Jazz Artists and New Styles

Bebop:

At the begining of the 40's many of the young artists wanted to go beyond the swing and develop their own concepts. The saxo player, Charlie Parker, and the trompetist Dizzy Gillespie were the creators of a new jazz style called be-bop. Parker and Gillespie had the idea of creating a quick melody and then improvise the rest of the song. The harmony and the rythm were more complex and the music was not apt for dancing. The elimination of the dance floors condemmed the jazz to be a music only for hearing and not for dancing . As it was elevated to music-art, the jazz was isolated of the popular music and its audience was reduced drastically, while other styles that were less complex were created to "fill the blank".

Charlie Parker:
Charles Christopher Parker Jr. was born in Kansas in August 29 of 1920 and died in New York in March 12 of 1955. He was known as Charlie Parker and was a saxophonist and jazz composer. He was called Bird by his closest friends and he is consider as the best saxo player in the jazz history, as he was one of the most important characters in the evolution of jazz and one of the most admired and remembered musicians. He is, with Bud Powell and Dizzy Gillispie, one of the creators of the bebop. His style collides with the swing and it is based in the improvisation of the melody by the modification of the chords, creating new melodies in the same strcture. Some of his most important pieces are: Antropology, Ornithology and Scrapple from the Apple.



Fussion:

The 70's is recognized as a fussion era, in which many jazz artists mixed elements of the rock, rythm and blues and pop with their own music. Until the end of the 60's, the jazz and rock were completely appart one from the other but with the creation of the electric keyboard and the sinthcizer, the musicians enter in an era of experimentation. Miles Davis was an innovator in the bebop. cool jazz, hard bop and his own style avant garde, stablished the parameters of the fussion when he recorded In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. New groups were created and they combined the improvisation of the jazz with the strengh and rythm of rock. Some of the most recognized groups of Fussion Jazz are: Return to Forever, Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra. In 1975, this movement had a lack of artists and interpreters, but for its comercial potential it has continued until today as a mixture of instrumental pop and it recieves the inexact name of contemporary jazz or acid jazz.

Wynton Marsalis:

He represented this era begining as a trompetist inspired by Miles Davis. He found his own style by going back in time to the bebop and he adapted and interpreted in an original way the ideas of the past artists. Many of the young artists that find inspiration in Marsalis, ignore the fussion and the most important innovation of the avant garde, using only the hard bop as the base of their music. He was born in New Orleans in october 18 of 1961. He was trompetist and jazz composer. He was one of the jazz musicians that had more impact in society in the las 25 years and one f the biggest trompetists ever. He is the father of the neoclasicism in the jazz, making a classic style that was technically impecable in the swing and the modern interpretations of bebop.

It is curious that so many young musicians play with a new style that emerged before they were even born. At the mid 90's, many of this Young Lions finally began to create their own voice ans style inspired in the old ones.

The jazz history since 1920 until 1975 was a constant evolution with new styles that were replaced by others after five or ten years. In the 80's, it was acceptable to make tributes to the past sub-genres and artists in order to find inspiration.

Jazz Roots

It emerged in the XIX century in USA as a mixture of different musical genres, principally the traditional african music and some european rithms. In the XIX century, the slaves in North America find in music a new way of expression, making allussion to biblical and religious messages. This was the religious music made by the black people, and it collide with the white music to create the musical rithm known as Blues. The Blues' structure is of twelve compass, and it uses the so called blue notes which are alterations in the seventh and third notes of the scale.

Some musicians and experts in the subject afirm that it is not possible to know when exaclty the jazz emerged as a musical dgenre. The first jazz record was created in 1917, but the jazz existed at least from 20 years ago. It has also influence of the classical music, work songs, ragtime, etc. At the begining, the jazz was perfomed by non educated musicians from New Orleans. Music was an important part of the current life in this city, at least in 1890. he bands were hired to play in different kinds of parades, parties and dances. As they were non formally educated musicians, they didn't played their melodies continuelly but they have to improvise, and this was the key to create the jazz.

During the next two decades, there is no real information about the jazz. Freddie Kepard succeded Bolden, who was the first jazz musician , but he was quickly replaced by King Oliver who got the tittle of the best jazz performer in New Olreans. Even though some musicians went form New Orleans to the North, tha jazz was kept as a typical expression of this city until the First World War. In january of 1917, an agroupation of white musucians dare to call themselves as The Original Dixieland Jazz Bans (ODJB) and it recorded Darktown Strutter's Ball and Indiana for Columbia. Their music was consider too revolutionary for the time and it wasn't published, but two months later the ODJB recorded for the Victor signature Livery Stable Blues and The Original Dixieland One Step which were huge hits. As this, many other agroupations joined the jazz movement and began recording. The new genre was becoming a fashion and a hit, and for the producers, it was a new opportunity for selling. Even though the jazz's roots were black, almost a decade have to pass by before the black musicians could record their own music. In that time, people truely believed and affirm that the jazz had been created by white musicians. Later on, and until today, people supported the idea that it had bben created by black musicians and that it was a black music itself, and only the black could perform it as it should for only they had the knowledge, the feeling and even the talent to play it.

In 1920, Mamie Smith recorded the first blues, "Crazy Blues" and the jazz was replaced by this genre. Still, the jazz keep on progressing and moving on and the New Orleans Rythm Kings, one of the first agroupations that improvised alone, sounded in 1922 as if they have had a decade to make a huge progress over the ODJB.