically the trumpeter, by his own creativity, could give the tune a stronger momentum and hopefully make it more enjoyable for the listening public.
18 The clarinet supplied harmonies and counter-melodies above the pitch center of the trumpet. A clarinet is not as loud as a trumpet, but it has the capability to play fast and at times, quite high pitches. A good clarinet player can add even more forward momentum to the ensemble. The counter-melodies and harmonies the clarinetist supplied were usually improvised, thus adding a different sound during each performance.
The third member of a Dixieland band's wind section, the trombone, supplied harmonies and improvisations below the pitch level of the trumpet. With its slide, the trombonist had the opportunity to easily use pitch-bends (a very popular musical device in jazz). The use of the trombone's slide can create pitches that fall between the set pitches of our tuning system.
With all three wind instruments playing the music, a polyphonic musical texture was created. Each instrument contributed to a musical ebb and flow that helped set the unique sound of New Orleans style Dixieland.
Along with the wind section, the Dixieland bands used a rhythm section consisting of tuba, banjo, and percussion. The tuba supplied the bass line while the banjo provided steady chordal progressions. The drums or percussion instrument set the rhythmic beat.
One of the most important and influential musicians of the era was King Oliver. Oliver, a trumpet player/leader, was highly respected and he had the foresight to include many of the top musicians of the time in his bands. Some of the musicians that Oliver hired for his bands would go on to become famous in their own careers, including the great Louis Armstrong, who for a while was a member of Oliver's band.
At the end of World War I, part of New Orleans' economic base evaporated with the scale-back of the large Navy base. A civic reform movement also closed down
19 Storyville. With the loss of many nightclubs and places of employment, some of the musicians started to migrate to other parts of the United States, most notably, Chicago. With this migration of musicians to Chicago, the next style of jazz would soon evolve.
6. CHICAGO STYLE DIXIELAND (l920s)
The l920s in American history is remembered as the "Roaring Twenties" and the "Jazz Age." After World War I, America was a new world super-power with a full decade of great economic prosperity. Hemlines of dresses were rising, along with the stock market, and the mood of the American people soared. Women were finding new social and political freedoms. American society was in an experimental mode and jazz, America's music, was in the forefront of American society.
Many of the great New Orleans jazz musicians, including King Oliver and Louis Armstrong, had migrated north to Chicago and were now performing in the vibrant environment of the city. Chicago of the l920s was a thriving metropolis, even though gangsters and organized crime (including Al Capone) controlled the city government, Chicago would provide a fertile soil for a new style of jazz.
In the l920s, radio gained national success and became very important to American society. Many homes had a radio as a standard feature and the population could listen to live broadcasts daily. Included in these broadcasts were jazz musicians and their music. All of America could hear the new art form, jazz.
Along with radio, the recording industry was beginning. The home phonograph was made available to the American public and jazz musicians began to make recordings for the listening public. Even though the recording technology of the l920s was very crude compared to today's standard, the public clamored for this new entertainment
20 medium. Along with the general public, musicians could listen to other artists' recordings and learn from them. The recording industry not only provided income to musicians and exposed the public to their music; it was also an educational device for the musicians themselves.
Chicago-style Dixieland differed from the previous style of New Orleans Dixieland in several ways. Chicago Dixieland groups were generally larger, with additions of more wind instruments, such as saxophones or perhaps extra trumpets. Improvised solos became more elaborate and technical. The quality of the musicians' technical musical training improved. Slowly the guitar replaced the banjo and the more agile string bass replaced the tuba. Since these bands did not have to march, as the New Orleans bands did, pianos and other non-portable instruments could also be added to the Chicago style Dixieland bands. The actual musical compositions became more elaborate, with more complex harmonies, melodies, and written sections. These new compositions included actual beginnings and endings to the songs, along with written backgrounds during improvised solos.
Some of the musicians that rose to prominence during this era were Don Redman (saxophone/arranger), Bix Beiderbecke (trumpet), Fletcher Henderson (band leader), Jelly Roll Morton (piano/composer), and Kid Ory (trombone/composer).
