American culture_Essays-David B. Jenkins

David B. Jenkins

Jazz: A Purely American Idiom

T

hese days when you think of American music, you may think of such pop stars as Janice Jackson, Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole, Cyndy Lauper, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, New Kids on the Block, or ZZ Top. Or perhaps you like Marky Mark, Dr. Dre, Run DMC, Hammer, or Boyz 2 Men, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, or Kiss. . . . A generation or so ago, the “big names” (which, as a matter of fact, are still popular today) were groups and individuals such as Led Zeppelin; The Grateful Dead; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; The Mamas and the Poppas; Simon and Garfunkel; Bob Dylan; Leonard Cohen; Joni Mitchell; Judy Collins; Arlo Guthrie; Joan Baez; Peter, Paul and Mary; Janis Joplin; Jimmy Hendrix. . . . Of course, these well-known names are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a huge variety of musical forms and types in America, such as pop, rap, country, reggae, grunge, alternative, heavy metal, hillbilly, “rockabilly”, folk, new wave, new age, techno-funk, punk, soul, rhythm-and-blues, acid rock, rock-and-roll. . . . The list goes on and on. Of all the contemporary musical forms heard on the thousands of radio stations across America, two in particular stand out as purely American: blues and jazz. I am particularly fond of these musical forms; let me offer you just a few words about jazz.

      Jazz grew out of music that was popular at the beginning of the twentieth century¾ragtime. Over the years, jazz has incorporated blues, swing, jive, scat and bebop, to name a few. Jazz can be very complex, both because of its use of unusual rhythms (syncopations, off-beats, back-beats) and because of its melodies and harmonies. The instruments most generally associated with jazz are trumpets, trombones, clarinets, saxophones, pianos, guitars, the double bass, and of course drums and other percussion instruments. Jazz grew up in the African American sections of such big cities as New Orleans and St. Louis, then spread to even bigger cities, such as Chicago and New York. Perhaps the earliest form of jazz is “preservation hall jazz,” or Dixieland jazz, which began in New Orleans, and was first played at funerals. (A classic jazz song of those early days is “When the Saints Go Marching In.”) When jazz hit New York City sometime before 1920, it was made into a commercial success by “Tin Pan Alley,” a section of the city where famous song writers worked, and still work. Some of the most famous jazz musicians (many of whom were also leaders of “big bands”) were Duke Ellington (piano), Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong (trumpet), Count Basie, Jimmy Dorsey, Les Brown and his “band of renown,” Bud Powell (piano), Sidney Bechet (clarinet), Dave Brubeck (his most famous song being “Take Five”), Benny Goodman (clarinet), Charley Parker (saxophone), Billie Holiday (vocals), Gene Kruppa (drums) and Charlie Mingus (piano). Since the 1960’s, some of the biggest names in American jazz have been Wynton and Branford Marsalis, brothers from New Orleans (trumpet and piano), Larry Corryell (guitar), Keith Jarret (saxophone), Michael Franks, Bobby McFerrin and Sade (vocals), Kenny G (saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), David Sanborne (saxophone), Alphonse Mouson, George Benson (guitar), Frank Zappa, George Duke, John McGlaughlin (guitar¾leader of the “Mahavishnu Orchestra”), Paul Winter (of the Winter Consort), David Byrne (of the Talking Heads), Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, Ramsey Lewis, Candy Dulfer (saxophone), the South African trumpet player Hugh Masakela, John Cage (“cerebral” or conceptual music), such “New Age” jazz musicians as William Ackerman (guitar) and George Winston (piano).

      A very important term related to jazz is improvisation, where the musicians use their great skill to play “riffs” or spontaneous variations in a “jam session,” giving the music their personal touch in what resembles a musical competition, which may be either “hot” (fast-paced and complex), or “cool” (slow and lyrical). Jazz is and always has been an “open-ended form”¾it continually grows and changes, adding Latin beat, funk, soul¾even animal sounds and street noises. Jazz is inventive, unpredictable, and willing to bend and break the musical rules. It’s not just three chords and loud noise.