Jazz and Drug Use
The music industry has often been associated with drug use, but most people think of rock and roll or rap when they consider musicians who use drugs. It may surprise these people to know that jazz music also has its share of drug use, and that this link has been ongoing since well before the 1960s (Aldridge, 28). This is important to consider, since there are many people who love playing or listening to music. It would not be accurate to assume they all have ties to drug culture, but there is a certain level of drug use seen in the music business. Jazz musicians are no exception, and there are several reasons why their drug use has been almost glorified throughout various periods of history. How people are portrayed and assumed to be is often very different from how they really are, but the portrayal is….

Drums, piano, and bass all remain strictly rhythmic elements of this piece, though the latter two also provide melodic and harmonic support to this smooth yet snappy piece that is not quite a ballad yet is not nearly up-tempo enough to be considered be-bop. Johnson drives with his sticks on the drums with some liberal symbol use, and Brown keeps a steady bass line moving underneath the melody and solos provided by Gillespie and Stitt. Levy's piano is again subdued, and seems to be the weaker element of the piece and arguably of the quintet as a whole; the chords are strong and softly discordant at times in a pleasing way that all but defines jazz, yet there does not appear to be a great deal of imagination or risk in the playing. When Gillespie and Stitt sing a final verse of the popular tune, though, any detriments of….

Jazz
"Blues After Dark," Feat. Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Sonny Stitt (tenor sax), Lou Levy (piano), Ray Brown (bass), Gus Johnson (drums). In Belgium, 1958

Starting with the dueling instruments, it almost sounds like two muted trumpets, because the harmonics are intense. For a few notes, it remains that way until I see that it is not two trumpets but rather, a trumpet and a saxophone. They are playing together brilliantly.

A smooth stand up bass kicks in, with background elements that respond to the lead instruments. The bass is not playing a melody like the trumpet and saxophone are; and the bass is also not playing in unison with the tenor saxophone or the trumpet. However, the bass is working in the spot it should be working in, offering a continual walking bass line that keeps the structure of the song together throughout. Sometimes, the bass does play the same notes as the….

Jazz
Performance: "Blues After Dark," Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Sonny Stitt (tenor sax), Lou Levy (piano), Ray Brown (bass), Gus Johnson (drums). In Belgium, 1958

This dynamic performance starts rather tentatively with the trumpet and saxophone, before the band joins in earnestly. Piano, bass, and drums accompany the lead trumpet (Dizzy Gillespie) and tenor saxophone (Sonny Stitt). The introduction builds rather quickly after that, build around a central phrasing structure. There are deliberate and dynamic pauses inserted throughout, adding dimension and tension. The head or lead instruments, which remain the trumpet and saxophone, guide the jazz band. The same riff and phrase is echoed by trumpet and saxophone, as the two instruments play together in unison. The piano answers. Occasionally the piano provides a lead-in for the next measure, as if introducing the trumpet and the saxophone. The bass provides the rhythmic structure that keeps the band focused. Moreover, the bass serves to….

Jazz
"Blues After Dark," Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Sonny Stitt (tenor sax), Lou Levy (piano), Ray Brown (bass), Gus Johnson (drums). In Belgium, 1958

Style = BeBop

Role of Piano = Stride and omping

Role of the Bass = Walking

Role of the Drums = Brushing and Riding

Role of the Trumpet and Saxophone = Lead and Melody

"Blues After Dark" starts off with Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt, for a few measures only the trumpet and saxophone play before the drums, bass, and piano enter. This is a dynamic song, but it starts mellow. The brief introduction ends and the main riffs or phrases are featured soon around a central rhythmic structure. Although there are repeating elements, it is not the same two times around. Each time the trumpet and saxophone play, the effect is different. There are also pauses in the music, and silent spots throughout.

The head or lead instruments are the saxophone and the trumpet.….

Incorporating African and Latin sounds into traditional jazz seems natural. Latin jazz uses familiar percussion instruments including congo and other hand drums as well as an assertive horn section. African-influenced jazz may be heavily percussion-driven or may alternatively rely strongly on choral vocals. European jazz musicians have also transformed the art of jazz by using innovative, experimental sounds and improvisational tools. Jazz is a musical genre that is ever-changing, and yet remains driven by its roots.
Jazz may be either instrumental or vocal-driven. In the early years of jazz, vocals often featured sultry female voices such as that of Sarah Vaughan. Other vocalists like Louis Armstrong have also made indelible marks on the jazz genre. While jazz vocals are often watered-down today as in the case of Diana Krall, some artists like Tom Waits offer audiences rich and emotional experiences that hearken to the heyday of jazz music. Instrumental jazz….

This is not really a typical swing rhythm, however. Jazz musicians almost always play eighth notes straighter than that, except perhaps in the style known as the shuffle. A correct ratio for swing cannot be given precisely. Different musicians tend to interpret swing in different ways. Earlier jazz musicians tended to play with a more exaggerated swing. Some styles of jazz - especially hybrids of jazz with other forms of music - do not use swing eighth notes in this literal sense at all. For example, eighth notes in bossa nova are usually played straight. However, the slight accent on the second half of each beat, combined with other elements of jazz expression, may still convey something of a swing feel:
One of the more notable aspects of jazz in the first place, it resides within the groups seamless melding of traditional New Orleans style jazz fundamentals into playfully organized….

