Jazz music is an expression of melody from the depth of the soul conveyed as a gospel in many unique ways. These elements combined with the free impressionistic ambiance of instrumental tones in orchestration as a foundational juxtaposition of 7th, 9th,13th chordal harmony makes this style truly unique. The essence of Jazz music is music that is upbeat, full of pizzazz ,yet laid back with style. One would never guess that this free style of music has a foundation that began with Baroque elements found in Classical music.
In some Jazz pieces, both the sharp and flat can occur simultaneously in a chord. The result of such musical experimentation can be Dissonant chords unresolved for the purpose of producing a certain sound. Depending on what tones are used the sound is either full of color, or full of tension. On the other hand, Consonance is a stable balance of harmonic tones without tension. One example of the essence of Jazz Music is the song "Route 66" with cluster of chords with dissonant tones that move from major to minor to diminished to create tonal color.
The jazz singer's magic
One style of Vocal Jazz Singers is the soulful bluesy sound with Singers such as Diane Schuur, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, Etta James, Della Reese, and more. The soulful sound of voice is the skill of ornamentation of the voice running up and down the scale with ease. Bluesy and soulful is also a depth in the range of the voice that sound as if it comes direction from the soul. There are Jazz music Virtuoso's who have the ability to do anything from vocalese to scat to ballad to fast and complex in perfection. The Jazz singers of this category are Ella Fitzgerald, Phoebe Snow, Eva Cassidy, Ernestine Anderson, Betty Carter, Cab Calloway, Sammy Davis Jr., Eddie Jefferson, Bobby McFerrin Jr., Jon Hendricks, Slim Gaillard, Rachelle Ferrell, Annie Ross, Etta Jones, Dame Cleo Laine, Sarah Vaughn, Carmen Mercedes McRae, Mabel Mercer, Nikoletta Szoke, and Nancy Wilson.
Virtuoso can croon a ballad and articulate it in a unique way. The virtuoso Jazz singer can also be strong and sassy and scat in great complexity with ease. There is no doubt that the virtuoso Jazz singer is the total embodiment of what Jazz is all about. The last type of vocalist has an ethereal appeal that seems to come out of another place with uniqueness in sound, and suitable to the world of Jazz.
The many styles of jazz
Today the contemporary gospel music uses guitars, keyboard, piano, drums and brass instruments for their sound. One can usually tell during the ballads how Jazz chord harmonies are used in the keyboard and piano. The harmony in Barbershop music like Jazz came from the African American Black gospel church community which use close four part harmony without accompaniment. This particular style of music without accompaniment is known as capella. The Mills Brothers were popular Jazz musicians who learned how this harmonization in the barbershop owned by their father.
Hard Bop-From the middle of 1950's the church's spiritual and gospel roots of African style returned to the Jazz music which assisted in the making of Rhythm and Blues. One example of this music is Davis' work titled "Walkin".
Soul Jazz- From the late 1950's, a style of music that derived from gospel and soul using the tenor saxophone, repetition with melodic groove hooks, and less intricate improvisation that occurred over the chordal harmonies. The music from the popular radio artist of the time known as Ramsey Lewis wrote "The In Crowd" a hit in 1965. Souls Jazz music signature was powerful bass lines and changing tempo of the song.
The array of Jazz music is present in the Jazz fests who played music with African elements that did not sound like Jazz music. One thing we all should look out for is the musical elements in Jazz that stand out such as the complex rhythm, and the chromatic chordal harmony or chord progressions typical for the Jazz Music.
Crazy DVD
Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) was raised to be the best bowler in the world (trained early on by his father). But a fellow bowler, Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray) and a misunderstanding with some rough punks, leaves poor Roy with the loss of his bowling hand! Not to let this get him down, he gets a prosthetic hand and becomes a traveling sales man. But it’s really all down hill for him from that night on until … One day he meets Ishmael (Randy Quaid) who’s a Quaker that sneaks away from the farm to bowl (his fellow Quakers would disown him if they knew)! Roy convinces Ishmael to let him be his trainer and he’ll make him the best bowler the world has ever seen. Reluctantly Ismael agrees to go on the road and shortly afterwards actually finds that life outside the farm is quite fun. Soon their paths cross that of Ernie McCracken who is still top ranking bowler. While Roy’s career and life have landed in the toilet bowl, Ernie is still drawing huge crowds and all the babes! They both square off for the untimate bowling championship … to see which one truly IS the champion. To find that out you’ll have to see this funny and original movie. Bill Murray is at his best, since Caddyshack. Randy Quaid makes some daring choices that really work and Woody Harrelson brings us the comdey style from “Cheers” that made him a household name!