Another musician who grew in maturity and popularity during this era was the jazz immortal, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong (trumpet). Armstrong was so important to the evolution of jazz that some people even call him the "father" of jazz. As Armstrong aged, other jazz musicians would call him "Pops" as a sign of respect.
Armstrong was one of the first great individual soloists in jazz history and his improvisational advances helped to determine that post-Armstrong solos were usually individual and not group improvisations as was the case in earlier styles. Satchmo was
21 also one of the first jazz musicians to refine a rhythmic conception which abandoned the stiffness of ragtime, employed swing eighth note patterns, and used a style of playing that almost sounded as if he were playing behind the beat. All of these elements combined to form a more relaxed feeling or what later became known as the jazz “swing feeling.”
Armstrong brought about a superb well paced, almost dramatic jazz solo conception. He always seemed to be thinking ahead so that his musical thoughts would build tensions and follow a truly musical construction, including solos that were not just embellishments of the tune, but were actually newly composed melodies based on the chord progression (this musical concept is used today in jazz improvisation).
Satchmo's command of the trumpet surpassed his predecessors' and became a model for those who followed in his footsteps. Armstrong had a “fat” trumpet tone, a tone that awed his audiences and fellow musicians. Besides this exciting trumpet tone, his range was incredibly advanced for his time.
Along with his trumpet performance, Armstrong had a unique singing style that was also an influence on jazz singers. He popularized a form of vocal jazz improvisation called "scat" singing. In scat, the jazz vocalist improvises with syllables instead of words and the improvised melodic line is similar to the sound of an instrumentalist improvising.
Louis Armstrong was one of the first great American popular musicians. Not only was he an excellent musician, he was also an exciting entertainer. Armstrong could make audiences enjoy themselves the world over. Armstrong's humor and personality is reflected through a brief insight given by the great jazz musician, Lionel Hampton, concerning a concert they gave at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy:
"But the Holy Father [the Pope] had listened to the program, and he picked out two stars to be his guests--me and Louis. We went to Rome to see him at the Vatican. He treated us beautifully. He said if there's one thing we should see at the Vatican, it has to be the catacombs. Louis said, 'What's that?' And the people said, 'It's way down in the basement, where they keep all the dead saints.' Louis looked at the Holy Father and said,
22 'Hey, pops. I'm splitting because I'm a Baptist. I'm not going down to look at no dead things.'"1
Armstrong was a true international artist and was highly respected by musicians from around the globe. Most likely jazz would not be where it is today had Louis Armstrong not given his musical gifts to the people of the world.
7. BIG BAND SWING (1932-l945)
The stock market crash of 1929 set the stage for the following economic destruction that would become known as the Great Depression. After the economic boom and social expansion of the l920s, America experienced a significant change. At the peak of the depression, the work force had a 25 percent unemployment rate combined with a large percentage of people under-employed. As mentioned before, the arts are always greatly affected by economics and the l930s and l940s were no exception to that rule.
During the very early thirties as people's incomes dropped, numerous small nightclubs started to fold because they did not have the financial resources to continue operations. What the entertainment industry soon discovered was that if larger nightclubs were opened, the proprietor could charge less per customer and still make a profit by drawing a larger number of customers. To fill these new, larger nightclubs with a musically pleasing volume of sound, bands slowly had to enlarge their instrumentation. By enlarging the band's instrumentation, a foundation was developing which helped create a new style of jazz. Big Band Swing would become the most popular style of jazz and would have a world wide sociological and musical impact.
1Joe Smith, Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, ed. Mitchell Fink
23 Before the true big band swing style developed, a sub-style of jazz, known as Pre-swing, evolved as a transition during the very early l930s. As bands started to experiment with larger instrumentations, the sound of the music changed. Chicago Dixieland bands consisted of four to five wind instruments plus a rhythm section, but the new pre-swing bands began to incorporate seven to eight winds plus the rhythm section. The winds slowly became divided into the woodwind section (saxophones and clarinets) and the brass section (trumpets and trombones). With the increase of instrumentation, more performance control was required; thus the art of jazz arranging evolved.
Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman were both influential in this new orchestration technique. Henderson adopted the policy of the independent use of the woodwind, brass, and rhythm sections along with the use of independent solos. This orchestration foundation is still used today.
