Jazz description. Jazz: what is (definition), the history of appearance, the birthplace of jazz

Jazz is a type of musical art that arose as a result of the synthesis of African and European cultures featuring African American folklore. Rhythm and improvisation are borrowed from African music, harmony is borrowed from European.

General information about the origins of formation

The history of jazz originates in 1910 in the USA. It quickly spread throughout the world. During the twentieth century, this direction in music underwent a number of changes. If we talk briefly about the history of the emergence of jazz, it should be noted that several stages of development were passed in the process of formation. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was greatly influenced by the swing and be-bop movements. After 1950, jazz began to be seen as a musical genre that included all the styles that it had developed as a result.

Jazz has now taken its place in the sphere high art. It is considered quite prestigious, influencing the development of world musical culture.

The history of the emergence of jazz

This direction arose in the USA as a result of the merger of several musical cultures. The history of the origin of jazz begins in North America, most of which was inhabited by English and French Protestants. Religious missionaries sought to convert blacks to their faith, caring about the salvation of their souls.

The result of the synthesis of cultures is the emergence of spirituals and blues.

African music is characterized by improvisation, polyrhythm, polymetry and linearity. A huge role here is assigned to the rhythmic beginning. The value of melody and harmony is not so significant. This is due to the fact that African music has applied value. It accompanies labor activity, rituals. African music is not independent and is associated with movement, dance, recitation. Its intonation is quite free, as it depends on the emotional state of the performers.

From European music, more rational, jazz was enriched with a modal major-minor system, melodic constructions, and harmony.

The process of unification of cultures began in the eighteenth century and led to the emergence of jazz in the twentieth century.

New Orleans school period

In the history of jazz, the first instrumental style is considered to have originated in Louisiana. For the first time this music appeared in the performance of street brass bands, very popular at that time. Of great importance in the history of the emergence of jazz in this port city was Storyville - a city area specially allocated for entertainment venues. It was here, among the Creole musicians, who had a Negro-French origin, that jazz was born. They knew light classical music, were educated, mastered the European technique of playing, played European instruments, read notes. Their high level of performance and upbringing on European traditions enriched early jazz with elements that were not subject to African influences.

The piano was also a common instrument in Storyville's establishments. Mostly improvisation sounded here, and the instrument was used more as a percussion instrument.

An example of an early New Orleans style is the Buddy Bolden Orchestra (cornet), which existed from 1895-1907. The music of this orchestra was based on the collective improvisation of a polyphonic structure. At first, the rhythm of early New Orleans jazz compositions was marching, as the origin of the bands came from military bands. Over time, secondary instruments were removed from the standard composition of brass bands. Such ensembles often organized competitions. They were also attended by "white" lineups, which were distinguished by technical play, but were less emotional.

There were a large number of orchestras that played marches, blues, ragtimes, etc.

Along with Negro orchestras, there also appeared orchestras consisting of white musicians. At first they performed the same music, but they were called "Dixielands". Later, these compositions used more elements of European technology, they change the manner of sound production.

Steamboat bands

In the history of the origin of jazz, a certain role was played by New Orleans orchestras that worked on steamboats that cruised the Mississippi River. For passengers who traveled on pleasure steamers, one of the most attractive entertainments was the performance of such orchestras. They performed entertaining dance music. For performers, a mandatory requirement was knowledge of musical literacy and the ability to read notes from a sheet. Therefore, these compositions had a fairly high professional level. In such an orchestra, jazz pianist Lil Hardin, who later became the wife of Louis Armstrong, began her career.

At the stations where the ships made stops, the orchestras organized concerts for the local population.

Some of the bands remained in cities along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers or away from them. One such city was Chicago, where blacks felt more comfortable than in South America.

big band

In the early 20s of the twentieth century, a form of big band developed in the history of jazz music, which remained relevant until the end of the 40s. The performers of such orchestras played the learned parts. The orchestration assumed the bright sound of rich jazz harmonies, which were performed by brass and the most famous jazz orchestras were the orchestras of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Jimmy Lunsford. They recorded genuine hits of swing melodies, which became a source of swing craze in a wide range of listeners. At the "battles of the orchestras" that were held at that time, big band solo improvisers drove the audience present to hysterics.

After the 50s, when the popularity of big bands declined, for several decades the famous orchestras continued to tour and record records. The music they played changed, being influenced by new directions. Today the big band is the standard of jazz education.

Chicago Jazz

In 1917, the United States enters World War I. In this regard, it was declared a city of strategic importance. It closed all entertainment venues where a large number of musicians worked. Left unemployed, they migrated en masse to the North, to Chicago. During this period, there are all the best musicians from both New Orleans and other cities. One of the brightest performers was Joe Oliver, who became famous in New Orleans. During the Chicago period, his band included famous musicians: Louis Armstrong (second cornet), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), his brother "Babby" Dodds (drums), Chicago young and educated pianist Lil Hardin. This orchestra played improvisational full-textured New Orleans jazz.

Analyzing the history of the development of jazz, it should be noted that in the Chicago period, the sound of orchestras changed stylistically. Some tools are being replaced. Performances that become stationary may allow the use of become mandatory band members. Instead of a wind bass, a double bass is used, instead of a banjo - a guitar, instead of a cornet - a trumpet. There are also changes in the drum group. Now the drummer plays on a drum set, where his possibilities become wider.

At the same time, the saxophone began to be used in orchestras.

The history of jazz in Chicago is replenished with new names of young performers, musically educated, able to read from a sheet and make arrangements. These musicians (predominantly white) did not know the real New Orleans sound of jazz, but learned it from black performers who migrated to Chicago. Musical youth imitated them, but since this did not always work out, a new style arose.

During this period, the skill of Louis Armstrong reached its peak, marking the model of Chicago jazz and securing the role of a soloist of the highest class.

In Chicago, the blues is reborn, putting forward new performers.

There is a fusion of jazz with the stage, so the vocalists begin to appear in the foreground. They create their own orchestral compositions for jazz accompaniment.

The Chicago period is characterized by the creation of a new style in which jazz instrumentalists sing. Louis Armstrong is one of the representatives of this style.

Swing

In the history of the creation of jazz, the term "swing" (translated from English - "swing") is used in two meanings. Firstly, swing is an expressive means in this music. It is distinguished by unstable rhythmic pulsation, which creates the illusion of an acceleration of the tempo. In this regard, there is an impression that music has a great internal energy. Performers and listeners are united by a common psychophysical state. This effect is achieved through the use of rhythmic, phrasing, articulatory and timbre techniques. Every jazz musician strives to develop his own original way of swinging music. The same applies to ensembles and orchestras.

Secondly, this is one of the styles of orchestral jazz that appeared in the late 20s of the twentieth century.

A characteristic feature of the swing style is solo improvisation against the background of an accompaniment that is quite complex. In this style, musicians with good technique, knowledge of harmony and mastery of techniques could work. musical development. For such music-making, large ensembles of orchestras or big bands were provided, which became popular in the 30s. The standard composition of the orchestra traditionally included 10-20 musicians. Of these - from 3 to 5 pipes, the same number of trombones, a saxophone group, which included a clarinet, as well as a rhythm section, which consisted of a piano, string bass, guitar and percussion instruments.

Bop

In the mid-40s of the twentieth century, a new jazz style was taking shape, the appearance of which marked the beginning of the history of modern jazz. This style originated as an opposition to swing. It had a very fast tempo, which was introduced by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. This was done with a specific goal - to limit the circle of performers only to professionals.

The musicians used completely new rhythmic patterns and melodic turns. The harmonic language has become more complex. The rhythmic basis from the big drum (in swing) moved to the cymbals. Any danceability has completely disappeared from the music.

In the history of jazz styles, bebop was the first to leave the sphere of popular music towards experimental creativity, to the sphere of art in its “pure” form. This happened in connection with the interest of representatives of this style in academicism.

Bopers were distinguished by outrageous appearance and demeanor, thereby emphasizing their individuality.

Bebop music was performed by ensembles of small compositions. In the foreground is the soloist with his individual style, virtuoso technique, creative thinking, mastery of free improvisation.

In comparison with swing, this direction was more highly artistic, intellectual, but less massive. It was anti-commercial. Nevertheless, bebop began to spread rapidly, it had its own wide audience of listeners.

Jazz territory

In the history of jazz, it is necessary to note the constant interest of musicians and listeners from all over the world, regardless of the country in which they live. This is due to the fact that jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and many others built their compositions on the synthesis of various musical cultures. This fact says that jazz is music understood all over the world.

To date, the history of jazz has its continuation, since the potential for the development of this music is quite large.

Jazz music in the USSR and Russia

Due to the fact that jazz in the USSR was considered a manifestation of bourgeois culture, it was criticized and banned by the authorities.

But October 1, 1922 was marked by a concert of the first professional jazz orchestra in the USSR. This orchestra performed fashionable Charleston and Foxtrot dances.

The history of Russian jazz includes the names of talented musicians: pianist and composer, as well as the head of the first jazz orchestra Alexander Tsfasman, singer Leonid Utyosov and trumpeter Y. Skomorovsky.

After the 50s, they began their active creative activity many large and small jazz ensembles, among which is Oleg Lundstrem's jazz orchestra, which has survived to this day.

Currently, Moscow hosts a jazz festival every year, in which world-famous jazz bands and solo performers take part.

HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF JAZZ

Jazz

It is unlikely that anyone will dare to explain what jazz is, since even the great man in the history of jazz, Louis Armstrong, did not do this, who said that it just needs to be understood and that's it. Indeed, jazz, its history, origin, modifications and branches are too diverse and multifaceted to give a simple exhaustive definition. But there are moments that clarify the nature of this musical direction.

Jazz arose as a combination of several musical cultures and national traditions. Initially, it arrived in its infancy from African lands, and under the influence of developed Western music and its currents (blues, reg-times) and the combination of musical African folklore with them, a style was obtained that has not died to this day - jazz.

Jazz lives in rhythm, in inconsistency, in intersections and in non-observance of tonalities and pitches of sounds. All music is built on confrontation and contradiction, but in one piece of music it all harmoniously combines and strikes with its melody, special attractiveness.

The first jazzmen, with rare exceptions, created the tradition of the jazz orchestra, where there are improvisations with sound, speed or tempo, it is possible to expand the number of instruments and performers, attracting symphonic traditions. Many jazzmen have invested their art in the development of the tradition of the art of playing jazz ensembles.

After the appearance of a brilliant performer who lived all his life in the rhythm of jazz, still remains a legend - Louis Armstrong, the art of jazz performance saw new unusual horizons for itself: vocal or instrumental solo performance becomes the center of the whole performance, completely changing ideas about jazz.

And this is where the opportunity arises to explain another feature of the jazz style: this is the unique individual performance of a jazz virtuoso, this is his performance and enjoyment by him and the listeners of music at the moment. And the key to the eternal youth of jazz is improvisation. Jazz has a spirit, but it doesn't have a skeleton to hold it all together. You can change the saxophone to the piano, or you can put down your chair and take the microphone, and if that doesn't work, then go back to the trumpet and try to play something that Armstrong and Bechet didn't play.

Jazz is not only a certain type of musical performance, it is also a unique cheerful era.

origins

The question of the birthplace of jazz is known - it's America, but where does it originate from?

Jazz emerges as a unique fusion. And one of its components, which ensured its origin, is considered to be African origin. African settlers brought their own culture, which developed against the backdrop of strong European and American influence.

The community and its rules (norms of behavior, traditions) are in the blood of those who arrived, although the connection with their ancestors is actually broken. And music, as an integral manifestation of the original culture, has become one of the links between that native African culture and a new life on another continent.

The vocal music of African Americans, spiced with rhythm and dancing, body plasticity, and clapping, has grown into a new musical subculture. African music is completely different from European models, it does not have a galaxy of instruments, it has largely retained its rituality and attachment to customs.

Origins/History of Jazz

This music of the slaves, in the end, broke the totalitarian regimes, where classical orchestras reigned, wholly obeying the will of the conductor's baton. According to the research of professor of history and American culture Penny Van Eschen, the US State Department tried to use jazz as an ideological weapon against the USSR and the expansion of Soviet influence in the third world countries. The origins of jazz are connected with the blues.

Jazz arose at the end of the 19th century as a fusion of African rhythms and European harmony, but its origins should be sought from the moment slaves were brought from Africa to the territory of the New World. The brought slaves did not come from the same clan and usually did not even understand each other. The need for consolidation led to the unification of many cultures and, as a result, to the creation of a single culture (including music) of African Americans. The processes of mixing African musical culture and European (which also underwent serious changes in the New World) took place starting from the 18th century and in the 19th century led to the emergence of "proto-jazz", and then jazz in the generally accepted sense.

Improvisation plays a fundamental role in true jazz. In addition, jazz is distinguished by syncopation (highlighting weak beats and unexpected accents) and a special drive. The last two components appear in ragtime, and then transferred to the playing of orchestras (bands), after which the word “jazz” appears to designate this new style of music-making, first spelled as “Jass”, then as “Jasz” and only since 1918 acquires mine modern look. In addition, many areas of jazz are distinguished by a special technique of performance: “rocking” or swing. The cradle of jazz was the American South and especially New Orleans. On February 26, 1917, five white musicians from New Orleans recorded the first jazz record in the New York studio of the Victor firm. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this fact: before the release of this record, jazz remained a marginal phenomenon, musical folklore, and after that it stunned all of America for several weeks. The recording belonged to the legendary "Original Dixieland Jazz Band".

Origins / Birth of Jazz

The origins of this musical direction should be sought in a mixture of African and European cultures. Oddly enough, but jazz began with Christopher Columbus himself. Of course, the great traveler and discoverer was not the first jazz performer. By opening America to Europe, Columbus marked the great beginning of the interpenetration of African and European musical traditions.

Mastering the American continent, the Europeans transported here a large number of black enemies, the number of which by 1700 exceeded more than one hundred thousand. Slaves were transported from the west coast of Africa across the Atlantic.

The Europeans could not even guess that, together with the slaves, they transported to America and the African musical culture, which is distinguished by its amazing musical rhythm. In Africa, music from time immemorial has been an indispensable component of various rituals. Musical rhythm played a colossal role here.

European culture brought harmony, minor and major standards, melody, as well as a solo melodic beginning to jazz.

singing in jazz

Jazz singing cannot be equated with singing in the general sense of the word. Initially, there was no solo voice in jazz, there was only an instrument, and only since the performances of Louis Armstrong (meaning his later work) did vocals become part of the "instrumentation" of jazzmen. But again - jazz vocals, and this is something else.

Jazz vocals must have some features, meaning the voice of the performer. Considering the basis of jazz - improvisation, the absence of rules, one must understand that the same applies to the performer's voice: the ability to expand the scope of a "regular" song, to play with the voice, it is easy to improvise, to have a good range. The performer must adhere to the jazz style of performance: phrasing and "attack".

"Scat singing" - this term appeared at the time when Louis Armstrong worked on stage, who sang the same way he played: the sounds made by his voice were very similar to the sounds made by his trumpet. Jazz vocals will begin to change and become more complex a little later, when the "bop" style comes into fashion. It's time for the "bop" sket, and the star becomes the "first lady of jazz" - Ella Fitzgerald.

If the connection between jazz and blues is not so strong, then the connection between vocals has a more obvious connection. The possibilities used to extract sounds (work of the larynx, wheezing and whispering, falsetto, etc.) of the blues were gladly accepted by the traditions of jazz.

Names of vocalists who became famous in the history of jazz for their singing: of course, the ancestor is Louis Armstrong, followed by Bing Crosby, the next one, simply called "the voice", Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole. Women have made their contribution and considerable: Bessie Smith, who was nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues", followed by the names of Billy Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, the unique singer Sarah Voen.

ORIGINS OF JAZZ AND ITS STYLES.

Introduction

Once the editor-in-chief of the most famous American jazz magazine "Down Beat", which is distributed in 124 countries of the world, was asked by a reporter during an interview: "What is jazz?" "You've never seen a man so quickly caught in the act by such a simple question!" the editor later said. In contrast, some other jazz figure, as an answer to the same question, could tell you about this music for two hours or more, without explaining anything specifically, since in reality there is still no accurate, short and at the same time same time for a complete and objective definition of the word and the very concept of "jazz".

But there is a huge difference between the music of King Oliver and Miles Davis, Benny Goodman and the Modern Jazz Quartet, Stan Kenton and John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Dave Brubeck. Many components and the very constant development of jazz over 100 years have led to the fact that even yesterday's set of its exact characteristics cannot be fully applied today, and tomorrow's formulations can be diametrically opposed (for example, for dixieland and bebop, swing big band and combo jazz rock).

Difficulties in defining jazz are also. in the fact that they always try to solve this problem directly and say a lot of words about jazz with little result. Obviously, it could be solved indirectly by defining all those characteristics that surround this music world in society, and then it will be easier to understand what is in the center. At the same time, the question "What is jazz?" is replaced by "What is meant by jazz?". And here we find that this word has a variety of meanings for different people. Each person fills this lexical neologism with a certain meaning at his own discretion.

There are two categories of people who use this word. Some people love jazz, while others are not interested in it. Most jazz lovers have a very broad use of the word, but none of them can determine where jazz begins and ends, because everyone has their own opinion on this matter. They can find a common language among themselves, however, each is convinced of his rightness and knowledge of what jazz is, without going into details. Even professional musicians themselves, who live jazz and perform it regularly, give very different and vague definitions of this music.

The endless variety of interpretations does not give us any chance to come to a single and indisputable conclusion about what jazz is from a purely musical point of view. Nevertheless, a different approach is possible here, which in the 2nd half of the 50s was proposed by the world-famous musicologist, president and director of the New York Institute for Jazz Studies, Marshall Stearns (1908-1966), who invariably enjoyed unlimited respect in jazz circles in all countries of the Old and the New World. In his excellent textbook book "History of Jazz", first published in 1956, he defined this music from a purely historical point of view.

Stearns wrote: "First of all, wherever you hear jazz, it is always much easier to recognize than to describe in words. But at the very first approximation, we can define jazz as semi-improvisational music that arose as a result of 300 years of mixing in North American soil of two great musical traditions - Western European and West African - i.e. the actual fusion of white and black culture.And although the European tradition played a predominant role here musically, but those rhythmic qualities that made jazz so characteristic, unusual and easily recognizable music, undoubtedly, lead its origin from Africa. Therefore, the main components of this music are European harmony, Euro-African melody and African rhythm."

