Criss Cross Jazz

What Is the Real Meaning of Jazz Music?

Posted by in History of Jazz, Jazz, Music


Many of us, deep down love jazz, even if we can’t always say it. Though we all love jazz for different reasons, most of us have similar stories about how we first discovered and fell in love with this unique music.

So, what makes it such a strong and influential art form?

There are numerous potential answers to this question, and you could easily fill several books attempting to address it. Obviously, I’m not writing a multi-volume masterpiece here, but I do want to take some time to discuss the critical issue of jazz’s meaning and relevance today.

 

Jazz music is a one-of-a-kind, powerful, and exceptional human phenomenon.

It’s universal in the sense that, as far as we know, all human cultures throughout history have had some form of musical expression. Music is deeply embedded in our daily lives, and it can be found at every major social and personal event in our culture, including parties, birthdays, weddings, sporting events, political rallies, religious ceremonies, social functions, graduations, and funerals.

 

Jazz music is fundamentally social in nature.

We use musical sounds to express ourselves and communicate with others. We use music to investigate our ideas about group and individual identity. We use music to document and share our common cultural history and human experiences. We use music to make sense of the world and ourselves and to communicate things that are impossible (or at least difficult) to express verbally.

Jazz is a fundamentally democratic musical style.

By calling jazz democratic, I mean that when jazz musicians are playing well, their relationships reflect the relationships in an ideal democratic society. Similarly, the relationships between jazz’s musical elements (melody, harmony, form, dynamics, improvisation vs. composition, contrast vs. repetition, and so on) reflect democratic ideals.

 

Jazz is a fundamentally diverse musical style.

Jazz is diverse in every sense of the word; it is diverse on many levels. Jazz can be played by anyone, it is stylistically diverse, and it is enjoyed and played by people from all over the world.

Jazz is a fundamentally creative musical style.

Jazz encourages, celebrates, and rewards musical innovation, originality, personality, and meaningful expressiveness. Jazz has never stopped changing. Even when playing in more traditional styles, the music is most effective and true to jazz values when it is creative within the context of the style being explored.

Dec.15
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Jazz’s Distinctive Traits

Posted by in History of Jazz, Jazz, Music

The Blues are the source of all jazz in its various forms. Early 19th-century Black American folk music gave rise to a style of music that has persisted in popular culture for many years. Jazz’s persistent appeal may be traced to the music’s intrinsic qualities. This piece presents what can be considered the essential traits of this distinctive musical genre.

Jazz’s distinctive traits

  • Jazz’s use of rhythm and rhythmic structure sets it apart from the great majority of classical compositions. A rhythmic element known as “swing” is a significant identifying characteristic. Quaver or eight-note values must be changed from equal to a ratio that closely resembles two-thirds to one-third for swing rhythm.

 

  • The notation for swing rhythm is approximate, but it’s as accurate as it can be without calling for incredibly difficult and time-consuming note value subdivisions. The swing’s impact on jazz music is characterized by a sense of forward motion and rhythmic energy that was unique in the genre’s early years.In the 1920s and 1930s, swing developed into a distinct jazz subgenre, earning clarinetist Benny Goodman the moniker “The King of Swing.”

 

  • Swing Jazz is given a fascinating edge by “syncopation” in combination with it. When a piece of music is said to be syncopated, it signifies that the focus is placed on the more weak beats of the bar rather than the “strong” beats of the bar. In a 4/4 bar, for instance, the strong beats are seen as being 1 and 3. In jazz, the second or fourth beat’s second half is frequently where the emphasis is concentrated. This is a key aspect of the genre and perfectly complements the swing vibe.

 

  • When these two jazz characteristics are combined with jazz harmony, you start to enter a realm of musical possibility that opens up a wealth of creative options. Jazz, like classical music, can be both tonal and atonal, although most jazz is tonally based despite at times sounding otherwise. This is partly because jazz composers frequently employ this style of harmony in their compositions.