These new bands of the early l930s did not contain two of the most important aspects of the swing era, swinging the eighth notes and the full big band size. In a very short period, the sub-style of pre-swing would evolve into one of the most popular of all jazz styles, Big Band Swing.
The swing era of jazz was incredibly popular with American and international populations. Both adults and young people both enjoyed this new style. The bands became larger and their audiences grew with a steady increase in devotion and excitement.
A standard instrumentation evolved during this era, an instrumentation still in popular use today. This standard instrumentation consists of the woodwind or saxophone section (five saxophones: two altos, two tenors, and one baritone), the trumpet section (four trumpets), the trombone section (four trombones), and the rhythm section (piano, guitar, string bass, and percussion). The trumpet and trombone sections combined are
24 called the brass section. Some of the wealthier big bands even included vocalists and string sections. The largest big bands could be up to fifty musicians. Even though the preceding instrumentation is considered the "standard", many of the famous bands altered it to create their own unique sound.
All swing bands did not sound alike. The top bands made a conscious effort to be unique. For example, Glenn Miller used a clarinet lead in his woodwind section and Woody Herman used the "four brothers" sound of three tenors and one baritone sax instead of the standard saxophone section.
Generally speaking, big band music was for dancing, and during this era dancing was very popular. The jitterbug dance evolved during the swing era, and the big band audiences loved the jitterbug dancing as well as slow dancing to the big band's ballads (a ballad is a slow, usually romantic, big band composition).
During the depression people wanted to forget their hard times, and dancing, along with listening to big band swing, was just the entertainment and escape Americans needed. Even small towns had a large dance hall that could possibly hold up to five thousand dancers. During dances, at which the major bands would perform, part of the audience would rush the stage just to listen to the musicians (very similar to rock concerts today) while the remainder of the audience would dance.
The recording industry grew in power and influence during this era. To fit within the time allotment of the records (usually 2 1/2 to 3 minutes), the bands had to record brief, powerful versions of songs that lasted much longer when performed live. These records were listened to at home, on the phonographs of the time, or perhaps the records were enjoyed on the many jukeboxes located in places of business throughout America. The American population (especially the younger segment) clamored to hear the newest recordings and the live performances of their favorite bands.
25 Many big bands were also used in Hollywood movies. Musicians could help promote or sell the movie and Hollywood used many of the popular big bands as a drawing card.
There were many important musicians in this era. Most ended up with bands of their own, even though they may have begun their careers in other bands.
One of the most popular and well known big band leaders was the "King of Swing," Benny Goodman (clarinet). Goodman's clarinet playing was exemplary and it forced other clarinet players to try to achieve his performance quality. Along with his excellent clarinet ability and his impeccable musical leadership, Goodman also helped to break down the racial barriers in the entertainment world. By hiring great African-Amercian musicians such as Lionel Hampton (vibraphone) and Teddy Wilson (piano) and by Goodman's refusing to perform if all of his musicians were not allowed to participate (some communities, movies, and concerts would not accept racially mixed bands), Goodman helped to force society to liberalize racial barriers.
A magazine article written by Nat Hentoff ("T.V. Guide," March, l5, l986) as a preview for a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) special on Benny Goodman traces some of Goodman's musical experiences. The following are excerpts from the previously mentioned article:
"The real beginning," as Benny Goodman puts it, was in August l935 at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. He and his year-old band had dragged into California after a dismal series of one-nighters across the country. Even though the band had been heard on network radio earlier in the year and had recordings out, the tour was going so badly that it was almost canceled before the players got to the West Coast.
But at the Palomar, Goodman decided that if he and the band were going to disappear, they might as well swing into oblivion as hard and joyously as they could. Taking out the Fletcher Henderson arrangements he and his sidemen [slang for band members] especially liked, Benny let go. Half the dancers stopped dancing and gathered round the band, swaying and cheering, and the news began to go around the Nation that the swing era had begun.
26 By l937, when the Goodman band played the Paramount theater in New York, teenagers started lining up at the box office at 7 in the morning. "The theater," Benny recalls, "was completely full an hour before we were suppose to go on, and when we finally came up on the rising platform, the noise sounded like Times Square on New Year's Eve."
