Jazz: A Short History
Michael Morangelli
Michael Morangelli
A Short History…
1 Introduction
2 Africa and Europe: Cross Culturalization
3 Time, Place, and Opportunity
4 New Orleans
5 The Birth of Jazz
6 The Jazz Age
7 The Passage To Swing
8 Ritz Crackers
9 The Old and the New
10 Bop Till You Drop
11 A Fork in the Road
12 Yin and Yang and all that Jazz
13 Searching
14 Which Way Now?
15 The Age of Aquarius
16 The Times they are a Changin’
17 Up, Up, and Away
18 Let Freedom Ring: Introduction
19 Let Freedom Ring: John Coltrane
20 Let Freedom Ring: Charles Mingus
21 Let Freedom Ring: Ornette Coleman and a New Way-Part 1
22 Let Freedom Ring: Ornette Coleman and a New Way-Part 2
1 Introduction
This series of articles for JazzFriends will hopefully offer a perspective on Jazz in a historical and cultural context - and I hope spark some discussion pro and con related to the themes covered in each. I will try to provide my research sources and some recordings to support the views expressed.
As this in an introduction to what I hope will be a complete series [over time], I thought I would outline the future content and also attempt to articulate the context in which I view the development of Jazz and the forces which shaped this music.
The outline is 7 broad categories: • The earliest African/European cross culturalization • The roots of Jazz before the turn of the Century • The New Orleans/Chicago/Big Band Period to Mid-1950’s • The development of Bop and the resulting emphasis on Jazz as Concert Music [rather than a Functional Music] • The immediate Post-Bop era to mid-1960 • The Modal/Fusion development to late-1970 • The stylistic fractionalization from l980 to the present The context is a little longer. So first, I wish to state, that I am self taught in this. I have no formal training in Jazz History - I am a Guitarist. That training was through private lessons and the musicians I worked with [all of whom worked or were taught by others who lived through the period from the late 20’s on]. Second, I have no prejudices about what is Jazz [and I’m not going to define what is or is not Jazz] - if it is honest and comes from a “Jazz” esthetic I will accept it, though I might not like it. And finally, I consider the Arts of a particular culture or era an access point into that culture or time period - provided you are willing to learn the esthetic language of the particular Art form [Music is often described as the Universal Language and I would disagree].
I view the history of Jazz as a cultural history of the United States- the good and the bad. It’s roots developed from the mingling of cultures, the circumstances of which were, euphemistically, not the best.
That such a beautiful and enduring art form could spring from such circumstances is an amazement to me and a tribute to the strength and endurance of the human spirit. That it has become, in reality, an underground music in our present era is a constant grief.
When I decided to write this series I originally was going to jump right in and start on the subject immediately - I decided not to. Instead, this introduction became an important prelude for me. I teach Jazz Ensembles at small music center in Boston. I constantly, in that role, deal with highly motivated people who want to learn, want to play, and, for the most part, force time out of very busy schedules to participate. I thought it would be all theory and more theory. It was not. I found myself dealing with two major issues - Repertoire and Performance Practice. Neither of these are solely theory specific and so learning “Jazz Theory”,which essentially is the bebop tradition, will not generate an adequate vocabulary for performance. What was lacking, was an understanding of the different stylistic periods, the repertoire associated with those periods, and how to realize the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic conventions within these styles - to my mind, a lack of historical perspective about the musical styles within the genre we call Jazz.
There is another consequence - a realization that Jazz is not a static language, but is constantly evolving.
The Music responds to the cultural environment which surrounds it - and our culture is certainly not static.
Recently, in response to ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ about styles, I recorded some tapes for class use.
I recorded them chronologically from the early 1900’s to mid 1990’s. I had done this type of listening regularly when I was in college but that was 20 years ago. It turned out to be an education for me. I was comfortable with everything up to the early 1980’s - then I had to struggle with what was new. The music had evolved and I had to catch up! Yet, I was able to find familiarity in much of what I listened to. But, I had to listen and draw upon my knowledge of what came before.
This whole episode put into perspective a simple statement from my college days - new is often a logical outgrowth or a reaction against previous practice - listening in this fashion illuminated this statement. By the way, this was advice from a professor in a History of Western Music Class. I had admitted no knowledge of the Classical repertoire or history. His advice preceding this statement was listen chronologically, choose what you like, identify what you don’t, study both to understand why. I hope I never forget this and always apply it to my musical pursuits.
Again, I hope this Introduction will provide an orientation for the subsequent articles and spark some interaction with the themes of each.