But why did jazz originate in North America, and not South or Central, where there were also enough whites and blacks? After all, when they talk about the birthplace of jazz, America is always called its cradle, but at the same time, they usually mean just the modern territory of the United States. The fact is that if the northern half of the American continent was historically inhabited mainly by Protestants (English and French), among whom there were many religious missionaries seeking to convert blacks to the Christian faith, then in the southern and central part of this vast continent Catholics (Spanish and the Portuguese), who looked upon black slaves simply as draft animals, not caring about saving their souls. Therefore, there could not have been a significant and sufficiently deep interpenetration of races and cultures, which in turn had a direct impact on the degree of preservation of the native music of African slaves, mainly in the field of their rhythm. Until now, in the countries of South and Central America, there are pagan cults, held secret rituals and rampant carnivals accompanied by Afro-Cuban (or Latin American) rhythms. It is not surprising that it is precisely in this rhythmic respect that the southern part of the New World has already significantly influenced the entire world of popular music in our time, while the North has given something else to the treasury of modern musical art, for example, spirituals and blues.

Therefore, Stearns continues, in the historical aspect, jazz is a synthesis obtained in the original from 6 principal sources. These include:

1. Rhythms of West Africa;

2. Work songs (work songs, field hollers);

3. Negro religious songs (spirituals);

4. Negro secular songs (blues);

5. American folk music of past centuries;

6. Music of minstrels and street brass bands.

1. The origins of jazz

The first forts of white people in the Gulf of Guinea on the coast of West Africa arose already in 1482. Exactly 10 years later, a significant event took place - the discovery of America by Columbus. In 1620, the first black slaves appeared on the modern territory of the United States, who were conveniently transported by ship across the Atlantic Ocean from West Africa. Over the next hundred years, their number grew there already to one hundred thousand, and by 1790 this number had increased 10 times.

If we say "African Rhythm" then we must keep in mind, of course, that West African blacks have never played "jazz" as such - we are talking just about rhythm as an integral part of their existence in their homeland, where it was represented by a ritual "choir of drums" with its complex polyrhythm and many others. But the slaves could not take any musical instruments with them to the New World, and for the first time in America they were even forbidden to make homemade drums, samples of which much later could only be seen in ethnographic museums. In addition, no one of people of any skin color is born with a ready sense of rhythm, it's all about traditions, i.e. in the continuity of generations and the environment, therefore, Negro customs and rituals were preserved and transmitted in the United States exclusively orally and from memory from generation to generation of African-American Negroes. As Dizzy Gillespie said: “I don’t think that God can give someone anything more than others if they find themselves in the same conditions. You can take any person, and if you put him in the same environment then his life path will definitely be similar to ours."

Jazz arose in the United States as a result of the synthesis of numerous elements of the resettled musical cultures of the peoples of Europe, on the one hand, and African folklore, on the other. These cultures had fundamentally different qualities. African music is improvisational in nature, it is characterized by a collective form of music-making with a strong polyrhythm, polymetry and linearity. The most important function in it is the rhythmic beginning, rhythmic polyphony, from which the effect of cross-rhythm arises. The melodic, and even more so the harmonic principle, is developed to a much lesser extent in African music-making than in European music. Music for Africans is more of an applied value than for a European. It is often associated with labor activity, with rituals, including worship. The syncretism of different types of art affects the nature of music-making - it does not perform independently, but in conjunction with dance, plasticity, prayer, recitation. In an excited state of Africans, their intonation is much more free than that of Europeans chained to a normalized scale. In African music, the question-answer form of singing (call & response) is widely developed.

For its part, European music has made a rich contribution to the future synthesis: melodic constructions with a leading voice, modal major-minor standards, harmonic possibilities and much more. In general, relatively speaking, African emotionality, an intuitive beginning collided with European rationalism, which is especially manifested in the musical policy of Protestantism.

2. "Third Current"

The term "third stream" was coined by the critic John Wilson. He outlined an alternative, or rather, options for the synthesis of the first and second currents, i.e. academic music and jazz. This direction was formed in the 50s and is not associated with a specific style. The experimental works of various musicians captured sympho-jazz, jazz-rock, and avant-garde trends.

Jazz, as one of the most original types of musical arts of the 20th century, gradually began to conquer the whole world and, in the end, acquired an international character. This happened primarily due to the fact that his composers and performers in their work often turned to the music of other countries and peoples - Indian, South American, Arabic and, of course, to their own folklore. The most important source of inspiration for jazzmen in search of new directions for the evolution of their genre was also the best examples of European classical music and its somewhat more popular varieties.

Historical contacts with jazz by classical composers are well known, and dozens of famous names could be mentioned here as an example (these are Dvorak, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, Honegger, Krenek, as well as Copland, Gershwin and Bernstein), but their attempts were guided by the desire to bring only individual elements of jazz into the academic music scene. Conversely, there are many experimental works on the part of interested jazzmen who tried to apply certain principles of symphonic development and use the original principles of classical music in their jazz scores.

In different decades, such experiments sometimes even led to the emergence of new, if not styles, then, in any case, independent branches on the genealogical tree of jazz history - for example, in the 20s it was "symphonic jazz" (Paul Whiteman, who wanted "make a lady out of jazz"), in the 40s - "progressive" (Stan Kenton), and in the 60s - "third trend".

The "Third Current" is mentioned precisely in jazz history, because it was then that jazzmen, and not classics, came to it from their side. It was an experimental direction of modern jazz, whose representatives tried to create detailed works for mixed ensembles of orchestras, which included both academic performers and jazz improvisers.

The compositions of the "third current" are characterized by a more organic fusion of European composing technique with jazz traditions. The most prominent representatives of this trend in the United States were musicians and composers Günther Schuller, John Lewis (leader of the Modern Jazz Quartet), Gary McFarland, Jimmy Giuffrey and others.

Known, for example, are the joint performances (and recordings) of Duke Ellington with the orchestras of La Scala and the London Symphony. This combination gives rise to new harmonic and instrumental nuances, resulting in, so to speak, modern "intellectual music". It has a classical approach to the theme, but at its core it remains very jazzy. It is quite possible to synthesize these two components in one type of music, close both to jazz (freedom of improvisation, feeling of swing, freshness of new timbres), and to the technique of "serious" compositions (techniques from the field of 12-tone music, polyphony, polytonality, polyrhythm, general thematic evolution, etc.).

Dave Brubeck made a significant contribution to the third movement with compositions for jazz quartet and symphony orchestra. The tradition of combining the symphony orchestra and jazz ensemble or even the orchestra continues with Wynton Marsalis and his Lincoln Center Orchestra.

3. Modern blues. Big bands of the post-swing era

Historically, the blues gradually penetrated into large industrial centers and quickly gained popularity there. It established the characteristic features inherited from the music of African Americans, and clearly defined the 12-bar form (as the most typical) and determined the harmonic accompaniment based on the blues mode. Among the most famous jazz blues performers in the 50s and 60s. were Jimmy Rushing (1903-1972) and Joe Williams (1918-1999).

In the late 40's and early 50's, a new variety arose - "rhythm and blues" - it was an urban modification of the classic blues, which became widespread in the black areas of the largest US cities. Using the basic melodic and harmonic means of the blues, "rnb" is distinguished by a significant increase in instrumental accompaniment, an expressive manner of performance, faster tempos, a clearly defined rhythm and an energetic beat, which is achieved in the form of alternating massive and booming beats on 1 and 3 beats of the measure with a dry and abrupt accent on beats 2 and 4. The performance is characterized by unrelenting emotional tension, loud sound, emphasis on "blues notes", frequent transitions of the vocalist to falsetto, maximum intensity (pressure, "drive") of the sound accompaniment and is built on the antiphon of short "riffs" of the singer and accompaniment.

Until the end of the 40s. "rnb" in "live" sound and on records (in a series of so-called "racial records") was known mainly only to the Negro population in large industrial cities. The favorites of this direction in those years were saxophonists Louis Jordan and Earl Bostic, guitarists "T-Bone" Walker and Muddy Waters, pianists Jay McShann and somewhat later Ray Charles, vocalist Big Joe Turner.

However, in the early 1950s, interest in this rhythmic music appeared among whites as well. Gradually there was a growing demand for "r'n'b" pieces from white youth, and a number of musicians turned to this direction, and they became active promoters of "rnb" in those years, which then revolutionized popular music and led to the emergence of rock and roll. When white guitarist Bill Haley recorded the famous rhythm and blues number "Rock Around the Clock" with his band on April 12, 1954, the release date of this recording has since been considered the birthday of "rock and roll", and this theme itself - his anthem.

In those years, white disc jockey Alan Freed (1922-1965) appeared at a Cleveland radio station and began to regularly air recordings of "rhythm and blues" artists, and it can now be said that Freed is almost solely responsible for changing the whole course. American popular music. It was he who brought the Negro writers and artists "rhythm and blues" from behind the racial curtain and introduced them to a wide audience of white teenagers. In a fit of inspiration, he called these recordings "rock 'n' roll" and popularized the term among the youth of the world.

This adapted version of "rnb" was reduced to three main chords, a few simple electric guitar "riffs" and a heavy, monotonous beat with heavy accents on beats 2 and 4 (ie the "off beat"). However, the harmony of "rock and roll" was still based on the 12-bar blues scheme, so his main merit was that he approved in the mass musical consciousness of white Americans, and after them Europeans, the fundamental concept of blues. , which has a huge potential for the development of rhythm, melody and harmony. The blues not only revived popular music in general, but also changed its former "white" European orientation and opened the door to a wide stream of innovations and borrowings from musical cultures of other parts of the globe, for example, Latin American music.

