Jazz The Chameleon: Jazz

Jazz the Chameleon

Jazz. What does it mean? The term jazz encompasses a large subset of genres each possessing their own unique qualities and characteristics. That being said, jazz and all that it encompasses is not strict or static, a musician or group can incorporate ideas the cross multiple genres. While an artist may be labeled or deemed a certain type of jazz, they may lack certain traits pertaining to this genre and possess qualities of another, or vice versa. Artists like Miles Davis showed this, over his years he expanded and help create new genres of jazz such as hard-bop, modal jazz and avant-garde. What Davis showed was the ever adapting art that is jazz, and how influences can be drawn from anywhere and anytime. I experienced

Their use of a multitude of styles, diverse improvisation techniques and other general techniques clearly illustrated the ever changing nature of jazz.

As stated earlier, jazz is an umbrella term, one that is associated with many different styles of music. Swing music, as this group of musicians was labeled, is one of those said styles of music. In the early 1900’s, during the “Swing Era” jazz and swing music’s sole purpose was entertainment, specifically, it served as dance music which was often performed by large bands or dance orchestras. Swing as a style is a way of playing rhythm in jazz characterized by an excited, bouncy feel, hence why it was popular as a dance music. This energetic feel was definitely highlighted at the performance, especially by the saxophonist and the trombonist. Practically every song played by the trio had some segment where one musician would alternate with another in quick succession, a technique commonly known as “call and response”. This use of this technique further suggests the groups influence from dance/big bands as this was a tool often used by

From the early roots in slavery and work songs to pioneering artists like Miles Davis, jazz spans multiple decades of history; and to this day is still growing and changing. Inside a little hole in the wall in Boulder, Colorado, there were three talented musicians, and whether they intended to or not show me just that. Through their varying styles, spanning from popular dance/swing style to the polar opposite hot and sweet styles, or their diverse use of improvisation techniques, including collective improvisation and the guitarists octave and chord soloing, and finally their creative use of quoting and instrument roles; the trio at Noname bar showed me the complexity of jazz. While there may be some boundaries to what is considered jazz, the trio and their performance showed me how jazz is ever evolving, and that the restraints of the music are only as strict as the musicians own