2 Africa and Europe: Cross Culturalization
One of the things I find fascinating about Jazz is how two musical cultures found a common ground for interaction and I thought I would relate some of the things I discovered in searching for these common areas. It might be helpful to look at some generalizations about music and society and then cover the similarities which are found between African and European attitudes and practices regarding music.
First, Music in any culture is integrated with the activities of the society at large - it is defined and placed into the fabric of daily life and this results in the way music is ordered in society and how people think about what music is and should be. This integration varies by culture - but it is not the differences but the commonalities which enable cross culturalization. It is these common areas that can be the most difficult to identify - I think the new and unusual can often overwhelm the similarities between different cultures. Just dealing with how music functions in a society breaks down into numerous parts and not all Genres and Styles function the same within each society and not all functions are specifically musical or artistic.
Music can function as: Aesthetic enjoyment, Entertainment, Communication, Symbolic representation, Physical response, Enforcing conformity and Social norms,Validate social institutions and religious rituals, Contribute to continuity amp; stability,Contribute to the integration of society, and Emotional expression.
You should know this is not my own list - I found it in “The Anthropology of Music” by Alan P.
Merriam [Northwestern University Press, 1964]. It started me thinking about music beyond the Notes and Chord Changes. What I did was take a style of music I was familiar with and try to identify the functions it might or might not have in our culture. It was surprising to see how music works in our culture - and more so, that even in our corporate mass entertainment media these functions still have validity. Ours is a complex society and the components of this culture are complex. All of the music I worked with had more than one function ascribed to it. - it could be Physical response as dance music, Emotional expression as words describin
g lost love, Aesthetic enjoyment as OK I did like the Notes and Chord Changes, Entertainment as it was fun and enjoyable to listen to.
This was with musics I was familiar with! Something new and “foreign” would require a little set up work. That set up work was easy - listening. The following list is what I used:
• Roots of Black Music In America-music of the slave areas of West Africa and the music of the United States and the Caribbean; Folkways FA2694
• Music Down Home-an introduction to negro folk music, USA; Folkways FA 2691
• Negro Folk Music of Africa and America; Ethnic Folkways FE 4500
• Ballads of Black America; Folkways FC 7751 • Bantu High Life; Folkways FW 8857
• The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music, British East Africa; Columbia Ethnic Series 91A.02017 • Black Music of South America; Nonesuch H-72036 • The Country Blues:Vol 2, Edited by Samuel Charters; Folkways RBF 9
It’s not an all inclusive list - nor restricted to solely Tribal music. What I wanted was an overview - could I hear similarities in this mix of Traditional and Modern, Native and Transplanted, Authentic and Derivative musics. Well, I could not at first. I needed something to focus my listening. A good reference is a short book - “Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents”, Bruno Nettl, [Prentice Hall History of Music Series, 1973]. Two chapters were very relevant: Music of Black Africa and AfroAmerican Folk Music In North and Latin America. One caution: when we speak of African music don’t assume all music from Africa is the same - there are very many cultural differences and variations. The term African is just a geographical reference, not a single musical entity - the same can happen when Latin Music is used to describe all music from or rooted in the various genres and styles from Latin America.
One of the interesting items is that some of the general characteristics for tribal music are not found in African music. For instance, in tribal society [Nettl uses the term “non literate” or primitive. I don’t agree with this description for a tribal society], participation in musical activities is general and all persons participate equally. To the contrary, in African music, there are many instances of a class of professional musicians who earn their living from music and are regarded as specialists. In some tribes, there is a classification of different types of musicians. The status of musicians vary by culture but Nettl mentions one tribe the Basongye who: “regard musicians as being of low status. Musicians are said to be heavy drinkers, debtors, unreliable, impotent, adulterers, poor marriage risks…People do not want their children to become musicians, but the musicians are nevertheless tolerated because they are essential to the life of the whole group”
As a working musician, I thought this statement sounded rather familiar - except for impotent [I just thought that should be mentioned].
The functions of African music are many and varied as in any complex society - and Tribal society is a complex society. Nettl indicates that the uses of music in Africa “parallel those of European folk music”.
There is a large quantity of music used for religious and ceremonial purposes, for entertainment, social songs, songs of political expression [royal drums, fanfares, criticism/praise of authority], to spread news and gossip, and work songs. These functions are all found in the folk music of 18th Century England and America.
There is also a large variety of instruments - flutes, tuned/untuned percussion, strings both plucked and bowed. The one unifying characteristic is the percussive ideal in instruments [not percussion!] - plucked strings outnumber bowed. Also, there are musical performance groups of varying sizes - up to small orchestras of 30 with a conductor. Again, much similarity with European music, but with one notable difference - a different sound ideal.
Performance practice is probably the one element most retained by African cultures displaced to the New World. Most often mentioned is call and response and improvisation - as a variation on the theme.
