New Orleans: Dixieland Jazz
As we have already learned, many types of people and music helped create Jazz. But what is the New Orleans style of Jazz?
As the lead instrument in a marching band, the trumpet, or cornet as was usually played, began to embellish the melody. They did more than syncopate the rhythms; they added notes and changed the melody.
Listen to recording below of When the Saints go Marching in. Do you hear the trumpet embellishing the melody? They called this "jassing the melody." At this point, jass, or later jazz, was a verb. The music was referred to as Dixieland or Ragtime.
So what is the Dixieland sound?
Trumpet: jazzing melody
Clarinet: responding to melody with jazzy fast notes
Trombone: sometimes playing harmonies, sometimes playing melodies, but having fun with the slide
Banjo or piano: chords
Tuba: bass notes
Drums: usually snare and bass played by two musicians (later by one musician)
As the lead instrument in a marching band, the trumpet, or cornet as was usually played, began to embellish the melody. They did more than syncopate the rhythms; they added notes and changed the melody.
Listen to recording below of When the Saints go Marching in. Do you hear the trumpet embellishing the melody? They called this "jassing the melody." At this point, jass, or later jazz, was a verb. The music was referred to as Dixieland or Ragtime.
So what is the Dixieland sound?
Trumpet: jazzing melody
Clarinet: responding to melody with jazzy fast notes
Trombone: sometimes playing harmonies, sometimes playing melodies, but having fun with the slide
Banjo or piano: chords
Tuba: bass notes
Drums: usually snare and bass played by two musicians (later by one musician)
Can you hear all those instruments in the recording above?
At this point, the bands marched and danced all over the city, and also played a larger variety of tunes in dance halls.
In the next video, Evan Christopher from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Academy, speaks about the roll of the three main melodic instruments of Dixieland Jazz.
JALC Collective Improvisation
At this point, the bands marched and danced all over the city, and also played a larger variety of tunes in dance halls.
In the next video, Evan Christopher from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Academy, speaks about the roll of the three main melodic instruments of Dixieland Jazz.
JALC Collective Improvisation
Louis Armstrong:
The first big name in Jazz. He was born just about when Jazz started, so he was part of the first generation of musicians to grow up in a Jazz age. He is one of the earliest live performances. How is he improvising?