For the rest of the big-band era into the l940s, Benny Goodman remained by far the most popular of the swing-era band leaders. And this was truly popular music, pulsing across the generation--the last time parents and their children enjoyed the same kind of musical kicks.
The dramatic impact of the Goodman band did not come from the personality of the leader. Goodman was, and is [Goodman was alive when this article was written], shy. He has no skill at small talk or at being ingratiating. He was, however, obsessive about having a brisk, precise, sharply disciplined band that made the crackling ensemble passages sound and look breathtaking. Goodman also had a shrewd ear for risk-taking soloists at whom the crowd would marvel for the daring of their improvisations: soloists such as Harry James, Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman, Gene Krupa, and Lionel Hampton.
Because Benny had no patience with slipshod musicianship, his orchestra always came on the stand like the New York Yankees of the big bands. The leader's nickname among his musicians was "The Ray." As I have seen, during a rehearsal, if he heard a wrong or missing note, Goodman would fix the miscreant with a baleful stare that would have made Medussa's a mild wink by comparison. "I didn't ask for good musicianship," Benny once said. "I insisted on it. When somebody let me and the band down, I let him know it. I lived that music and expected everybody to live it too."
Goodman was harder on the clarinetist than on anyone else. Harry James used to say that Benny would practice his instrument "15 times more than the entire Goodman orchestra combined."
. . . Another reason the Goodman bands had a special aura was that Benny knew how to listen to advice. His principal adviser through the years was John Hammond, who has discovered more world-class jazz figures than any other layman. One of them was guitarist Charlie Christian, whom Hammond persuaded Benny to add to the band. Hammond had earlier been responsible for Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton joining Goodman.
Benny Goodman is not what anyone would call a political activist, but by hiring Wilson and Hampton [both black musicians], he did become the first white band leader to integrate his forces. And when the pressure came down on Benny to play a dance date or a movie without his black players, he turned on "The Ray" and would not budge. As when, while making the movie "Hollywood Hotel" in l937, Goodman was told to omit his quartet with Wilson and Hampton and just feature his big band. That way the racists could come see the movie too. Benny, however, played it his way.
27
In Stanley Dance's "The World of Swing," Lionel Hampton says of Benny's historic breaking down of the color line, "Benny pushed me to star, and this was before Jackie Robinson [first black major league baseball player] and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Benny took us all over the country, all over the South, and insisted we stay in the same hotel."
It wasn't only that Goodman would not allow anyone with whom he was associated to be demeaned. He had great respect for superior improvisers, and letting them be humiliated would be the same as letting their music be humiliated. For all his strong disinclination to verbalize what he feels, Benny loves the music. As Lionel Hampton says, "When Charlie Christian and I would play and get into a terrific grove, you could see tears come into his eyes. He had that soul, that feeling. He wasn't doing it just for money."
. . . "Well," Benny has said, "you might say that a guy had to prove himself--or make a name for himself--before I'd know who he was." To this day, of course, everybody knows the name of "The King of Swing."
Glenn Miller (trombone) was another popular big band leader. His band's classic, "In the Mood," could almost be thought of as the theme song of the big band era. Miller joined the armed services (as did many musicians) during World War II and helped in the war effort by performing throughout the world (Miller was killed during the war while on active duty).
A member of Glenn Miller's band, Tex Beneke, discusses what is was like being in Miller's band:
"He expected everybody to be dressed immaculately at all times. All the jackets had to be buttoned, the handkerchiefs had to be just right in the pockets. The shoes and socks had to match. There was no such thing as a man crossing his legs on the bandstand, one leg over the other. . .
We went into the Paramount for one of those long six- or eight-week engagements, and Glenn told us, 'You've got three days to memorize the whole show. The music stands are coming out at the end of the third night. We're going to sit up there and we're going to play the entire show, top to bottom, without anyone having a note of music in front of him.' It looked fantastic. The audience ate it up. They thought, 'Wow! How can they do that?'. . .