Call and response has a leader singing a musical phrase and a chorus responding with another.
Improvisation as variation works off of the original melody and adds variations to the melody each time it is repeated. The improvisational aspect of the performance also gave: “ rise to polyphonic forms which utilize melodic and rhythmic polyphony organized by short melodic units” - the performers developed more than one melody while singing together, a percussion section more than one rhythm superimposed. These African characteristics resulted in a: “sophistication of musical form rivaling those of European art music - based upon the basic musical principles of brevity, repetition and variation, binary structure, and improvisation” - any complex musical composition follows an organization in linear time that the listener can make sense of - provided they are familiar with the musical language being used.
In melody, African music sounds familiar. It does not have an exotic or unintelligible sound to it that some other cultural musics have. It seems to fit the “diatonic scheme that is the basis for Western Art Music” - there is not a strangeness to what we hear in African music. Here too, it parallels European Folk music - not exactly but close enough to sound familiar.
These similarities provide a bridge between the two cultures. For any kind of interaction, some common areas need to exist. The more common areas, the easier it is for two cultures to influence each other.
These influences are never one way - each culture’s music is affected by the other. The resultant musical mix is a true “Fusion” music. Some African elements and some European elements finding an common ground, interacting, and producing a new music based on elements of both cultures. Similarities are not enough however. In our day of electronics, recording, radio and TV it is easy to forget that without these communication tools some other means of cultural interaction is necessary - the two cultures must be geographically close to communicate and there must be a way for each to contact and experience the others’ music.
Before I sign off for this month, I want to emphasize two points. When comparing two cultures it is too easy to create a perspective where comparison is judged against a fixed standard and influence is only in one direction. There is no fixed standard of comparison - only a methodology for comparing two musical systems. Also, influences must be bi-directional to accommodate the new musical elements that musicians manipulate to create music - and these new aspects may require new skills, perspectives, and theory. I’ve already mentioned the Rhythmic polyphony of African music, but there is also another characteristic I find more interesting. A feature of West African music is the “ability of musicians to keep the same tempo for minutes and hours”. I spend a lot of time developing this ability as a Jazz player - it also is not a characteristic of European Art music. One speaks of the groove or time feel when dealing with Jazz. It is a elemental part of being able to improvise - you must be able to hear where you are going in a tune to successfully improvise and an expectation of what lies ahead is essential. The one thing that ties this together is a common time reference - and this is a purely African element.
I’m sure there are many other similarities between the two cultures besides the ones I mentioned - function, variety and type of instruments, ensemble organization, music specialists, cultural attitudes about music and musicians, performance practice, use of musical forms, and mutually intelligible melodic elements. But even with this brief list, there is enough common ground to communicate musically - what’s needed is time, place, and opportunity.
3 Time, Place, and Opportunity
Last month, I talked about cultures and how they borrow from each other - hopefully stressing the musical similarities between African and European traditions. But I left out one important element - the two cultures must have the opportunity to interact, a geographical proximity for that interaction, and a place in time and over time for the cultural elements to mingle.
Bruno Nettl (Prentice Hall History of Music Series mentioned last month), identifies: “One of the truly important developments in the recent hist
ory of world music was initiated by the forced migration of great numbers of Africans, as slaves, to various parts of the Americas.” This is the one thing which set the stage for the development of Jazz, and Latin musics in the Americas.
It brought two cultures into intimate contact and what evolved from that contact: “had an impact on all strata of twentieth-century music in the West and elsewhere.”
These African elements, imported to the Americas through institutionalized Slavery, have a major responsibility for not only Jazz and Latin musics but also much of Western popular music - gospel, rock, R amp;B, Blues, etc.. These African heritages are: “major forces in everyday musical life; and their effect on composers of art music in the United States and Latin America as well as on such Europeans as Antonin Dvorak and Igor Stravinsky has been considerable”.
That such a cultural impact and such a diversity of musics - such beauty in Art - came from such a dismal and degrading practice is for me the ultimate tribute to the human spirit. It never ceases to amaze me that such music as Jazz came from such origins.
In the Americas, the African tradition spread through North, Central, and South America, and also the Caribbean. In each of these areas, the mingling of musical cultures resulted in a unique style. In brief, the differences in which European Colony and native Indian population - as well as the particular African identity imported to that region - resulted in a different musical fusion.
The common thread for this spread of African musical culture was the Slave Trade Routes of the period - and slavery was common in all of the Americas (it should be noted that the indigenous Indian population was likewise exploited).
I am going to remain true to my original intent and not sidetrack into the musics of Latin America - that is a separate though adjunct study.
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