Jazz: A Short History

by Michael Morangelli

  RAMIFICATIONS OF THE SEARCH FOR COLOR

  These many sources for new musical color reflected: the era’s quest for different, new, or more intense musical stimuli, a freedom and spirit of experimentation to make music by any means available, and a need to communicate on the artist’s own terms. What resulted was a new Jazz where sound was not just a means to an end but an end in itself. The music became a sound oriented rather than a Theme oriented music - not in totality, but still at a very basic level influencing even the most conservative artist.

  16 The Times they are a Changin’

  TEXTURE AND VOLUME

  With the on going search for color, Jazz increasingly became Sound rather than Theme oriented - again, not in totality but still at a very basic level. This concern for color was closely linked (as Michael J.

  Budds states in ‘Jazz in the Sixties’, University of Iowa Press, 1978) with Texture and Volume.

  The music of the 40’s and 50’s had a transparency in which the instrumental line and quality was both distinctive and distinguishable. This was now complicated by the new colors and coloristic techniques.

  But, a new element was added to the mix - a growing contention that ‘it’s not about notes any more, it’s about feelings’ (Albert Ayler). This new orientation sparked a break from traditional procedures and sense of musical order - it was the effect produced and the summation of sound which became an end in itself.

  To meet these dramatic demands, more instruments were added to the standard quartet or quintet - sometimes to add drone and ostinato functions or just to augment the percussion section with rhythm and color. But, the ensembles did grow in size - if just as a result of added instrumental colors - and the musical texture gained in density and complexity.

  Accompanying this change in Texture was a general - and pervasive - demand for greater volume. This music was to be felt, not just heard - it was to envelop the listener in sound. As such, performance practice changed with respect to Volume: dynamic range increased, a louder sound ideal emerged for individual instruments, and ‘acoustic’ instruments were increasingly replaced by electronic instruments or supplemented by amplification.

  Jazz, as a result, lost some of the intimate qualities of the small and acoustic groups of the 40’s and 50’s.

  It was no longer suitable to the small club but almost a return to the large venues of the Big Bands - the concert hall rather than the large dance hall. This additive process with regard to volume affected both the vertical and horizontal components of the music - it was a bigger sound and with little use of silence.

  MELODY AND HARMONY

  Jazz traditionally borrowed from preexisting material - both as a source of thematic material and a harmonic structure for improvisation. As the complexity of the harmonic content increased, the vocabulary of improvisation was forced to expand and adapt in accommodating this evolving complexity - use of chromatic alterations, increased harmonic rhythm, and chordal substitution.

  Each era in Jazz has a ‘characteristic’ harmonic rhythm reflective of the currently available music sources. The 20’s: triadic harmony and one chord per measure (Muskrat Ramble), the 30’s: appearance of two chords per measure and four note voicings with the addition of the 6th and 7th interval above the root (Georgia On My Mind), and by the 50’s: three to four chords per measure with increasing use of Chordal Substitution (Round Midnight).

  The 60’s continued this tradition of utilizing preexisting source material - expanded in complexity - but also explored new approaches. These new approaches effectively resulted in a structural assault on the Traditional - both attempts to extend or modify functional harmony and in attempting to replace it altogether. This structural ‘assault ‘ was not a single and radical leap but rather a series of incremental steps - ultimately culminating in the Free Jazz Movement where none of the traditional performance practices were thought obligatory or indispensable. This challenge directed at Functional Harmony is one of the major events of the decade -it focused on the concept of the ‘Tonal Center’ (the major organizing principle for manipulating musical sound).

  INTRODUCTION OF MODAL SCALES

  The introduction of Modal Scales was not a rejection of Functional harmony, but an attempt to obscure it without destroying the presence of a Tonal Center. 20th Century Fine Art Music had already used these in melodic construction which resulted in: the avoidance of the leading tone; permitted unconventional voice leading; and unorthodox chord progression. In Jazz, it created a static harmonic content by: the use of the drone or pedal point to establish the tonal center (rather than a defining chordal progression); the leading tone and the Tonic/Dominant relationship were avoided; and allowed the vertical component to be improvised (Modal 4th’s in Mehegan).