Difficult economic conditions after the Second World War, changes in the interests of the public and managers radically affected many big bands of the swing era. Most of them are gone forever. However, in the early 1950s, a revival of the genre began. With difficulty, but the orchestras of Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and a little later, Duke Ellington's orchestra were restored. The public again wanted to listen to pre-war hits. Despite a significant renewal of the line-ups and the arrival of young musicians, the leaders, indulging the desire of the listeners, restored the old repertoire. Of these three pillars of the swing era, only Duke Ellington was on the path to change. This concerned his extensive use of the suite form, which began during the war years. Large-scale suites with program content appeared in his repertoire. A significant step was the creation of "Concerts of Sacred Music" (1965-66) for the orchestra, choir, soloists and dancer. Vibraphonist Lionel Hampton's big band continued energetically saturated performances, focused primarily on the musicality and charm of their leader.

Gradually, part of the orchestras turned into memorial formations that support established traditions. These include the Glenn Miller Orchestra, who died in 1944, the Count Basie Orchestra, which exists under the same name after the leader's death in 1984, led by Mercer Ellington (Duke's son), and later by his grandson Paul Mercer Ellington, the Duke Ellington Orchestra (d. . 1974).

Progressive orchestras gradually lost the spirit of experimentation and acquired a relatively standard repertoire. The orchestras of Woody Herman and Stan Kenton, having produced the most interesting soloists, passed the baton to younger colleagues. Among them, it is necessary to note the bands that created a new sound based on bright arrangements, polystylistics, a new use of the sound of brass instruments, primarily pipes. The bands of trumpeters Maynard Fergusson and Don Ellis became such centers of progress in orchestral sound in the 60s. A consistent movement in the chosen direction took place in the creative laboratory of one of the founders of the cool, Gil Evans. His own performances, recordings with Miles Davis at the turn of the 50s - 60s, further experiments with modal music and elements of jazz-rock in the 70s were an important individual trend in jazz history.

In the 70s, a powerful impetus to the band movement was given by an orchestra assembled from young and very strong musicians of the New York jazz scene by trumpeter Thad Jones, a former member of the Basie band, and drummer Mel Louis, who played in the orchestra Stan Kenton. For a decade, this band was considered the best, thanks to the magnificent modern arrangements and the high level of instrumentalists. The orchestra broke up due to Jones moving to Denmark, but for a long time Mel Louis tried to support him in collaboration with trombonist and arranger Bob Brookmeier. In the 1980s, the first place in the world hierarchy was occupied by a band created by Japanese pianist and arranger Toshiko Akiyoshi together with her husband, saxophonist Lou Tabakin. This orchestra is unusual in that it was created by a woman, it performs mainly her works, but continues to follow American orchestral traditions. In 1985, the orchestra was disbanded, and Akiyoshi organized a new band called "Toshiko Akiyoshi's New York Jazz Orchestra".

In the 90s, the big band genre did not dry out, but, perhaps, strengthened. At the same time, the range of orchestral style expanded. The conservative wing, in addition to the memorial orchestras, is represented by the Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by one of the jazz musicians most favored by officialdom, the talented trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis. This orchestra is trying to follow the line of Duke Ellington to create works large form and programmatic. More diverse is the work of a very strong and more modern orchestra named after Charles Mingus (The Mingus Big Band). This band attracts creative musicians. More radical ideas are espoused by various "workshops" that have a temporary character, and diverse bands that profess more avant-garde ideas. Among such orchestras are bands of Sam Rivers (Sam Rivers), George Gruntz (George Gruntz), numerous European conglomerates.

4. Hardbop. funky

In contrast to the refinement and coolness of the cool style, the rationality of the progressive on the East Coast of the United States, young musicians in the early 50s continued to develop the seemingly already exhausted bebop style. The growth of self-awareness of African Americans, characteristic of the 50s, played a significant role in this trend. Attention was again drawn to maintaining fidelity to African American improvisational traditions. At the same time, all the achievements of bebop were preserved, but many cool achievements were added to them both in the field of harmony and in the field of rhythmic structures. Musicians of the new generation, as a rule, had a good musical education. This trend, called "hardbop", turned out to be very numerous. It included trumpeters Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown (Clifford Brown), Donald Byrd (Donald Byrd), pianists Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, drummer Art Blakey (Art Blakey), saxophonists Sonny Rollins (Sonny Rollins), Hank Mobley ( Hank Mobley), Cannonball Adderley, bassist Paul Chambers and many others.

For the development of a new style, another technical innovation was significant, which consisted in the appearance of long-playing records. Now you can record long solos. For musicians, this has become a temptation and a difficult test, since not everyone is able to fully and succinctly speak out for a long time. Trumpeters were the first to take advantage of these advantages, modifying Dizzy Gillespie's style to a more calm but deep playing. The most influential were Fats Navarro and Clifford Brown (both fate took too short a life path). These musicians focused not on virtuoso high-speed passages in the upper register, but on thoughtful and logical melodic lines.

The musical complexity reached, for example, by Art Blakey, who used complex rhythmic structures, did not lead to the loss of jazz, emotional spirituality. The same applies to the new shaping in Horace Silver's improvisations or in the polyrhythmic figurations in Sonny Rollins' solo. The music took on a sharpness, acrimony and a new dimension of swing. A special role in the development of hardbop was played by Art Blakey, who created the Jazz Messengers ensemble in 1955. This composition played the role of a school in which the talent of numerous representatives of this direction was revealed and flourished. Among them are pianists Bobby Timmons and Horace Silver, saxophonists Benny Golson, Hank Mobley, trumpeters Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham, Wynton Marsalis and many others. "Jazz Messengers" in one form or another still exist, having outlived their leader (1993).

Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins occupies a special place in the galaxy of hard bop musicians. His style evolved from the Parker lines and broad tone of Coleman Hawkins, and innovation is associated with his temperament and spontaneity as an improviser. It is characterized by a special freedom in the use of harmonic material. In the mid-1950s, Rollins drew attention to the peculiarities of his phrasing, which is a magnificent polyrhythmic figures, tearing apart the harmonic material coming from the theme. In his melodic improvisations, harshness of sound, musical sarcasm appears.

Part of the music that emerged during the "hard bop" period naturally absorbed the blues, used in a slow or medium tempo with a special expression, based on a pronounced beat. This style was called "funky" (funky). The word is slang and means an intensifying definition of a sharp, pungent smell or taste. In jazz, it is synonymous with mundane, "real" music. The appearance of this branch is not accidental. In the 50s, there was a departure from the old Negro essence of jazz in jazz, and the weakening of jazz idioms became noticeable. It became increasingly difficult to determine what kind of music should be perceived as jazz. Jazz musicians experimented with folklore different peoples, they were attracted by impressionism and atonalism, they began to get involved in early music. Not all of these processes were convincing enough. A number of musicians turned to compositions heavily spiced with the sound of traditional blues and religious chants. Initially, the religious element was more decorative than functional. Sometimes the old-fashioned cries of the cotton fields played the role of an introduction to quite traditional bebop figures. Sonny Rollins shows signs of this style, but its most striking expression can be found in pianist Horace Silver, who created the funky blues. The sincerity of his music was reinforced by the religious motives that guided the musician.

From the funky style, the figure of Charles Mingus grew - a double bassist, composer and bandleader, a musician who does not fit into the framework of a certain style. Mingus set himself the task of evoking very specific emotional sensations in the listener. At the same time, the load was distributed between the composition itself and the musicians, who had to improvise, experiencing precisely these emotions. Mingus may well be included in a very small category of jazz composers. He himself considered himself a follower of Duke Ellington and turned to the same area of ​​​​African-American culture, religiosity, mysticism - an area that requires the use of funky techniques..

5. Free Jazz

In the early 60s, the next round of development of jazz styles was due, to a large extent, to the strengthening of the racial self-awareness of Negro musicians. Among the youth of that time, this process was expressed in very radical forms, including jazz, which has always been an outlet in the culture of African Americans. In music, this again manifested itself in the desire to abandon the European component, to return to the root sources of jazz. In the new jazz, black musicians turned to non-Christian religions, primarily to Buddhism and Hinduism. On the other hand, this time is characterized by the emergence of waves of protest, social instability, independent of skin color (hippie movement, anarchism, passion for oriental mysticism). The “free jazz” that appeared at that time made a sharp turn away from the main way of jazz development, from the mainstream. The combination of the fullness of spiritual and aesthetic experiences with a fundamentally new approach to the organization of musical material completely fenced off the new jazz from the sphere of popular art. It was a dramatic acceleration of a process that had been started by the boppers.

Dixieland and swing stylists created melodic improvisations, bebop, cool and hardbop musicians followed chord structures in their solos. Free jazz was a radical departure from previous styles, since in this style the soloist is not obliged to follow a given direction or build a form in accordance with known canons, he can go in any unpredictable direction. Initially, the main aspiration of the leaders of free jazz was a destructive focus on rhythm, structure, harmony, melody. The main thing for them was the ultimate expressiveness, spiritual nakedness, ecstasy. The first experiences of new jazz musicians Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler did not break the ties with mainstream norms. The first free-jazz recordings still appeal to harmonic laws. However, gradually this process reaches the extreme point of breaking with tradition. When Ornette Coleman fully introduced free jazz to New York audiences (though Cecil Taylor was known before and quite well), many of the bebop musicians and jazz connoisseurs came to the conclusion that this music could not be considered not only jazz, but also actually music. Thus, former radicals became conservatives in less than 15 years.

