JAZZ
Jazz Introduction
Jazz was born from a combination of African
American Spirituals, Slave songs, Field Hollers,
Minstrel songs, the Blues, marching band
tunes, and improvisation.
Jazz Introduction
• Def: Jazz is the only original American art
form.
• Jazz is a direct reflection of American history.
• Jazz is about improvisation.
• Improvisation is creating art on the spot.
The Music of Africa
• Music in Africa was a part of everyday life.
• It was used in games, for celebrations, during
work, in birth and in death. Music was a very
important part of being African.
• Instruments were made from whatever
materials people could find.
Djundjun
Ngoma
lAxatse
Kora
Double Bell
Mbira
Balafone
Hosho
Chitendi
Music of Africa
• Music of Africa is characterized by highly
complex rhythms.
• African music uses a call and response
method in which a leader starts and then a
chorus responds.
• Rhythm often helped people keep a steady
beat while working.
• In Africa music is intertwined with everyday
life.
• http://www.walden.com/images/uploads/resource/Pulse_EdGuide.pdf
Song 1 “The Names of the Rivers” -traditional game
song from Zimbabwe
Leader: The Zambezi, I crossed it!
Chorus: I crossed it!
L: The Limpopo, I crossed it!
C: I crossed it!
L: The Nile, I crossed it!
C: I crossed it!
L: The Niger, I crossed it!
C: I crossed it!
L: The Mississippi, I crossed it!
C: I crossed it!
L: The Colorado, I crossed it!
C: I crossed it!
“Choose Your Own” -traditional game song from
Zimbabwe
Leader: Choose your own, yeah, yeah
Chorus: He wears a white amulet
L: Choose your own, yeah, yeah
C: He wears a white amulet
L: Who is yours, yeah, yeah?
C: He wears a white amulet
L: Mine is Bobby, yeah, yeah
C: He wears a white amulet
L: Yours is short, yeah, yeah
C: He wears a white amulet
L: Mine is tall, yeah, yeah
C: He wears a white amulet
L: Hey, Bobby, yeah, yeah
C: He wears a white amulet
Mukondombera “The Holocaust (AIDS)” by Thomas
Mapfumo (excerpt)
You should stop fooling around, men,
You should stop fooling around, girls,
Beware of this plague, the illness has come,
If you are not afraid, you will perish.
Oh goodness, we are perishing,
An illness has come into this world,
Play it safe, because this world has gone bad.
This illness has come,
It is a giant whip sent down by God.
Oh God, what are we supposed to do?
God, please give us an idea.
To stop it all, stand by your spouse
Mnyonge Hana Haki “The Poor Have No Rights” by
Remmy Ongala
If you are on a journey, never hurry
There are many problems on the road, so don’t hurry.
I went on a journey, I arrived safely, I arrived peacefully.
Peace
What bitter words.
I am a weakling, I have nothing to say in front of my peers.
A bicycle has no say in front of a motorcycle,
A motorcycle has no say in front of a car,
A car has no say in front of a train,
The poor and weak have no rights
I am poor, I have no right to speak,
Poor and weak in front of the powerful
Weak as long as the powerful likes
A hare has no say in front of the lion,
A rat does not parade in front of a cat
The poor can only lean on God,
The poor have no rights
How and Why did Jazz Develop?
During the 18th and 19th centuries
thousands of people were taken as slaves
from Africa to America. For these Africans
life became a nightmare. Many died on their
long journey by sailing ship. Those that
survived were sold in auctions and put to
work on farms in the Southern states of
America. Families were often split up.
Children were taken from their parents and
husbands from their wives. The life of slavery
was cruel and horrible.
How and Why did Jazz Develop?
Modern Day West Indies
• The slave trade that began in the 1600s included many
West Africans who brought their musical traditions
with them. Because many slaves spoke different
languages, they began to communicate through music.
• Slaves were able to communicate from plantation to
plantation by playing drums.
• Slave owners tried to ban drumming among their
slaves, fearing that slaves were talking to each other,
communicating with their spirits, and plotting
rebellions through the drums.
– In 1739, slaves used drums to signal to surrounding
plantations and plan a revolt.