  For the soloist, this resulted in a freedom from the ‘rigidity’ of making the changes. The jazz improviser could create with the resources of a single mode which in turn offered a freedom to concentrate on the improvised line without constraints from the Vertical Chord structures - the phrase was also liberated from its relationship to harmonic rhythm. As Miles Davis stated: ‘When you go that way you can go on forever. You don’t have to worry about changes and you can do more with the line….I think that there is a return in jazz emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variation. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them….Too much modern jazz has become thick with chords”.

  Early on, the modal idea was a conservative one. It was grafted onto inherited form, tonal framework, and metric patterns. Coltrane took the next step - his treatment of modal principles was much freer: he expanded the pitch material to include elements outside the modal scale and increasingly used irregular phrases which further obscured the four and eight measure subdivisions of form.

  NON-WESTERN MELODIC RESOURCES

  This modal experimentation opened up the jazz world to other cultures and musics which were not organized with vertical chord structures but horizontally with the melodic elements. Indian music - with its characteristic drone, scale system, and rhythmic patterns attracted much attention. It was not so much a complete acceptance of this musical system but attempts at fusion.

  USE OF QUARTAL HARMONY

  Our traditional musical system is based on harmony constructed of superimposed thirds - but this is not the only system resulting in vertical structures. Quartal harmonic and melodic organization was another - again a way of reflecting or expanding beyond the limitation dictated by tradition. Melodic and Thematic material in parallel, consecutive, and displaced fourths - accompanied by chords constructed of superimposed 4ths were increasingly used. In some ways this was an extension of the chromatic harmony of the 50’s - a search for a new ‘sound’ but closely related to previous practice.

  SERIAL PROCEDURES

  This is where functional harmony was completely abandoned - and pointed toward the Free Jazz movement. An established 20th Century Fine Art technique, it offered another system of organization outside of the Functional Harmonic boundaries. There were not a lot of compositions based upon this system but it did point toward the ‘general’ dissatisfaction with the inherited harmonic practice. It became part of the technical language for constructing atonal backgrounds for ‘free’ improvisation and for organizing large ensembles without the previous harmonic foundations. It was used especially by the Third Stream Movement (Gunther Schuller - ‘Conversation’) but presented problems as an improvisational technique: just as restrictive as traditional harmony in its rules and procedures, required the improviser to memorize the tone row, and any exceptions to its rules to facilitate improvisation caused confusion when employing the tone-row.

  To my mind, the state of Jazz in the 60’s was a period of searching. Many paths were taken and explored - some to a dead end. More so, this period was the end of 60 yrs or so of linear development harmonically and melodically - it was struggling to develop a vocabulary to meet the expressive demands of the contemporary culture. Unfortunatel
y it was losing more and more of its listeners - leaving many behind as it grappled with so much change.

  17 Up, Up, and Away

  METER AND RHYTHM

  For the first fifty years or so of Jazz History, time was organized in a straight forward duple meter. Its function as a dance music demanded that this be so. But, by the end of the ‘50’s, many became convinced that this need not be - why restrict meter and rhythm to provide dance rhythms when it was no longer a requirement. This realization produced Jazz which was organized according to new rhythmic patterns and organizations. What occurred was again a duality within the music: Time organizations based upon the previous practice of a ‘steady reoccurring pulse’ and one not confined to that particular time element.

  Meter in the 50’s began to stretch the previous confines of dupal time organization. The Jazz Waltz was soon incorporated within the Jazz Genre and manipulated so as not to invalidate the concept of ‘swing’.