One of the first destroyers of the canons was Cecil Taylor, who at the time of his majority was a very trained musician. He graduated from the conservatory, knew jazz well and thought about applying the principles of composer music to the improvisational process. By 1956, together with saxophonist Steve Lacy, he managed to release a record containing some ideas of new jazz. In much the same way, emanating largely from Thelonious Monk, pianist and composer Herbie Nichols, who died early, walked at this time. Despite the difficulty of accepting music that does not contain the usual reference points, Cecil Taylor becomes a well-known figure already in 1958, which was facilitated by his performances at the Five Spot club.

Unlike Taylor, another founder of free jazz, Ornette Coleman, had a long history of performing and yet never played "correctly". Perhaps Coleman, without realizing it, was formed as a master of primitivism. This, in turn, gave him the basis for an easy transition to non-standard music, which he carried out together with a trumpeter who played the pocket trumpet - Don Cherry. The musicians were lucky; double-bassist Red Mitchell and pianist John Lewis, who had weight in the musical environment, became interested in them. In 1959 the musicians released the disc "Something Else!!" and received an engagement in "Five Spot". A milestone for the New Jazz was the disc recorded by Ornette Coleman's double line-up "Free Jazz" in 1960.

Free jazz often intersects with other avant-garde movements, which, for example, can use its form and sequence of rhythmic structures. Since its inception, free jazz has remained the property of a small number of people and is usually found in the underground, however, it has a very strong influence on the modern mainstream. Despite the total denial, a certain normativity has developed in free jazz, which makes it possible to distinguish it from other new jazz trends. These conventions concern the general plan of the piece, the interaction of musicians, rhythmic support and, of course, the emotional plan. It should be noted that an old form of collective improvisation has reappeared in free jazz. It has become characteristic of free jazz to work with an "open form" that is not tied to specific structures. This approach began to appear among musicians who are not purely free jazz - such, for example, are Keith Jarrett's spontaneous improvisations at his solo concerts.

The refusal of "new jazz" from European musical norms led to a huge interest in non-European cultures, mainly eastern ones. John Coltrane was very serious about Indian music, Don Cherry - Indonesian and Chinese, Farow Sanders - Arabic. Moreover, this orientation is not superficial, decorative, but very deep, with the desire to understand and absorb the whole character of not only the corresponding music, but also its aesthetic and spiritual environment.

Free jazz idioms have often become an integral part of polystylistic music. One of the most striking manifestations of this approach is the work of a band of Chicago black musicians who began performing in the 60s under the auspices of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Later, these musicians (Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Rascoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors, Don Moye) created the "Chicago Art Ensemble", preaching a variety of styles from African ritual spells and gospels to free jazz. The other side of the same process appears in the work of clarinetist and saxophonist Anthony Braxton, closely associated with the "Chicago Art Ensemble". His music is both free and intellectual. Sometimes Braxton uses mathematical principles for his compositions, such as group theory, but this does not reduce the emotional impact of his music. Disputes about the possibility of music of this kind do not subside to this day. Thus, the official authority of the American jazz establishment, Wynton Marsalis, contemptuously calls Braxton a "good chess player", while at the same time, in the polls of the American Association of Jazz Journalists, Marsalis takes the next line after Braxton in the nomination of jazz composers.

It should be noted that by the beginning of the 1970s, interest in free jazz began to capture the creative musicians of Europe, who often combined its principles of "freedom" with the developments of European musical practice of the 20th century - atonality, serial technique, aleatoric, sonoristics, etc. On the other hand, On the other hand, some leaders of free jazz are moving away from extreme radicalism and, in the 80s, are moving towards some compromise, albeit original versions of music. Among them are Ornette Coleman with the Prime Time project, Archie Shepp and others.

6. Development of fusion: jazz-rock. Fusion. ECM. world jazz

The original definition of "jazz rock" was the clearest: combining jazz improvisation with the energy and rhythms of rock music. Until 1967, the worlds of jazz and rock existed almost separately. But by this time, rock becomes more creative and more complex, psychedelic rock, soul music appears. At the same time, some jazz musicians became bored with pure hardbop, but they also did not want to play avant-garde music that was difficult to perceive. As a result, the two different idioms began to exchange ideas and join forces. Starting in 1967, guitarist Larry Coryell, vibraphonist Gary Burton, in 1969 drummer Billy Cobham with the group "Dreams", which played the Brecker Brothers (Brecker Brothers), began to master new expanses of style. By the end of the 60s, Miles Davis had the potential to transition to jazz-rock. He was one of the creators of modal jazz, on the basis of which, using the 8/8 rhythm and electronic instruments, Miles takes a new step by recording the albums "Bitches Brew", "In a Silent Way". Along with him at this time is a brilliant galaxy of musicians, many of whom later become the fundamental figures of this direction - John McLaughlin (John McLaughlin), Joe Zawinul (Joe Zawinul), Herbie Hancock. Asceticism, conciseness, and philosophical contemplation characteristic of Davis turned out to be most welcome in the new style. By the early 1970s, jazz-rock had its own distinct identity as a creative jazz style, though derided by many jazz purists. The main groups of the new direction were "Return To Forever", "Weather Report", "The Mahavishnu Orchestra", various Miles Davis ensembles. They played high-quality jazz-rock, which combined a huge set of techniques from both jazz and rock.

Fusion

The most interesting compositions of jazz-rock are characterized by improvisation, combined with compositional solutions, the use of harmonic and rhythmic principles of rock music, the active embodiment of the melody and rhythm of the East, the powerful introduction of electronic means of processing and synthesizing sound into music. In this style, the range of application of modal principles has expanded, the set of various modes, including exotic ones, has expanded. In the 70s, jazz-rock became incredibly popular, the most active musical forces came into it. More developed in relation to the synthesis of various musical means, jazz-rock was called "fusion" (alloy, fusion). An additional impulse for "fusion" was another (not the first in the history of jazz) nod towards European academic music. In fact, at this stage, fusion continues the line of the "third current" of the 50s.

The combination of various cultural influences is evident even in the compositions of the most interesting ensembles. A notable example is the "Weather Report", directed by the early Americanized Austrian keyboardist Joseph Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, each of whom different time Went through the Miles Davis School. The ensemble united musicians from Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Peru. In the future, instrumentalists and vocalists from almost all over the world began to cooperate with Zawinul. In the successor of "Weather Report", the "Syndicat" project, the geography of musicians extends from Tuva to South America.

Unfortunately, over time, jazz-rock to a large extent acquires the features of commercial music, on the other hand, rock itself refuses many of the creative discoveries made in the mid-1970s. In many cases, fusion actually becomes a combination of jazz with regular pop and light rhythm and blues; crossover. Fusion music's ambitions of musical depth and empowerment remain unfulfilled, although the search continues on rare occasions, such as in bands like "Tribal Tech" and Chick Corea's ensembles.

electric jazz

The use of electronic sound converters and synthesizers has proved to be extremely attractive for musicians who are primarily on the border with rock or commercial music. In fact, there are relatively few fruitful examples in the general mass of electric music. So, for example, Joe Zawinul in the project "Weather Report" has achieved a very effective fusion of ethnic and tonal elements. Herbie Hancock for a long time becomes an idol not so much of the public as of musicians, using synthesizers, numerous keyboards and various kinds of electronic tricks in the 70s and 80s. In the 90s, this area of ​​music is increasingly moving into the non-jazz sphere. This is facilitated by enhanced computer creation music, which, with certain merits and opportunities, loses touch with the main jazz quality - improvisation.

A separate niche in the community of jazz styles from the beginning of the 70s was occupied by the German company ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music - Publishing House contemporary music), which gradually became the center of an association of musicians who professed not so much an attachment to the African-American origin of jazz as the ability to solve a wide variety of artistic tasks, not limiting themselves to a certain style, but in line with the creative improvisational process. Over time, however, a certain face of the company was developed, which led to the separation of the artists of this label into a large-scale and pronounced stylistic direction. The orientation of the founder of the label Manfred Eicher (Manfred Eicher) to combine various jazz idioms, world folklore and new academic music into a single impressionistic sound made it possible to claim depth and philosophical understanding of life values ​​using these means.

The Oslo-based main recording studio of the firm is obviously correlated with the leading role in the catalog of Scandinavian musicians. First of all, these are the Norwegians Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen, Nils Petter Molvaer, Jon Christensen. However, the geography of ECM covers the entire world. Here are the Europeans John Surman, Dave Holland, Eberhard Weber, Rainer Bruninghaus, Tomasz Stanko, Mikhail Alperin and representatives of non-European cultures Egberto Gismonti , Zakir Hussain, Flora Purim, Trilok Gurtu, Nana Vasconcelos, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Anouar Brahem and many others. The American Legion is no less representative - Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Don Cherry, Charles Lloyd, Ralph Towner, Dewey Redman (Redman Dewey), Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie ( John Abercrombie, Leo Smith. The initial revolutionary impulse of the company's publications turned over time into a meditatively detached sound. open forms with carefully polished sound layers. Aicher naturally crossed that invisible line that separated numerous attempts to combine jazz and academic European music. This is no longer a third trend, but just a flow that smoothly flows into the "New Series" of ECM with academic music, very close in spirit to jazz releases. The direction of the label's policy outside the boundaries of popular culture, however, has led to an increase in the popularity of this kind of music, which can be seen as a kind of paradox. Some mainstream adherents deny the path chosen by the musicians of this direction; however, jazz, as a world culture, develops in spite of these objections, and gives very impressive results.

world jazz

"World Jazz" (World Jazz) is a strange-sounding Russian term that refers to the fusion of Third World music, or "World Music", with jazz. This very branched direction can be divided into several types.

