You might think you're clueless when it comes to jazz - but
click here
to listen and realize you know a lot more than you think!
Need the
perfect recipe for making jazz?
Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong give you step-by-step instructions
on all your jazzy ingredients!
"Now You Has Jazz", from the film High Society
Take a
look at how jazz has changed over the years.
From
the beginning
Ragtime
+ blues + New Orleans = The start of jazz!
(1920s)
As the stock market rose, so did the popularity of jazz! The 1920s
are known as the JAZZ AGE. Alcohol was
banned in the United States (known as Prohibition), so there were
many illegal bars, called speakeasies, to party and drink. This is
where all the jazz musicians played.
It
don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing!
(1930s to the
1940s)
When the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began, many
people turned to music to forget about their troubles. In a club
called Savoy in Harlem, New York, African-Americans created a dance
no one had ever seen before - it was nicknamed "The Lindy Hop",
after the aviator Charles Lindbergh. So where'd the Lindy Hop go?
Well, today it has become "swing", the "jitterbug" and the "jive"!
This swing music was played by "big bands".
Before
MTV, there were
"Soundies"
Before any music video channels existed, there was something called
a soundie. It first appeared in 1941 - if you paid 10 cents, you
could see a 3-minute music video of your favourite musicians. These
soundies were available at restaurants and nightclubs. Check out
the video below to see different types of soundies.
New
genres emerge from every-which way
From this time forward, traditional jazz created many new
sub-genres of jazz. Early variations from the 1940s and 50s
included Dixieland, Bebop, cool jazz and free jazz. These styles
were more sophisticated and more influenced by classical music
theory and training.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Latin and African influence began to
take over. Samba and mambo rhythms creeped their way into jazz.
This led to genres such as Latin jazz, soul jazz, fusion jazz,
Brazilian/Bossa-Nova and Afro-Cuban jazz. See the video below of
Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto performing "The Girl From Ipanema", a
classic example of Brazilian jazz. Or, visit Sub-genres
of Jazz to take a more in-depth look at the various genres of
jazz.
Photo Credits
Wikipedia
Amazon
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