  Soon other experiments - with irregular meter began to appear. Dave Brubeck’s Take Five, Time Further Out, and Time Changes albums incorporated many of the ‘odd’ time signatures and sparked further experimentation. This irregular meter use was soon incorporated into the contemporary large group ensembles - Don Ellis was a notable example.

  The irregular or odd meters employed [5/4, 9/8, etc] can be reduced to groupings of stress patterns

  [accented and unaccented beats] of two or three beats. They can be thought of as a composite of two or more time signatures: 5/4 = 3+2 or 2+3, 7/8 = 4+3 or 3+4 or 2+2+3. The Harmonic rhythm usually reinforces the metric scheme and the rhythm section as always defines this organization.

  Don Ellis [whose early big ensemble experiments resulted in the aptly named ‘Live in 3 2/3 /4 Time in 1967] published ‘The New Rhythm Book’ in 1972. It offered a methodology for acquiring improvisational and performance skills in odd signatures. His contention was that the Fine Art Music in the Western Tradition suffers in comparison to the vitality of most of the worlds cultures - including European Folk Music [especially that of Eastern Europe]. In fact, Fine Art Music itself had already experienced a period of metric and rhythmic reevaluation after 1910. Under the leadership of Bartok, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg; the metric features of European folk music and other world cultures were incorporated into that tradition - not without controversy.

  More radical was the movement which sought to work without a regular reoccurring pulse present - it was not without precedent. The late ‘50’s practice of ‘breaking the time’ - usually a short section superimposing a ‘3 against 2’ feel - effectively obscured the time structure for short passages. This rhythmic tension was resolved by the return to the original duple stress pattern - it was also usually combined with an ‘out’ section which again, was resolved by the return to the original tonal center.

  This new attitude toward time can be summarized by Ornette Coleman: “…my music doesn’t have any real time, no metric time. It has time, but not in the sense that you can time it. It’s more like breathing, a natural, freer time….I like spread rhythm, rhythm that has a lot of freedom in it, rather than the more conventional, netted rhythm. With spread rhythm, you might tap your feet awhile, then stop, then later start taping again. That’s what I like.

  Otherwise, you tap your feet so much, you forget what you hear.

  You just hear the rhythm.”

  This is called ‘Tempo Rubato’ which distorted the time by accelerando and decelerando - Coleman’s ‘The Shape of Jazz to Come’ and ‘Change of the Century’ albums are prime examples.

  This concept of time structure - obscuring the meter and abstract time composites - became quite important in the collective improvisation of the ‘Free Jazz’ movement. Here, the very function of the rhythm section was preempted. Rhythmic energy became a characteristic of each voice in the overall texture - the stereotypical metric formulas were avoided and the bar line existed only as an abstract.

  These practices effectively destroyed the foundations essential for the ‘concept of swing’ - which relies upon the tension created between a syncopated melodic line and a regular, reoccurring, and accented pulse.

  STRUCTURAL DESIGN

  Another aspect of Jazz, prior to this decade, was improvising upon a fixed form and harmonic structure.

  Here, the original composition provided the form and chord changes that the subsequent improvisations must adhere to - the exceptions to this usually appeared in formal arrangements and were incorporated to extend the form. Reaction to this fixed structure, again, have precedence in the ‘50’s.

  The preoccupation with form in the Jazz of the ‘50’s resulted in a review of Western Art Music practices - it led to experiments with extended forms such as the Fugue and Rondo. This general dissatisfaction led [again] to two contradictory trends - one stressed the formality of structure which was carefully determined and composed; and one allowed the structure to ‘happen’ according to a small number of fixed elements.

  Third Stream music sought to deliver Jazz in the shape of European forms and compositional techniques. It benefited from a generation of musicians who could perform in both idioms as well as the emergence of a common ground between the two musical traditions - so that composition and performance practice could accommodate both. The most conspicuous employed an alteration of the idioms - composed and improvised sections either utilizing Fine Art Techniques within a Jazz setting or a Jazz ensemble combined with typical Fine Art ensembles.