28 Records were everything to us, those thirty-five cent Bluebirds. Glenn watched the charts like crazy to see where he was standing in regard to record sales. He was the first one, you know, to ever be given a gold record ("Chattanooga Choo Choo")."2
There were so many important, creative musicians during this time that only a brief listing can be accomplished in this limited synopsis. Some of the great musicians during this era were: William "Count" Basie (piano); Harry James (trumpet); Duke Ellington (piano/composer); Billie Holiday (vocal); Ella Fitzgerald (vocal); Woody Herman (clarinet/saxophone); Tommy Dorsey (trombone); Jimmy Dorsey (saxophone); Coleman Hawkins (saxophone); Lester Young (saxophone); and Artie Shaw (clarinet).
ARTIE SHAW: "In l938, I was the highest-paid band leader in America, and yet I was
beleaguered. The audience would not support me if I did what I wanted to do. I had to do what they wanted me to do. Music to order. . . . T.S. Elliot once made a very smart remark. He said, 'No one who ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading afterwards.' You get monumentalized, you take yourself too seriously. The best music I made was when people left me alone. . . .
At the peak of that l938 band, I was making $60,000 a week, which is the equivalent of $600,000 today. It seemed insane. I began to ask myself, 'How can I make $60,000 a week when the first clarinet in the philharmonic [symphony orchestra] only gets $150.00 a week'?. . . It began to dawn on me that it was lunacy. . . .
I was enjoying myself, but that's when the demon 'success' hit. Or the 'bitch goddess,' as Harry James used to say. . . . I was through with playing. I never touched the instrument again."3
The start of World War II signaled the beginning of the end of the big band era. Gasoline and tires were rationed; so travel by large bands very difficult. Many musicians were drafted, or they volunteered for the armed services, thus reducing the talent for the bands. America loved the swing era, but jazz continued its evolution into the next jazz style, Bop.
2Joe Smith, Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, ed. Mitchell Fink (New York: Warner Books, l988), 3.
3Joe Smith, Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, ed. Mitchell Fink (New York: Warner Books, l988), 1-2.
29
8. BOP (1945-1950)
As with many styles of music, styles that follow one another may be artistic revolts against the preceding style. Bop jazz (sometimes called Be-bop or Re-bop), was such a phenomenon.
During the swing era the bands were large and thus required certain musical restrictions. When groups are large, confinement is necessary or cacophony is the result. The new bop musicians resented these restrictions and decided to challenge swing's convictions.
World War II was being fought and the world was full of tension and turmoil. Art, at times, has the tendency to reflect society and perhaps bop was reflecting what was happening in the world. By using brilliant flashes of melodic construction, a new complex elaboration of harmonic chord changes, and new freedoms in rhythmic concepts, bop musicians strove to expand jazz music.
Big band jazz used large ensembles, but bop generally reverted to almost Dixieland-style instrumentation of a rhythm section and two or three winds. (Occasionally one could hear a big band using the bop style during this era.)
Since the bop musician desired more freedom than swing allowed, his compositions were not as rigid and complex as swing's were. Usually a melody was composed of perhaps eight bars, repeated, with the next eight bars different, then followed by the original eight, thus creating thirty-two bars or an AABA construction. This would be called the "head" of the chart (composition) and after the original statement a middle section would be improvised usually consisting of several 32 bar lines. The bop composition would end with the return of the "head" with an entire overall form of A B A (A=head, B= extended improvised section, and A= return of the
30 head). Even the original tune was many times just played in unison by the wind section, thus keeping a minimal amount of prearrangement.
By stretching the limits of melody and harmony, the bop musician strove to find fresh and new sounds. Chord substitutions became common even during performances.
The use of the rhythm section changed during the bop era. In the swing era the rhythm section was basically used to keep the large ensemble together, but during bop each member became a soloist with a different function. The string bass became the standard time keeper along with laying down the harmonic foundation. The percussionist began to play more melodically by using the bass drum, cymbals (except for the ride cymbal which was used to assist with time keeping), and snare drum more for accents and less for solid time. With the invention of the amplifier and speaker, the guitar became equal in improvisational capability.