 

  • The use of replaced chords further develops jazz harmony. These are chords that performers improvise during a performance in place of the composer’s recommended ones. Once more, the result is to provide a harmonic hue that is not only unique to that performance but frequently also to the artist who made the substitution. Tri-tone is a popular and frequently used replacement. For instance, if the original chord was a G, the replacement would be a Db. This may at first appear to be a far-flung harmonic relationship, but it functions amazingly well.

 

  • The complexity of harmonies’ substitutions, the motivic concentration of melodic development, and the technical requirements made them nearly impossible for many musicians to meet. The astounding skill required for performances by players like Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, or Buddy De Franco becomes immediately apparent when listening to their music. These jazz musicians, among many others, elevate the idea of jazz improvisation into the musical stratosphere, greatly expanding its potential.
Nov.15
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How to Define Jazz Music

Posted by in Jazz

Although jazz listeners might not agree upon which musicians and music qualify for jazz you could identify dancing jazz with a identifying attributes along with syncopation, improvisation, bent notes and styles, and voices.

Duke Ellington composed “It Do not Mean a Thing (If It’s Not Got That Swing),” and jazz singer and bandleader Cab Calloway discovered it. Historians and critics expend tens of thousands however, Cab covered all of it. After the hunting, just a couple of components exist as specifying features of jazz that experts and musicians take.

Swing and syncopation
Swing is your rhythmic momentum which makes you like to dance or snap your hands to some fantastic jazz song. Part of what makes jazz swing would be that the usage of syncopation.

Syncopation is your method of setting accents or accent in sudden places. When jazz actually swings, the conquer compels you if the players highlight the beat by enjoying it a few minutes or before or following it in other times.

To have a better comprehension of this, think of music. Classical music is composed songs — musicians rely upon sheet songs that reveals them phrasing, also exactly that which notes to play, and in which the beats autumn with. Jazz, on the other hand, is believed. Sure, a great deal of jazz criteria (music played and known with several musicians) exist because sheet songs, but generally only in a summary form revealing the fundamental changes (chord arrangement) of this song and its tune. The swing texture and syncopation cannot be recorded in jazz, where players have the items that is rhythmic, just in notation, or else they do not.

Since its players devise least half of their music, jazz demands creative and technical capability. Jazz players out of trumpeter Louis Armstrong into saxophonists Lester Young and Charlie Parker made their mark with their capacity to improvise, although famous jazz songs have melodies place to character changes. Modifications and the tune of a jazz song starting point and constitute a frame.

 

Jun.15
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April 30 – The world celebrated International Jazz Day

Posted by in Jazz

Jazz is music that soothes the soul. No wonder many office spaces play jazz music to relieve stress in the work environment, whether it be a garage door installation Luton, a dental clinic in Iowa, or a SPA center in California, you would usually hear jazz music playing.

Jazz is not just music but a language that speaks about great culture and people, connecting people, and promoting harmony.  For over a century, jazz has soothed many souls across the world. It is by this thought that UNESCO organized the International Jazz day.

International Jazz Day started in 2012 and since then it is celebrated every year on each month 3oth day of April. The annual celebration emphasized the influence of jazz in freedom, creativity, and intercultural dialogue. This year’s host city for this international event is Havana, Cuba – a culturally rich and vibrant city filled with music.

The Influence of Jazz Music – Jazz is for peace

Through the 1920s, the music of jazz grew as an important part of the American pop culture. The so called primitive jazz music comes from New Orleans and expanded to influence other people from every level of the society.

The impact of jazz on our society is shown in many aspects of pop culture. Jazz has great influence on literary by the birth of jazz poetry. Below are further influences of jazz in our community.

  • Jazz influenced a distinguished fashion statement.
  • Women fighting for their rights as equals had been inspired by Jazz music.
  • Men and women of the African American community fighting for freedom grew in number encouraged by the birth of Jazz.
  • What was considered as a low culture slowly rose to be recognized and equally aligned with other cultures.
  • African American has elevated their status in the community primarily due to its music.

As we move on to another year, another decade, or century, jazz music will continue to live on, in our hearts, our culture, and in our society as a whole. It’s great influence will be passed on from generation to generation, promoting and encouraging peace and harmony among many nations.

May.02
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