Surrounded by the same anti-African-American culture, both civil rights warriors and jazz pioneers faced criticism because of their association with African-Americans. Similarly, both of the movements were founded out of a desire to legitimate, or at least include, African-American contributions into American culture, to popularize the importance of African-Americans in estern, especially American, society. Finally, after their pre and early stages, both the civil rights and jazz movements blossomed into full-fledged societal revolutions of the 1940s and 1950s with significant implications for the sociological, cultural, and music worlds. The Civil Rights movement produced leaders like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King who not only advocated the importance of African-American contributions to society, but who also suggested the importance of the unification of all races across national boundaries. In much the same way, the jazz movement produced emotional music that blended African-American and traditional American music styles, producing a genre….

Both musical genres also marked a thriving underground arts scene among not only African-Americans but also European-Americans. hites became increasingly interested in and involved with both jazz and blues, and by the 1920s, jazz had especially made waves in Europe. As Kirchner points out, Eastern European folk music and some European classical music in fact shared much in common with American jazz. The acceptance of jazz in Europe came earlier than acceptance of the blues. Therefore, jazz retained a more cosmopolitan aura than the blues in the early 20th century. Even though African-American jazz musicians were treated as second-class citizens in the cities where they were born, they were on the cutting edge of the international music scene.
ith great band leaders like Duke Ellington jazz gradually became mainstream American music, changing its form for different audiences. Jazz shared instrumentation, structure, and tonality with some European music (Kirchner). Therefore, jazz….

One of the other early main influences on jazz was New Orleans music.
This music originated in the bars and brothels of New Orleans' red light
district, where many black musicians found work. This gave jazz its basic
foundation - reeds and brass tuned in the European tone scale, as well as
drums. This form of music spread throughout the Deep South, giving rise to
the first truly African American artistic culture.
If jazz was invented down south, then it was formalized up north in
New York City throughout the 1920s and 1930s during a period known as the
Harlem Renaissance, when a new generation of enlightened African Americans
began to articulate an American black identity rooted in the urban cultural
experience. It was here that jazz really started to go wild. For a form
of music in which there were no set rules, the New York musicians of the
Harlem Renaissance set out to break new ground. This would give rise….

Jazz Anecdotes delivers as promised, and provides the reader with pithy and entertaining stories of the jazz eras throughout the past century. Some of the stories are surprising, including one that includes Native American musicians who make their non-Native band members wear long black wigs. This book captures the essence of jazz culture, which extends far beyond the music. The music of course shapes the culture because it is the music that brings disparate people together. However, the disparate people that come together for the music also engage in the co-creation of unique identities that are subcultural and a bit subversive as well. The jazz scene was perceived of as being wild in the early days, even if now the jazz scene is considered more intellectual and artsy.
I appreciate the fact that the stories were about jazz scenes around the world, and not just about New Orleans, New York, or….

Jazz Live Performance Review
Live Performance Review: Roy Haynes and the Fountain of Youth Band

Summer festivals always fill the New York air with some pretty amazing music. This year's Charlie Parker music festival was definitely no exception. Some pretty big names showed up to make the festival one to remember, including the great Roy Haynes and his Fountain of Youth Band, which came to pay tribute to the bop and bebop of the Bird's era.

This year's Charlie Parker Jazz Festival signified the event's 20th anniversary, and so the line up was definitely filled with some serious all stars. The entire festival spanned several days, and included stops in both Harlem and the East Side. The particular event I attended was the concert held on August 25, 2012 at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, New York. The concert was a free event in Harlem, put on by the City Parks Foundation in….

Demonstrating her creative and vocal prowess, Ella Fitzgerald refers to Louis via vocal impressions when she sings several lines in Louis' characteristic husky low register.
Sarah Vaughan also covers a big band hit "Perdido." Vaughan is backed by a big band ensemble. Nevertheless, the singer's voice does not compete with the horn section. Her voice integrates itself perfectly with the big band backing her. Like Fitzgerald, Vaughan displays extraordinary range, flitting from one octave to the next. Her tone is rich and thick. Vaughan includes vocal flourishes such as shrieks and trills, and she does include scat at the end. Her command of "Perdido" is admirable, and she comes across as the band leader as well as the lead vocalist. Carrying the melody, Vaughan hits individual notes along a long scale as if her voice were a piano and when timing calls for it, she also inserts vocalizations as a….

The tone of Dizzie Gillespie and Sonny Sit's solos is notably more optimistic and cheerful. Dizzie Gillespie once again introduces some elements of Bebop into the context of his solos to enrich the more set harmony of the rest of the song. The end of the song actually features Dizzie Gillespie and OSnny Sitt singing along, really capturing the duet style of the song that was first introduced by the horn section.
While this is occurring, the piano plays a much faster rhythm, and is allowed to interject between the horn sections, rather than remain a silent back drop as seen in "Blues After Dark." The piano strikes sharp chords, even during the two horn solos. This sets a faster paced rhythm and lightens up the overall harmony of the song. However, the drums and bass once again take a more supportive role, allow the piano to be the center….

My favorite piece of the evening was "Light Blue." There was almost a sense of humor to the chord changes, and the way the repeated phrase always seems to end just one note short of complete. It did feel a bit repetitive at times, but this seemed like part of the fun that was written into the music and that Ellis and his quartet had in playing it. Another piece I really liked was "Monk's Mood." Though I wouldn't classify it this one as humorous at all, there is a lightness to it even as it comes across as vaguely somber. The song is like a philosophical meditation without any sense of depressiveness or angst -- just gentle wondering. Other pieces played by the quartet were "Ruby, My Dear," Epistrophy," and "Jackieing." This last was one of the most upbeat pieces of the evening, and I found myself not enjoying….