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Improvisational Music Analysis

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Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, often called the grandfather of jazz, pioneered the artform and to this day is considered one of the most influential musicians of all time. When asked to describe jazz, he famously responded “If you have to ask, you’ll never know”. Many have criticised this reply for its vague nature and for not directly answering the question, but I believe this quote describes jazz and its purpose perfectly. What Armstrong was trying to say was that jazz is meant to be felt rather than thought about. The purpose of improvisational music is to provide a framework for musicians to display unique creative ideas through spontaneous improvisation, and in doing so, communicating with the audience in a way that other genres of music simply …show more content…

When musicians engage in collective improvisation, they usually have some sort of frame of reference from which to base their playing off of. In jazz slang, this frame of reference is known as a “standard”. In popular music it is typically uncommon to have one song played and recorded by countless bands and for each recording to be unique in its own way, but somehow jazz musicians find a way to play the same song again and again, for decades. Take for example, the popular jazz standard “Autumn Leaves”. Ever since the year of its composition in 1945, jazz musicians have been playing and recording covers of this iconic piece. From Bill Evans to Chick Corea, swing jazz to fusion, improvisers from all over the world have been taking cracks at this classic tune and each time, creating something new. Jazz has been referred to by free jazz innovator Ornette Coleman as being the “...only music in which the same note can be played night after night, but differently each time.” The act of spontaneous improvisation, feeling the music with one's instinct rather than thinking about the notes coming out of one’s instrument, forces the improviser to create different ideas every time. Since one’s stream of conscious and unconscious thought is never the same at any two points in time, there will never be a time where a soloist will play the same solo

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Rough Beginnings It was 1915 and the music scene was just getting hot. New Orleans was busting at the seam with young cats prowling the streets, lurking in seedy after-hours clubs looking to get a wild jam session in before the night was through. An insanely talented and equally arrogant ragtime pianist by the name of Jelly Roll Morton began to play with a different kind of flavor that drove audiences crazy, and with that the invention of Jazz was born. The heavy syncopated beats making your pulse jump, the bluesy lilt of a melody lapping lazily at your senses; this was the time to be alive.

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The era of 1920s represented vast developments in the music business. The phonograph record developed into the principal method of publicizing music, surpassing sales of sheet music. The music industry, ever powerful to learn new customs of making earnings, realized that record, sheet music and piano roll sales could all be tied together. This led to the creation of the “song plugger” which was a person who made sure his company’s music would be performed by bands and singers in hope of one of the tracks cracking the status of a hit. This marked that start of independent music companies, who were the companies that ended up grabbing musicians that the larger companies ignored; they weren’t scared to take chances on the so-called rejects.

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If you listen to jazz today, you will hear expanded musical harmonies, musicians playing more complex chords, and musical harmonies borrowed from many different genres of music, including pop. Many new, mainstream jazz as artists use the same techniques that artists from the early 1900’s used. Joseph “King” Oliver was the father to many of these techniques, which changed jazz and the way we hear it today. During the 1920’s, Joe “King” Oliver was the most progressive and influential artist in jazz because of his musical innovations that influenced other jazz artists to incorporate his methods,which sparked a new type of jazz. Jazz was first born in New Orleans and eventually moved to Chicago.

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Louis Armstrong had a tremendous impact on history of American Jazz. As a trumpeter, singer, and soloist, he had acquired a reputation in his lifetime as “the greatest trumpet player who had ever lived.” His numerous accomplishments, even in an America where African-Americans rarely found success, propelled him to be one of the most notable Jazz musicians. Armstrong’s story began in 1912, in his hometown of New Orleans. He fired his stepfather’s gun in the air on New Year’s eve, and was immediately arrested and taken to Colored Waif's Home for Boys.

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He has been quoted many times saying,“If jazz means anything, it is freedom of expression.” -Duke Ellington. He was born to perform and lived to compose, lead and play before audiences and on stage. He brought jazz music and orchestra music together and combined the two genres. Ellington's music was so popular he worked with many other great Jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Coleman Hawkins, but also non Jazz musicians like John Coltrane and Charles Mingus.

