Jazz styles
Your text describes jazz as American music that has a simple, repetitive, poetic-musical structure. In order to create more interest, improvisation becomes a key element in jazz. Using the songs from your Listening List 6 and some tunes from the external links for this week, why are the editors correct in their assessment that jazz fits the bill as a poetic-musical structure? Use your ears to find the answer. Listen to phrasing, lyrics, and the instrumental improvisations in these numbers to find your answers. You do not have to reference every song that I have given you access to, but please work through at least three or four different numbers. Please cite these specific songs as examples, and feel free to state opinions about the tunes.
Songs from the listening list 6:
1. Scott Joplin Maple Leaf Rag CD 4: 35-39
2. Billie Holliday Billie’s Blues CD 4: 40-46
3. Ellington Take the A Train CD 4: 47-51
4. Gershwin Summertime CD 4: 52-53
5. Leonard Bernstein West Side Story CD 4: 54-62
6. George Crumb Little Black Horse CD 4: 71-73
7. John Cage Sonatas and Interludes CD 4: 74-75
8. Bright Sheng China Dreams CD 4: 76-81
9. Arvo Part Cantate Domino Canticum CD 4:89-92
10. John Adams Doctor Atomic CD 4: 93-95
Some tunes from the external link:
Louis Armstrong– All of Me
One Note Samba
Ella Fitzgerald scats One Note Samba
Miles Davis– Summertime
Modern Jazz Ensemble