Perhaps the two most important changes during the bop era were the musician's attitude and the change of the music's philosophy. No longer was jazz a music to be danced to (one would have a difficult time attempting to dance to many bop compositions), but it was now a concert music to be listened to intently. Bop musicians developed an attitude that was almost anti-audience. The bop musician's music was, "Art for art's sake." If the public enjoyed their music fine, if the public did not enjoy their music, fine too. The bop musicians even dressed in a unique manner, different from the standard public attire of the day. The word "hip" and "hipster" were coming into vogue. Bop almost became a lifestyle.
Two leaders of this new bop era were Charlie "Bird" Parker (saxophone/composer) and Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet/composer). Both of these excellent musicians made significant advances in the art of improvisation and in the technical quality of jazz performance.
31 Other influential bop musicians included: Ray Brown (bass); Charlie Mingus (bass); Thelonious Monk (piano/composer [also associated with the Cool era of jazz]); Bud Powell (piano); J.J. Johnson (trombone); Kenny Clarke (drums), and early Miles Davis (trumpet).
Bop was a revolt against the restrictions of swing so the next style of jazz, Cool, was perhaps a revolt against the extremes of bop.
9. COOL (l950-l955)
After World War II, many of the musicians who served in the armed forces became eligible for college, most for the very first time because of the government's new program, the G.I. Bill. By graduation, these new college students brought into jazz some new classical music elements along with some experimental musical elements. Cool jazz was a contrast to the previous jazz style bop. Whereas bop jazz was fast and turbulent, cool jazz was more of a restrained chamber music, laid back, and mellow. Bop jazz could almost be thought of as bright colors such as red and green while cool jazz could be compared to the pastel colors such as soft blue.
The classical influence could be heard in some of the new instruments introduced to jazz during the cool era. Such orchestral instruments as the oboe, bassoon, French horn, and the fluegal horn were becoming a part of cool jazz ensembles. Experimentation with classical forms and with odd time meters began in cool jazz. This style of jazz, like bop, was for listening and not for dancing.
With the advent of long-playing records, jazz musicians found new freedom for their compositions and, most important, for their improvisations. The length of both
32 compositions and improvised solos were now flexible. Strict adherence to bar lines was slowly eliminated and solos could now finish wherever the musical thoughts ended.
One of the most important cool era musicians was the jazz pianist/composers, Dave Brubeck. Mr. Brubeck elaborates on part of his life:
". . . Early on people would say about me, 'He has black blood in him.' I was in college, working in places like Cool Corner in Stockton, California. I was usually the only white person in the club. No one in college could understand why I'd be down there working every night.
. . . I was on the cover of Time magazine in l954 [and] a lot of people think my career started with my Time Out album, but I can't stress enough how important those early years were, the period when the quartet [Dave Brubeck Quartet] first got going, when we played nothing but standards. In those years, almost every job I took I was lucky to break even. You'd work for [union] scale and then have to give half the money back to the guy who owned the club. I'd get a check, then endorse it back to the owner. Maybe we'd wind up with twenty dollars a week, some ridiculous amount.
. . . I relate back to being white and playing in all black places. . . A lot of the clubs would have a rope down the middle with all the black people on one side and all the whites on the other. It didn't take long before everyone began ignoring the rope and having a good time. But I would not play a club unless it was integrated.
. . . Like Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Beethoven, critics also bothered me. I've been out on tour with guys who were so loaded they couldn't even go out and play, and yet they'd go out, destroy themselves, and then get a good review. They were people the critics knew. Unbelievable. In good papers.
My favorite was one night when we played Carnegie Hall. That night I had it planned for all of us to be playing this one piece in a different time signature. It came off perfectly, and the next day the critics said, 'They couldn't even keep time together.' "4
Some other influential musicians of the cool era were: Miles Davis (trumpet); Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone); Stan Getz (Tenor Sax); Gil Evans (arranger); George Shering (piano); Paul Desmond (alto sax) [member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet]; Clark Terry (Fluegal Horn/ trumpet); Lee Konitz (alto sax), and John Coltrane (alto, tenor sax [also a very important musician from avant-garde jazz]).