Ethnic music, which included jazz improvisations, such as Latin jazz. In this case, sometimes only the solo is improvised. The accompaniment and composition are essentially the same as in ethnic music itself;

Jazz, which included limited aspects of non-Western music. Examples are Dizzy Gillespie's old "Night in Tunisia" recordings, the music on some Keith Jarrett quartet and quintet LPs released in the 1970s on the Impulse! label, using somewhat altered Middle Eastern instrumentation and similar harmonic techniques. This includes some of Sun Ra's music from the 50's to the 90's which incorporates African rhythms, some of Yusef Lateef's recordings using traditional Islamic instruments and techniques;

New musical styles emerging from the organic ways of combining jazz improvisation with original ideas and instruments, harmonies, composing techniques and rhythms of an existing ethnic tradition. The result is original, and it clearly reflects the essential aspects of ethnicity. Examples of this approach are numerous and include the Don Cherry, Codona and Nu ensembles; some of the music of John McLaughlin from the 70s to the 90s, based on the traditions of India; some of the music of Don Ellis of the 70s, who borrowed ideas from the music of India and Bulgaria; the work of Andy Narell in the 90s, who mixed the music and instruments of Trinidad with improvisations of jazz and funk.

"World Fusion Jazz" is not the first time this path has been taken in the history of jazz, and the trend itself is not exclusive to American jazz. For example, Polynesian music was mixed with Western pop styles in the early twentieth century, and its sound emerged from some of the earliest jazz musicians. Caribbean dance rhythms became a significant part of American pop culture throughout the twentieth century, and because jazz musicians often improvised on pop themes, they intermingled almost continuously. Django Reinhardt combined the traditions of gypsy music, French impressionism with jazz improvisation back in the 30s in France. The list of musicians active in the border area may include hundreds and thousands of names. Among them, for example, such different people as Al DiMeola (Al DiMeola), the group "Dead Can Dance", Joe Zawinul, the group "Shakti", Lakshminarayana Shankar (Lakshminarayana Shankar), Paul Winter (Paul Winter), Trilok Gurtu and many other.

7. Pop - jazz : funk, acid jazz, crossover, smooth jazz

Funk

Modern funk refers to the popular jazz styles of the 70s and 80s, in which accompanists play in the style of black pop soul and funk music, while extensive solo improvisations are more creative and jazzy in nature. Instead of using the rich and accumulated set of jazz idioms from the arsenal of modern jazz saxophonists (Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman), most saxophonists of this style use their own set of simple phrases, which consist of bluesy shouts and moans. They build on a tradition carried over from saxophone solos in R&B vocal recordings like King Curtis on the Coastrs, Junior Walker with Motown vocal groups, David Sanborn Sanborn) with "Blues Band" by Paul Butterfield (Paul Butterfield). A prominent figure in the genre is Grover Washington, Jr., who often played Hank Crawford-style solos with funk-like accompaniment. This is how he looks on his most famous recordings, although Washington is capable of playing music in other styles of jazz. Members of The Jazz Crusaders, Felder Wilton and Joe Sample achieved widespread popularity by changing their repertoire during the 1970s and removing the word "jazz" from the band's name. Much of the music of Michael Brecker, Tom Scott and their students takes this approach, although they might as well play in the styles of John Coltrane or Joe Henderson. "Najee", Richard Elliott (Richard Elliott) and their contemporaries also work in the style of "modern funk". Between 1971 and 1992, Miles Davis led ensembles playing a complex variety of this style, although the saxophonists in his bands were influenced by John Coltrane, and his guitarists showed modern jazz thinking along with influences from Jimy Hendrix. A lot of modern funk can also be classified as "crossover".

acid jazz

Many consider the late compositions of Miles Davis to be the ancestor of this direction. The term "acid jazz" ("acid jazz") has been assigned to one of the types of light jazz music, mainly a dance genre, united by the fact that it is partly played by "live" musicians, and the rest is taken either in a sampled form or in the form of sounds, for which are obtained using records, most often old, vinyl magpies, which are produced for discos. The musical result can be of any style, however, with a changed sound. More preferable for these purposes is radical "punk-jazz", "soul", "fusion". Acid jazz also has a more radical avant-garde wing, such as the work of British guitarist Derek Bailey. However, it differs from the disco version of acid jazz by the significant contribution of the "live" playing of the musicians. Apparently, this direction has a future that allows it to develop.

Crossover

With the gradual decline in rock music activity (from an artistic point of view) since the early 70s, with the decrease in the flow of ideas from the world of rock, fusion music (combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms) has become more straightforward. At the same time, many began to realize that electric jazz could become more commercial, producers and some musicians began to look for such combinations of styles in order to increase sales. They have really succeeded in creating a kind of jazz that is more accessible to the average listener. Many different combinations have emerged over the past two decades, for which promoters and publicists like to use the expression " Contemporary Jazz", used to describe the "fusions" of jazz with elements of pop music, rhythm and blues and "world music". However, the word "crossover" is more accurate in describing the essence of the matter. Crossover and fusion achieved their goal and increased the audience of jazz, especially due to for those who are fed up with other styles.In some cases, this music deserves attention, although in most cases the jazz content in it is reduced to zero.For a style that is, in fact, pop music with a slight interspersing of improvisation, which takes the music beyond jazz, "instrumental pop" is the term best suited.Examples of crossover style range from Al Jarreau and George Benson vocal recordings to Kenny G, Spyro Gyra and the Rippingtons. there is jazz influence, but, nevertheless, this music fits into the field of pop art, which is represented by Gerald Albright (Gerald Albright), David Benoit (David Benoit), Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker (Randy Brecker), "The Crusaders", George Duke, Saxophonist Bill Evans, Dave Grusin, Quincy Jones, Earl Klugh, Hubert Laws, Chuck Mangione, Lee Ritenour, Joe Sample, Tom Scott, Grover Washington Jr.

Smooth

"Smooth jazz" (smooth jazz) is a product of the fusion style, which emphasizes the softened, smooth side of the music. In general, "smooth jazz" relies more on rhythms and melodic lines instead of improvisation. It uses synthesizer sound layers, funk rhythms, funk bass, elastic lines of guitar and trumpet, alto or soprano saxophone. The music isn't intellectual like hard bop, but it's also not overly energetic like funk or soul jazz. "Smooth jazz" compositions look simplistic, superficial and polished, and the overall sound has greater value than individual parts. Characteristic representatives of the "smooth" style are George Benson, Kenny G, Fourplay, David Sanborn, Spyro Gyra, The Yellowjackets, Russ Freeman.

Jazz is a special kind of music that combines American music of previous centuries, African rhythms, secular, work and ritual songs. Fans of this kind of musical direction can download their favorite tunes using the site http://vkdj.org/.

Jazz Features

Jazz is distinguished by certain features:

• rhythm;
• improvisation;
• polyrhythm.

He received his harmony as a result of European influence. Jazz is based on a particular rhythm of African origin. This style covers instrumental and vocal directions. Jazz exists through the use of musical instruments, which are of secondary importance in ordinary music. Jazz musicians must have the ability to improvise in solo and orchestra.

Characteristic features of jazz music

The main sign of jazz is the freedom of rhythm, which awakens in performers a sense of lightness, relaxation, freedom and continuous movement forward. As in classical works, this kind of music has its own size, rhythm, which is called swing. For this direction, constant pulsation is very important.

Jazz has its own characteristic repertoire and unusual forms. The main ones are blues and ballad, which serve as a kind of basis for all kinds of musical versions.

This direction of music is the creativity of those who perform it. It is the specificity and originality of the musician that forms its basis. It is not possible to learn it only from the notes. This genre depends entirely on the creativity and inspiration of the performer at the time of the game, who puts his emotions and soul into the work.

The main characteristic features of this music include:

• harmony;
• melodiousness;
• rhythm.

Thanks to improvisation, a new work is created every time. Never in life will two pieces performed by different musicians sound the same. Otherwise the orchestras will try to copy each other.

This modern style has many features of African music. One of them is that each instrument can act as a percussion instrument. When performing jazz compositions, well-known colloquial tones are used. Another borrowed feature is that the playing of the instruments copies the conversation. This kind of professional musical art, which changes greatly over time, has no strict boundaries. It is completely open to the influence of performers.

Jazz is first of all improvisation, life, words, evolution. Real jazz lives on the Mississippi, coming from the hands of a pianist in a Storyville bar, or from a group of musicians who play in a quiet place on the outskirts of Chicago.

Real place of birth

The history of jazz is one of the most original stories in music. His characters and styles, his strong personality traits, are extremely attractive, although some of the trends require heightened readiness on the part of listeners. As US bandleader John Philip Sousa once said, jazz should be heard with your feet, not your head. But that was during the 30s, with jazz bands from New Orleans - Buddy Bolden - or men from Austin High in illegal bars in Chicago. They played music for dancing.

However, starting in the 1940s, the public began to listen to jazz with their heads instead of their feet. New forms of sound appear - trying to attract the listener with intellect, cool, free - they remain a little on the sidelines. Despite the bad statements and attacks from Souza, the audience perceives jazz with even greater enthusiasm. What is the secret of its great vitality?