• When drums were banned from plantations, slaves
developed ways to imitate drumming, using European
instruments, household items (spoons, jugs,
washboards) and their own bodies.
For Africans music was a way of life. It is
not surprising that music played an
important part in the lives of African slaves.
In songs, slaves expressed unhappiness. They
also had songs for healing the sick and
lullabies for the babies. While working in the
fields the slaves also sang rhythmic tunes to
keep the beat as they worked. Slaves could
express their music mainly in the field and in
church.
3. Types of African American Slave
Songs
1. African American Spiritual- A religious folk song
of African-American origin.
2. Field Holler (Call and Response)- Used during and
after slavery when physical isolation on
plantations and farms increased. It was usually
solo music but sometimes there was a response if
another worker was nearby.
3. Slave Song- A song sung to accompany work,
typically having a steady rhythm.
Use a new sheet of paper in your folder. Put
today’s date and the title Early African
American Music. Listen carefully to the
music and the people who made it.
Examine the words and listen to the way
these songs were sung. Write your
impressions of the moods and images
represented in the music into your folder.
You will hear 6 songs total.
• TROUBLE SO HARD (Spiritual)
• Sung by Dock and Henry Reed and Vera Hall at Livingston, Alabama,
1937.
Recorded by John A. And Ruby T. Lomax & Ruby Dickens Tartt.
• CHORUS:
O Lord, trouble so hard. (2)
Yes, indeed, my trouble is hard (2)
O, Lord, trouble so hard. (2)
Don’t nobody know my troubles but God. (2)
Yes, indeed, my trouble’s so hard. (2)
O Lord, trouble so hard. (2)
• 1. Wait and let me tell you what the sister will do:
’Fo’ your face, she have a love for you,
’Hind your back, scandalize your name,
Jest the same you have to bear the blame.
• CHORUS
• 2. Wait and let me tell you what your brother will do:
’Fo’ your face, have a love for you,
’Hind your back, scandalize your name,
Jest the same you have to bear the blame.
• ARWHOOLIE (CORNFIELD HOLLER)
• Sung by Thomas J. Marshall at Edwards,
Mississippi, 1939.
Recorded by Herbert Halpert.
• Oh, etc.
I won’t be here long.
Oh, etc.
Oh, dark gonna catch me here,
Dark gonna catch me here.
Oh, etc.
• QUITTIN’ TIME SONGS
• Sung by Samuel Brooks at Edwards, Mississippi,
1939.
Recorded by Herbert Halpert.
• Ooooh, the sun going down,
And I won’t be here long,
Ooooh, the sun going down,
And I won’t be here long,
Ooooh, then I be going home.
Ooooh, I can’t let this dark cloud catch me here.
Ooooh, I can’t stay here long,
Ooooooooooh, I be at home.
• MEALTIME CALL
• Called by Thomas J. Marshall at Edwards,
Mississippi, 1939.
Recorded by Herbert Halpert.
• Oh, Miss Wright
Why don’t you ring that bell?
Oh, Miss Wright
Why don’t you ring that bell?
I can tell
The way those greens smell.
• I’M A SOLDIER IN THE ARMY OF THE LORD
• Sung by the congregation of Silent Grove Baptist Church at
Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1942. Recorded by Alan Lomax,
Lewis Jones, and John W. Work.
• 1. Army of the Lord, In the army, in the army, Just a soldier,
just a soldier, In the army of the Lord. Just a soldier, In the
army, Just a soldier, In the army of the Lord, Just a soldier,
In the army.
• 2. I’m gonna keep on the top in the army of the Lord. I’m
gonna keep on the top in the army. I’m gonna keep on the
top in the army of the Lord. I’m gonna keep on the top in
the army. I’m gonna keep on the top in the army of the
Lord. I’m gonna keep on the top in the army.
• 3. In the army, army of the Lord, In the army, Just a soldier,
Just a soldier, In the army of the Lord, Just a soldier, In the
army. [Instrumental with Vocal Interjections.
Verse 2 repeats, in part. Verse 1 repeats, in part.]
AIN’T NO GRAVE CAN HOLD MY BODY DOWN
Sung by Bozie Sturdivant at Silent Grove
Baptist Church, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1942.
Recorded by Alan Lomax and Lewis Jones.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down, my
body down.