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Jazz is most often thought to have been started in the 1920s as this explosive movement, but that is in fact not the case. Starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many African American musicians have started to explore their taste in improvising, and where better to do that than New Orleans (Anderson). Before the 1920s these jazz musicians have already been going around sharing the unique sound, but up until then, jazz had remained majorly in New Orleans. Interestingly during this period, a common jazz band would consist of a cornet, a clarinet, a trombone, and a rhythm section when at this period of time the clarinet is not commonly associated with being a jazz instrument, it moved into being the saxophone rather. A big

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Since its early roots in New Orleans, Jazz has been essential part of American culture through its role in showcasing and contributing to America’s complex history. Throughout the years, Jazz artists have used improvisation and individuality, which are essential traits of the music, to keep the music celebrated and popular around the world. However, only few artists have used Jazz music to support social movements and used to influence people’s lives. Unlike others, I believe John Coltrane, was one of the greatest saxophonist, who portrayed his individuality through his belief in spiritual power of music and using his improvisation to change music style while influencing social issues. Coltrane was a deeply spiritual man who believed music was a vehicle for the

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Ellison even declared that jazz music can be used as a way to emancipation from the suffering and distress that the African Americans were experiencing. He declared in his essay Living with Music that jazz music is able to “send you…into an ecstasy of rhythm and memory and brassy affirmation of the goodness of being alive and part of the community” (193) Hence, Ellison considered music as an integral part within his life. The African American literature paved the way for this protest literature in which the African American writers used their voices in written and spoken forms to protest racial discrimination. They expressed their power by telling authentic stories in several genres of literature as poetry, narratives, essays, letters and speeches.

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In this paper, I plan to examine the influences that Miles Davis had on jazz. Starting with the bebop era, when his career first began, to his final collaboration released following his death. While in school Davis had learned how to play the trumpet, and following graduation he attended Julliard in New York. However, he dropped out of Julliard in 1945 in order join one of bebop’s pioneers, Charlie Parker. It was

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The 2011 documentary, First Generation, follows four students’ journeys during the last few years of high school as they strive to be the first in their families to attend college. All four featured students, Cecilia, Keresoma (“Soma”), Jess, and Dontay, have the grades and the determination to succeed but they lack the financial support which ultimately hinders their college application process. Other low income students struggle with the college application process as well and they tend to navigate it on their own. Unlike a lot of students, low income students usually don’t have the parental support at home. Most of the time, their parents aren’t familiar with the college application process seeing as they haven’t gone through it themselves.

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Here’s the deal: I ended up taking AP Music Theory over Organic Chemistry my senior year of high school. Did people tell me that was wrong to do because I want a career involving chemistry? Yes. Do I regret it? Absolutely not.

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In life, there are few things as organic as jazz music. With its raw sound and scrappy roots, one cannot help but feel life head-on whilst witnessing players produce such a sound right before their eyes. Its origins and arch are a product of the United States’ national culture and identity. Jazz exists not only as a deeply rooted form of art but as a cultural marker, particularly during its commercial peak in the first half of the 20th century. Its impact transcends borders, and it is one of the most beloved musical genres worldwide.

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Thus rebelling against the existing structures in the jazz world. The first notable style “bebop” was so difficult for white musicians to copy and too intricate for dancing, forced audiences to sit up and listen and take note of who and what was being played. It was an underground movement not seeking commercial success but rather seeking another type of gratification, self expression. The musicians development of the improvised solo was a crucial vehicle for their self expression and the key feature of the style. Jazz being one of the few public forums for African American self expression, allowed musicians a platform to speak to their audiences and to transcend the barriers they faced in society.

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Literature Used in the paper Due to the reputation of Herbie Hancock, there are publications about him, ranging from books, journals, interviews to dissertations. Topics of these literatures cover almost everything about him from Herbie Hancock to his language of music. Johannes Wallmann’s The music of Herbie: Composition and Improvisation in the Blue Note Years (2010) deals with improvisation and composition style of Herbie Hancock’s Blue Note recordings in the 1960s.

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