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All
That Jazz
By Stephanie Brightharp
Didn't
your mother tell you not to sing at the table? Well at Joe's
Be-Bop Café on Navy Pier, you can sing along, clap
and still enjoy the dining experience.
Steve
Ragusi, producer and saxophonist for the jazz band Bopology, said
young people that want to get into jazz shouldn't be afraid to
participate in the live jazz experience.
"Jazz
is all about improvisation and playing or singing different notes
within the chord," Ragusi said.
Jazz
lends itself to playing notes within a chord, but there is also
the opportunity for individual artistic freedom. Perhaps this
is why the marriage of African folk music and white, mainstream
music in the late 1800s produced a lineage of tunes and tones
that crossed racial and Mason-Dixon lines. But in order to appreciate
it, you need to know a little about the historical phases that
lead to its development.
Another
tip for understanding jazz and its history, according to Daniel
Farris, Northwestern University Professor of Music, is to think
about the difference between jazz and blues.
Blues
was born in the late 1800s and was fully developed before the
birth of jazz. It is a term used to describe everyday struggles
in the lives for African Americans, according to Farris.
Blues
involves more call and response, rather than improvisation and
solos like jazz. For instance, one instrument or vocalist "hits"
a tune and then there is a reply. Blues music is generally played
using a 12-bar structure rather than a melody created around a
note in a chord like in jazz, according to Ragusi.
Ragtime,
which some call the African-American version of Polka because
of the upbeat tempo, also preceded jazz. Ragtime merged with marching
band music and blues, which was another step closer to the birth
of jazz.
In 1910 jazz was born in New Orleans with the merger of creole
and black music.
New
Orleans Dixieland combined with Ragtime in the 1920s, produced
what is now called Chicago-Style Dixieland.
In
1917 Chicago became the center of jazz after Storyville, a seductive
red-light district in New Orleans, closed.
Other
cities later claimed center stage as they moved toward a different
style, swing, in the 1930s.
Swing is the jazz style that emphasizes big bands. The largest
audiences for this style were social dancers.
Notable swing bands included people such as Count
Basie, Duke Ellington
and Glenn Miller.
Because
of influence from record labels, bands such as Glenn Miller's
were usually more "watered down," according to Michael
Kocour, a Northwestern University professor of jazz studies. The
African-American jazz musicians had more artistic freedom and
"their work was not as predictable," Kocour added.
By
the 70s the world had experienced jazz in forms such as be-bop
music, funk and fusion.
Farris
also suggests listening to an artist from different time periods,
such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
If
your appetite for jazz is growing, you will find there are thousands
of CD's to choose from if you visit the Jazz Record Mart downtown,
whose owner, Bob Koester, has been collecting rarities since 1952.
He
suggests starting with an anthology by a major label, such as
Universal Records.
For
the complete jazz shopping experience, there's a computer in the
store to start a savvy musical search. The store also has photo
exhibits of jazz greats, including rarities of album covers, and
live performances in the store.
Tips:
Tower
Records allows you to search for music by
· category such as Avant Garde or Latin Jazz
· instrument
· price
· feature such as compilation or live recording
· release date
Jazz
favorites according to a poll on all
about jazz:
· Record label: Blue Note
· Funkiest artist: Herbie Hancock
· Live album: Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard
· Greatest jazz film: "Round Midnight"
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