 Sax’s Local Artist CD Recommendations Tune into 102.1 FM 12 to 3pm Weekdays for the "Mid Afternoon Music Showcase" | |||
Artist | Title | Songs | Website |
Urban Jazz Coalition | Gravitate | 10 | |
Dr. E | Elevated | 13 | |
Duane Tribune | Spirit Dance | 8 | |
Meilana Gillard | Day One | 8 | N/A |
Randy Mather | Valentine’s Day | 9 | |
Gene Walker | Last Night In Manhattan | 10 | N/A |
What's This Thing Called Jazz? It is my intent to make the purpose of this blog one that helps to bring about a better understanding of the music we call Jazz. This post is to help give some insight into why people either love or hate the music. Perhaps it's because the music is misunderstood. I'll let you the reader be the judge. I'll try to arm you with the information and hope you'll become a fan of this music called Jazz. Jazz Jazz is an original American musical art form which originated around the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States out of a confluence of African and European music traditions. The use of blue notes, call-and-response, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swung note of ragtime are characteristics traceable back to jazz's West African pedigree. During its early development, jazz also incorporated music from New England's religious hymns and from 19th and 20th century American popular music based on European music traditions. The origins of the word "jazz," which was first used to refer to music in about 1915, are uncertain. As the term "jazz" has long been used for a wide variety of styles, a comprehensive definition including all varieties is elusive. While some enthusiasts of certain types of jazz have argued for narrower definitions which exclude many other types of music also commonly known as "jazz", jazz musicians themselves are often reluctant to define the music they play. There have long been debates in the jazz community over the definition and the boundaries of “jazz.” In the mid-1930s, New Orleans jazz lovers criticized the "innovations" of the swing era as being contrary to the collective improvisation they saw as essential to "true" jazz. Through the 1940s, '50s and '60s, traditional jazz enthusiasts and Bop enthusiasts criticized each other, often arguing that the other style was somehow not "real" jazz. Although alteration or transformation of jazz by new influences has often been initially criticized as a “debasement,” Andrew Gilbert argues that jazz has the “ability to absorb and transform influences” from diverse musical styles An academic definition of jazz might be: A genre of American music that originated in New Orleans circa 1900 characterized by strong, prominent meter, improvisation, distinctive tone colors & performance techniques, and dotted or syncopated rhythimic patterns. Jazz has, from its early 20th century inception, spawned a variety of subgenres, from New Orleans Dixieland dating from the early 1910s, big band-style swing from the 1930s and 1940s, Bebop from the mid-1940s, a variety of Latin-jazz fusions such as Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz from the 1950s and 1960s, jazz-rock fusion from the 1970s and later developments such as acid jazz. Like the self-motivating, energetic solos that distinguish the genre, jazz continues to evolve and seek new levels of artistic expression. In slightly over one hundred years, this evolution has given birth to approximately two dozen distinct jazz styles. In the early 1980s, a lighter commercial form of jazz fusion called pop fusion or "smooth jazz" became successful and garnered significant radio airplay. Smooth jazz saxophonists include Grover Washington, Jr., Kenny G and Najee. Smooth jazz received frequent airplay with more straight-ahead jazz in quiet storm time slots at radio stations in urban markets across the U.S., helping to establish or bolster the careers of vocalists including Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, and Sade. Jazz Styles: Many forms of Jazz have evolved throughout the years. The following list outlines the various names given to each form: Acid jazz - Asian American jazz - Avant-garde jazz - Bebop - Crossover jazz Dixieland - Calypso jazz - Chamber jazz - Cool jazz - Free jazz - Gypsy jazz Hard bop - Jazz blues -Jazz-funk - Jazz fusion - Jazz rap - Latin jazz Mainstream jazz - Mini-jazz - Modal jazz - M-Base - Nu jazz - Smooth jazz Soul jazz - Swing - Trad jazz - West Coast jazz | ||||
| Next Post: A definition of one of the styles outlined above. Keep tuning your radio to WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM Columbus, Ohio Now, Wouldn't You Just Love A Little Sax In The Afternoon? Information contained in this post was taken from various sources including Wikipedia | ||||