33 The following is an excerpt from an article written by Michael Bourne on the jazz musician, Gerry Mulligan.5
"When I was a kid growing up, there was a lot of music on the radio," states composer/arranger and baritone sax great Gerry Mulligan, "and I loved the bands. There was a lot of variety among the bands. They ran the gamut. And for a kid growing up it was an exciting time. The bands were important. The leaders were famous, respected. I liked the music from the time I was little; everything, classical, jazz, show music, whatever I could hear."
Was there a moment when he'd known he'd become a musician himself? "It was conditioned in me from childhood to have a band, to write for bands, to play with bands. I have a feeling that no matter what era I lived in, a hundred years ago or a hundred years from now, I'd always be interested in orchestration. . . I really wanted to go to music school and study composition but I never got the chance. My family thought I was crazy, that I was being cute and showing off. 'He'll come to his senses and someday want to be something real!' But, of course, I never did. I never came to my senses. To me the music was real.". . . .
It was in the later l940s that Mulligan became a sensation as both a baritone player and a writer, working with Miles Davis on what was called "The Birth Of The Cool." The Miles Davis Nonet--featuring Lee Konitz on Alto, J.J. Johnson or Kai Winding on the trombone, John Lewis at the piano, among others. . .
Working with a nine-piece ensemble became, in retrospect, a natural evolution for Mulligan away from bands and into the combos. . . . ."I evolved into a small band context more because all my friends were playing in small bands: Brew Moore, George Wallington, Kai Winding. It was logical. That was really the end of the big band era. Economically the bands were being strangled."
What with "entertainment" taxes, the Musicians Union strike, changes in clubs, changes in taste, and all the other factors, Mulligan watched the bands he loved falling apart. "It made me so sad to see my heroes not being able to function anymore, especially to see what happened to Claude Thornhill. That band was so beautiful and was popular, and then next thing he's working with smaller and smaller bands trying to sound like a big band. It was heartbreaking.". . .
Gerry Mulligan is older now, 61 last April [l988], yet what's most obvious when he's talking about music is that he's nonetheless that kid who listened to the radio and dreamed of playing. "People don't always learn right away, and sometimes never learn, that to survive as a professional musician, or anything else for that matter, you have to maintain your enthusiasm. Without enthusiasm it really doesn't mean a damn thing. And don't be looking for things outside yourself to provide enthusiasm. It has to come from inside. You must be self-motivated to spend your life with music. Something as difficult, as stress-making as being a professional musician--if you don't have enthusiasm, if you can't keep it going inside yourself, look for something else.
34 Another thing I try to get across to young musicians is: don't disregard your history. One of the things I like about jazz, and this was 40-50 years ago, was that there was a tradition going on, and I liked the tradition. I admired the musicians who went before: Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, the band leaders, the writers, Sy Oliver, wonderful people like that. Everybody was putting in their best efforts. Everybody was trying to make his own mark but there was a feeling of a concerted effort for an overall excellence. People were trying their best, and I think they did it.
There is a mainstream and each succeeding generation becomes part of the mainstream. But don't lose sight that the mainstream goes a long way back. I think it's a good idea to explore it and be able to understand why the music had the attraction it did. What is the magnetism that made the music what it is?"
Through the years he's played around the mainstream, played with everyone: Ellington and Monk, Dizzy and Bird, Coleman Hawkins. Name them and he's played with them. "Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Pee Wee Russell, Pres, Billie Holiday. They were nice people. I was lucky. That's what I wanted--to have the opportunity to play with those people and be accepted by them as a musician and friend."
He's known the greats--and Gerry Mulligan has become one himself.
By the mid l950s, jazz was stretching the boundaries of popular music to its very limits and a new style of music to be known in the future as “Rock and Roll” would slowly become the new American popular art form. Jazz continued to expand into new musical territories where perhaps a popular music cannot easily travel. Jazz had become a true art form, the only indigenous American art form. Jazz had not only made its mark in America, but now had become important to the international music scene.
10. Pre-Rock
By the late l940s, the popular music of America, jazz, was going through an important transformation. From the first major style of jazz, Ragtime, jazz was danceable; thus jazz could fulfill the definition of a popular music. But by the Swing Era, jazz was beginning to be also concert music and once Bop became the new style of