  One of the longest [1952-1974] enduring Jazz groups - The Modern Jazz Quartet - played a prominent role in this music. Under the musical direction of pianist John Lewis and with close association with Gunther Schuller, a successful method of incorporating the Symphonic orchestra in the performance of Jazz was established. They were not the only proponents - Stan Kenton, Oliver Nelson, and most notably Miles Davis worked within or utilized the Third Stream framework.

  This music saw the rise of extended works easily classified as ‘Program’ music - the ‘Maiden Voyage’ album of Herbie Hancock depicting the Sea, ‘Afro-American Sketches’ by Oliver Nelson chronicling Afro-American history with music, and ‘New Orleans Suite’ by Duke Ellington as a remembrance of the city [as well as the First and Second Sacred Concerts]. These all borrowed from the Fine Art forms - such as Rondo, Suite, and Cantata.

  The other major structural design - which allowed the performer maximum control in shaping form through ‘open ended’ procedures - was an attempt to achieve maximum emotional intensity by relaxing and simplifying the strictures of form. It allowed the performer to concentrate on the communication of emotion unconstrained by traditional musical elements. It is best described by Cecil Taylor: “This is not a question of ‘freedom’ as opposed to ‘non-freedom’, but rather a question of recognizing different ideas and expressions of order”.

  The two notable organizing principles were the adoption of ‘Fixed Elements’ and the Bass Ostinato.

  Fixed Elements was an agreed upon list of parameters applied to individual pieces - it assured musical coherence while still allowing the performer maximum control over the unsubscribed elements. The Bass Ostinato was the organizing principle - its placement, repetition, and contrast ‘to’ provided an aural guide to the ‘form’ of a musical work.

  This movement toward freer forms was part of a larger one which considers the world in terms of ‘possibilities, not necessities’. In Fine Art Music it is known as Aleatory Music, Chance Music, or Music of Indeterminacy. In these, compositional choices were based on random selection with many details left to the performers decision. As such, no two musical performances were ever identical in the traditional sense of a composed musical work.

  Charles Mingus’ contributions and activities anticipated many of these practices. His choice of ‘Jazz Duke Ellington Workshop’ to identify his ensembles reflected this idea of performer choice and group improvisation.

  His work often suggests a suite-like character with sections contrasted by thematic ma
terial, mood, instrumentation, tone color, meter, and dynamics.

  18 Let Freedom Ring: Introduction

  The 60’s was a decade of change - and the social and cultural upheaval of that period was reflected - as always - in the evolution and revolution within the Jazz Genre. Ekkehard Jost in his book ‘Free Jazz’

  [Da Capo Press, New York, 1981] is well aware of this. The stylistic direction - labeled the ‘New Thing’ at the end of the ‘50’s and as ‘Free Jazz’ after Ornette Coleman’s ‘60’s album - showed precisely how tight the links between musical and social/cultural factors are. The music, like the larger cultural environment, was rejecting the ‘old’ directions, assumptions, solutions, and rules and seeking the ‘new’ rules of the game - yes, FREEDOM developed its own methodology.

  Through the Hard Bop Era, the conventions of Jazz and Jazz Improvisation could be reduced to a relatively narrow and stable system of ‘agreements’. These ‘agreements’ or set of musical assumptions are necessary in any improvisatory music. It enables the soloist to create an improvisatory line aesthetically and ‘mechanically’ against the expected harmonic and rhythmic background provided by the rhythm section. Free Jazz did not do this in such a universal way.

  Basically, the only point of agreement within this Jazz Style was its negation of traditional forms and norms. As such, a large number of divergent styles developed within the larger genre - any classification of common approach would be an oversimplification. This music demands an individual approach by artist or music group - as each had a unique ‘solution’ for the ‘new rules of the game’. But, while termed the ‘new thing’, it also had its pioneers - those associated with the prior tonal idiom while also contributing to the Free Jazz evolution/revolution.