If we talk about jazz, as - about African American music - then there is not much to say.
This is one of the forms of individual spontaneous expression that is created at the moment. These are improvisation, freedom, songs of protest and marginalization. The roots of jazz should be considered black slavery in the states of the South, North America - when working on cotton plantations. It was here that the first seeds and sprouts sprouted , the first tunes and melodies of the last popular genre in the history of Western music were laid down here. A kind of urban expression that began to revive in the black cafes of New Orleans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

According to statistics, the market for African slaves was about 15 million. men, women and children sold in different parts of the world. Most of these people ended up in America. Cotton plantations and tobacco fields required a lot of work. The black African was strong and worked for little wages, food and shelter. In addition, they had nothing but the memory of the unforgettable songs and dances of their native Africa. Thus, music is central to the life of a slave, helping to overcome all the hardships and sufferings of slavery. This is the main baggage of the slave-rhythm and melody.

Black Africans, with great religiosity, accepted Christianity easily. But, being accustomed to begin their religious rites with songs and dances, they soon began to introduce clapping and rhythmic movements into their meetings and ceremonies in the camps of the South. The voices of the dark-skinned people had a very peculiar timbre, the singing of melodies really made you move. Black Protestant religious communities created their own hymns calling for defiance.

Songs about work were added to these themes, prayers and supplications. Why? Yes, because the slave realized that it is much easier for him to work by singing.
The simplicity of these phrases is probably due to their poor knowledge of the language of the colonists and was developed into vigorous poetry and tenderness. According to Jean Cocteau, blues verse is the last appearance of automatically popular poetry. And blues as a genre is usually jazz.

United States, in search of culture.

Jazz for the USA is one of its best business cards, and all music historians agree with their most significant contribution to world culture.

This process of cultural identity is relatively short. The next stage began: the independence of the colonies. But... what they had to create them cultural heritage? On the one hand, the European heritage of the indigenous peoples: the descendants of old settlers, recent immigrants, on the other hand, a black American citizen, after so long slavery. And where there is a slave, there is music. From this it is concluded that Negro music was to some extent more popular, at least in the South.

Official protection and recognition.

The rulers realized that this was a new musical phenomenon. In the meantime, the State Department has taken control of, and even organized, international tours of the "jazzmen" of the Americans. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellingtong, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack Teagarden, Stanz Getz, Keith Jarrots and more have showcased the style all over the world. Performed before kings and queens, Louis Armstrong was received by the Pope in the Vatican, Benny Goodman and his orchestra toured Russia during the summer of 1962. The applause was deafening, even Nikita Khrushchev gave a standing ovation.
Naturally, the blues evolved, thus creating its own language: Jazz. What is such a language? The use of rhythmic persistence, unusual instrumental timbres, complex solo improvisations that are difficult to find in other types of music, this is the language of jazz, its soul. Everything is permeated with the magic word: swing. As Duke Ellingtong said - "Swing is something that goes beyond its own interpretation, it does not exist in the musical text, it only appears in constant performance.
In fact, jazz was and is one of the most common ways of understanding black American music. Music that expresses love and sadness, describes the life of heroes, bitterness and disappointment of every day. Early jazz was a kind of emotional valve of disappointment, a black man in a world of white people.

The Joy of New Orleans Life

The name - New Orleans - is a magic key that helps us find, recognize and love jazz. In this city, built and inhabited mainly by French and Spanish immigrants, the atmosphere was different from other states (states). The cultural level was higher - many of its inhabitants were aristocrats, more bourgeois from the old continent - higher earnings and of course, good restaurants and beautiful houses. Everything that was brought from old Europe - delicate furniture, crystal, silver, books, sheet music and various instruments to brighten up warm spring evenings, keys, violins, flutes, etc. it all ended up in New Orleans first. The city was surrounded by high walls to repel the attack of the Indians, the city was defended by a garrison of French soldiers, who, of course, had their own orchestra to perform military marches. Thanks to these coincidences, New Orleans has become more cheerful and confident.
It was considered a tolerant city in every aspect, including its relationship with blacks.
The civil war brought great changes to the country. Slavery was abolished for blacks, they began to move to cities to work, and with them music.

In New Orleans, former slaves were finally able to buy what they saw in record stores. Before that, they themselves made their own tools from gourds, bones, graters, metal bowls. Now, in addition to their banjos and harmonicas, they could purchase trombones, horns, clarinets, and drums. The problem was that the former slaves had no idea about the scores, solfeggio, notes, did not know about any musical technique. They just felt the music and could improvise.

The problem of ignorance was solved with difficulty. But they understood that you need to play as well as sing, that musical instrument should be a continuation of the voice. And the training began.
If a military band passed through the streets, the Negroes were always in the front row and listened attentively. Not a single stanza of sacred music was missed in the church. Gradually they mixed some hand beats and added a few bars of clapping (listening to the foot), they began to introduce their past (slavery) into the blues, thus a new music began to be revived, made from the heart and very poetic.

The use of this music was used by blacks at funerals, as being the lowest class of society, charity organisations or companies were not very supportive of the economic peace of former slaves in public life, but when it came to death, they gave some amounts of money. Thus, relatives organized a magnificent funeral, which was accompanied by a group of musicians and multiple support from family, friends and neighbors. In a long procession slow and sad music sounded to the cemetery. Upon returning, the theme changed and fast music was played, or rather jazz improvisations. Because the general opinion was that the deceased was in heaven, and they should rejoice with Him. In addition, due to the lack of relaxation after long sighs and emotions, the environment always demanded from the musicians that the final part of the ceremonies should always be fun.
Experts thus believe that at the funeral of blacks, they first began to play jazz.

For decades, they tried to ban, silence and ignore jazz, they tried to fight it, but the power of music turned out to be stronger than all dogmas. TO XXI century jazz has reached one of highest points its development, and does not intend to slow down.

Throughout the world, 1917 was in many respects an epochal and turning point. Two revolutions are taking place in the Russian Empire, Woodrow Wilson is re-elected for a second term in the United States, and microbiologist Felix d'Herelle announces the discovery of a bacteriophage. However, this year an event took place that will also forever go down in the annals of history. On January 30, 1917, the first jazz record was recorded at Victor's New York studio. These were two pieces - "Livery Stable Blues" and "Dixie Jazz Band one Step" - performed by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, an ensemble of white musicians. The eldest of the musicians, trumpeter Nick LaRocca, was 28 years old, the youngest, drummer Tony Sbarbaro, was 20 years old. The natives of New Orleans, of course, heard "black music", loved it, and passionately wanted to play jazz of their own performance. Quite quickly after recording the disc, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band got a contract in prestigious and expensive restaurants.

What did the first jazz records look like? A gramophone record is a thin disk made by pressing or molding plastic of various compositions, on the surface of which a special groove with sound recording is carved in a spiral. The sound of the record was reproduced by means of special technical devices - a gramophone, a gramophone, an electrophone. This method of recording sound was the only way to "perpetuate" jazz, since it is almost impossible to accurately convey all the details of musical improvisation in musical notation. For this reason, music experts in the course of discussing various jazz pieces, first of all, refer to the number of the record on which this or that piece was recorded.

Five years after the original Dixieland Jazz Band's debut debut, black musicians began recording at the studio. Among the first to be recorded were the ensembles of Joe King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. However, all recordings of black jazzmen were released in the States as part of a special "racial series" that was distributed in those years only among the black American population. Records, released in the "racial series", existed until the 40s of the XX century. In addition to jazz, they also recorded blues and spirituals - the spiritual choral songs of African Americans.

The first jazz records were 25 cm in diameter at 78 rpm and were recorded acoustically. However, since the mid-1920s In the 20th century, recording was done electromechanically, and this contributed to an increase in sound quality. This was followed by the release of records with a diameter of 30 cm. In the 40s. such records were mass-produced by a number of record labels who decided to release both old and new compositions performed by Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Sidney Bechet, Art Tatum, Jack Teagarden, Thomas Fets Waller, Lionel Hampton, Colman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge and many others .

Such phonograph records had a special label marking - "V-disc" (short for "Victory disc") and were intended for American soldiers who participated in World War II. These releases were not intended for sale, and jazzmen, as a rule, transferred all their fees to the Victory Fund in World War II.

Already in 1948, Columbia records launched the first long-playing record (the so-called "longplay", LP) on the music recording market with a denser arrangement of sound grooves. The record was 25 cm in diameter and rotated at 33 1/3 rpm. The LP contained already as many as 10 plays.

Following Columbia, the production of their own long plays in 1949 was established by representatives of RCA Victor. Their records were 17.5 cm in diameter with a rotation speed of 45 revolutions per minute, and later similar records began to be produced already with a rotation speed of 33 1/3 revolutions per minute. In 1956, the release of LPs with a diameter of 30 cm began. 12 pieces were placed on two sides of such records, and the playing time increased to 50 minutes. Two years later, stereo records with two-channel recording began to displace monophonic counterparts. Manufacturers also tried to push 16 rpm records into the music market, but these attempts ended in failure.

After that, for many years, innovation in the production of records dried up, but already in the late 60s. quadraphonic records with a four-channel recording system were introduced to music lovers.

The production of LPs gave a huge leap to jazz as music and served the development of this music - in particular, the emergence of larger forms of composition. For many years, the duration of one play was no more than three minutes - these were the conditions for sound recording on a standard gramophone record. At the same time, even with the development of progress in the release of records, the duration of jazz pieces did not increase immediately: in the 50s. LPs were made mainly on the basis of the matrixes of publications of previous years. Around the same time, records were released with recordings by Scott Joplin and other famous ragtime performers, which were recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. on cardboard perforated cylinders for a mechanical piano, as well as on wax rollers for a gramophone.

Over time, long-playing records began to be used for recording works of a larger form and live concerts. The release of albums from two or three records, or special anthologies and discographies of one or another artist, has also become widespread.