When the first trumpet sound,
Do not turn your paper over until you are
instructed to do so.
In your folder write a 3 sentence reaction to
what you see on your paper. Your answer
should be in the following form; My picture is
of (describe your picture). I think it (describe
what you think it is of or about). It makes me
feel (tell how you feel about the image).
Minstrel Shows
• DEF: A racist comic variety show of the 19th
and early 20th centuries, usually featuring
white actors dressed up as and pretending to
be black.
• Minstrel shows depicted Black people as
unlucky, lazy, slow and often ape-like.
• The makeup used during minstrel shows often
depicted nappy hair and big lips.
Minstrel Shows
• Became the most popular form of
entertainment in the US until the invention of
TV.
• Minstrel's gave the nation is first form of
popular music.
Minstrel Shows
• Spread racist stereotypes.
• Minstrels got to the point where blacks started
dressing up as whites pretending to be black.
• Minstrel shows remained popular until the
1950’s.
Jim Crow was our countries most popular
minstrel character!
Marching Band
• During the civil war (1861-1865) marching
bands used drums, fifes, and brass
instruments to communicate across battle
fields.
• When the war ended in 1865 soldiers threw
away their instruments….many of which
ended up in the southern parts of the United
States.
• Slaves were also legally freed at the end of the
civil war.
Marching Band
• It was common for kids and wanderers to find
discarded instruments and learn to play them.
• New kinds of marching bands formed. Many
found themselves in the city of New Orleans.
The Blues
• After the civil war, newly freed black men
were allowed to sing for leisure for the very
first time. They were able to freely express
themselves in music.
• Refugees from the Mississippi Delta came to
New Orleans to escape Jim Crow Laws. They
brought music with them music they created
called the Blues.
• Blues is the “twin” of the African American
spiritual.
• The Blues must be personal and tell a story.
• The Blues use notes which are lowered in
pitch within a major scale. Lowering certain
pitches of the regular scale made the music
feel sad or blue.
• You did not have to have the blues to sing the
blues.
Ragtime
• In the 1890’s a combination of spirituals and
minstrel songs, and military marches met
Black piano players in the Midwest and
ragtime was born.
• Ragtime was a hit because it made people
want to dance!
• It was America’s most popular music for the
next 25 years.
• Young people loved it….their parents hated it.
Why New Orleans?
New Orleans set a perfect stage for the
beginnings of Jazz. New Orleans was a
seaport city and center of trade. In the 1890’s
New Orleans was the most diverse American
city. African Americans, French, Spanish,
English, Irish, German and Italian immigrants
all lived side by side. When all of their
cultures melted together the foundation for
jazz formed.
Why New Orleans?
1. In the 1800’s New Orleans was a center of
trade and the most diverse city in the U.S.
2. New Orleans was the most musical city in the
US.
3. New Orleans was a major center of the slave
trade.
4. Creoles of color were allowed to learn to read
music. They even had their own opera house
and symphony orchestra.
5. DIVERSITY! DIVERSITY! DIVERSITY!
Why New Orleans?
• Tradition of ‘wildness’ in bars and in gambling.
• Lots of different churches.
CREOLES OF COLOR
• http://www.creolehistory.com/
• “Creoles of Color” were generally persons of half
European decent and half African decent. Creoles
were usually not as dark skinned as their African half
and not as light skinned as their European half.
• Creoles had more rights than Blacks but less rights
than Whites.
• Creoles were allowed to learn to read books, receive
formal training on instruments, and could learn a job
in the trade business.
CREOLES OF COLOR
• In New Orleans, Creoles had their own opera
house and symphony orchestra.
• Most Creoles identified primarily with their
European roots.
• Creoles were allowed to own their own slaves.
Jim Crow
• http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm
• In 1877 a dirty political deal created Jim Crow
Laws.
• Jim Crow Laws legally allowed a racial caste
system to operate primarily, but not
exclusively in southern and border states.
• These series of anti-Black laws were referred
to as “separate but equal”.
After Jim Crow Laws…
• Creoles were stripped of all their rights.
• Creoles were now classified as Black.
• Creoles were separated from the White half
with which they identified, and sent to the
“Blacks only” section in their newly
segregated lives.