But what about jazz itself? For many years it was considered "the music of an inferior race". In the USA, it was considered the music of blacks, unworthy of high American society, in Nazi Germany, playing and listening to jazz meant being "a conductor of the Negro-Jewish cacophony", and in the USSR - "apologist for the bourgeois way of life" and "agent of world imperialism".

A characteristic feature of jazz is that this music has worked its way to success and recognition for decades. If musicians of all other styles could from the very beginning of their career strive to play on the largest venues and stadiums, and there were many examples for them, then jazzmen could only count on playing in restaurants and clubs, without even dreaming of large venues.

Jazz as a style originated over a century ago on cotton plantations. It was there that the black workers sang their songs, fused from Protestant chants, African spiritual choral hymns "spirituals", and harsh and sinful secular, almost "criminal" songs - blues, widespread in dirty roadside eateries, where the foot of a white American would not step. The crowning achievement of this "cocktail" was brass bands, which sounded as if barefoot African-American children picked up decommissioned instruments and began to play all sorts of things.

The 20s of the XX century became the "Jazz Age" - that's what the writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald called them. Most of the black workers were concentrated in the criminal capital of the United States of those years - Kansas City. The spread of jazz in this city was facilitated by a large number of restaurants and eateries where the mafiosi liked to spend their time. The city has created a particular style, the style of big bands playing fast blues. During these years, a black boy named Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City: it was he who, more than two decades later, was to become a jazz reformer. In Kansas City, he walked past the places where concerts were held, and literally absorbed snatches of the music he loved.

Despite the great popularity of jazz in New Orleans and its wide distribution in Kansas City, a large number of jazzmen still preferred Chicago and New York. Two cities on the East Coast of the United States became the most important points of concentration and development of jazz. The star of both cities was young trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong, successor to New Orleans' greatest trumpeter, King Oliver. In 1924, another native of New Orleans arrived in Chicago - pianist and singer Jelly Roll Morton. The young musician was not modest and boldly declared to everyone that he was the creator of jazz. And already at the age of 28, he moved to New York, where just at that time the orchestra of the young Washington pianist Duke Ellington was gaining popularity, which was already crowding out the Fletcher Henderson orchestra from the rays of glory.

A wave of popularity of "black music" breaks into Europe. And if jazz was listened to in Paris even before the start of the First World War, and not in "taverns", but in aristocratic salons and concert halls, then in the 20s London surrendered. Black jazzmen loved to travel to the British capital - especially taking into account the fact that there, unlike the States, they were treated with respect and humanely and behind the scenes, and not only on it.

It is noteworthy that the poet, translator, dancer and choreographer Valentin Parnakh became the organizer of the first jazz concert in Moscow in 1922, and 6 years later the popularity of this music reached St. Petersburg.

The beginning of the 1930s was marked by new era- the era of big bands, large orchestras, and a new style began to rattle on the dance floors - swing. Duke Ellinton's orchestra was able to overtake their colleagues from the Fletcher Henderson orchestra in popularity with the help of non-standard musical moves. Collective simultaneous improvisation that has become a trademark New Orleans School jazz, is becoming a thing of the past, and instead complex scores, rhythmic phrases with repetitions, and roll calls of orchestra groups are gaining popularity. As part of the orchestra, the role of the arranger is increasing, who writes orchestrations that have become the key to the success of the entire team. At the same time, the soloist-improviser remains the leader in the orchestra, without which even a team with perfect orchestrations will go unnoticed. At the same time, from now on, the soloist strictly observes the number of "squares" in the music, while the rest support it according to the written arrangement. The popularity of Duke Ellington's orchestra was brought not only by non-standard solutions in arrangements, but also by the first-class composition of the orchestra itself: trumpeters Bubber Miley, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams, clarinetist Barney Bigard, saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Ben Webster, double bassist Jimmy Blanton knew their business like no other. Other jazz orchestras also demonstrated teamwork in this matter: saxophonist Lester Young and trumpeter Buck Clayton played at Count Basie, and the backbone of the orchestra was "the world's most swing" rhythm section - pianist Basie, double bassist Walter Page, drummer Joe Jones and guitarist Freddie Green .

Clarinetist Benny Goodman's orchestra, consisting entirely of white musicians, gains overwhelming popularity in the mid-30s, and in the second half of the 30s deals a crushing blow to all racial restrictions in jazz: on the stage of Carnegie Hall in an orchestra led by Goodman at the same time black and white musicians performed! Now, of course, such an event is not new for a sophisticated music lover, but in those years, the performance of whites (clarinetist Goodman and drummer Gene Krupa) and blacks (pianist Teddy Wilson and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton) literally tore all the patterns to shreds.

In the late 30s, Glenn Miller's white orchestra gained popularity. Spectators and listeners immediately drew attention to the characteristic "crystal sound" and masterfully worked out arrangements, but at the same time stated that there was a minimum of jazz spirit in the orchestra's music. During the Second World War, the "swing era" ended: creativity went into the shadows, and the "entertainment" shone on the stage, and the music itself turned into a consumer mass that did not require any special frills. Along with the war, despondency came to the camp of jazzmen: it seemed to them that their favorite music was smoothly moving into the sunset of existence.

However, the beginnings of a new jazz revolution were sown in one of the native cities for this style of music - New York. Young musicians, mostly black, unable to bear the decline of their music in orchestras in official clubs, after concerts late at night, gathered in their own clubs on 52nd Street. Mecca for all of them was the club Milton Playhouse. It was in these New York clubs that young jazzmen did something unimaginable and radically new: they improvised as much as possible on simple blues chords, building them in a seemingly completely inappropriate sequence, turning them inside out and rearranging them, playing extremely complex and long melodies that started right in the middle of the measure, and ended there. Milton Playhouse in those years had a lot of visitors: everyone wanted to see and listen to the outlandish beast, ornately and unimaginably born on the stage. In an effort to cut off random profane people who often like to climb onto the stage and improvise with musicians, jazzmen began to take a high tempo of compositions, sometimes accelerating them to incredible speeds that only professionals could handle.

This is how the revolutionary jazz style, be-bop, was born. Kansas City-raised alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter John Berks Gillespie, nicknamed "Dizzy" ("Dizzy"), guitarist Charlie Christian (one of the founding fathers of the harmonic language), drummers Kenny Clarke and Max Roach - these names are forever inscribed in golden letters to the history of jazz and, specifically, be-bop. The rhythmic basis of the drums in be-bop was transferred to the plates, special external attributes of the musicians appeared, and most of these concerts took place in small closed clubs - this is how the band's music-making can be described. And above all this seemingly chaos, Parker's saxophone rose: there was no equal to him in level, technique and skill. It is not surprising that the musician's temperament simply burned his master: Parker died in 1955, "burned out" from constant and high-speed playing the saxophone, alcohol and drugs.

It was the creation of be-bop that not only gave impetus to the development of jazz, but also became Starting point, from which the branching of jazz as such began. Be-bop went in the direction of the underground - small venues, select and devoted listeners, and also interested in the roots of music in general, while the second branch represented jazz in the realm of the consumer system - this is how pop jazz was born, which exists to this day. So, over the years, elements of pop jazz were used by such music stars as Frank Sinatra, Sting, Kathy Melua, Zaz, Amy Winehouse, Kenny G, Norah Jones and others.

As for the less popular branch of jazz, hard bop followed be-bop. In this style, the bet was made on the blues, ecstatic beginning. The development of hard bop was influenced by the playing of saxophonist Sonny Rollins, pianist Horace Silver, trumpeter Clifford Brown and drummer Art Blakey. By the way, the Blakey team under titled The Jazz Messengers became a source of jazz talent around the world until the musician's death in 1990. At the same time, other own styles: the hearts of listeners were won by cool jazz, common on the East Coast, and the West was able to oppose the West Coast style to its neighbors. A member of the Parker Orchestra, black trumpeter Miles Davis, along with arranger Gil Evans, created cool jazz ("cool jazz") using new harmonies in be-bop. The emphasis was shifted from the high tempos of the music to the complexity of the arrangements. At the same time, the white baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and his ensemble were banking on other accents in cool jazz - for example, on the simultaneous collective improvisation that came from the New Orleans school. The West Coast, with white saxophonists Stan Getz and Zoot Sims playing west coast ("west coast"), presented a different picture of be-bop, creating a lighter sound than Charlie Parker's. And pianist John Lewis became the founder of the Modern Jazz Quartet, which basically did not play in clubs, trying to give jazz a concert, wide and serious form. Approximately the same, by the way, was achieved by the quartet of pianist Dave Brubeck.

Thus, jazz began to take on its own shape: the compositions and solo parts of jazzmen became longer. At the same time, a trend appeared in hard bop and cool jazz: one piece lasted for seven to ten minutes, and one solo - five, six, eight "squares". In parallel, the style itself was enriched by various cultures, especially Latin American.

In the late 1950s, a new reform fell upon jazz, this time in the field of harmonic language. The innovator in this part was again Miles Davis, who released his famous recording "Kind of Blue" in 1959. Traditional keys and chord progressions have changed, the musicians could not leave two chords for several minutes, but at the same time they demonstrated the development of musical thought in such a way that the listener did not even notice the monotony. Davis' tenor saxophonist, John Coltrane, also became a symbol of reform. Coltrane's playing technique and musical thought, demonstrated on recordings in the early 60s, are unsurpassed to this day. Alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, who created the style of free jazz ("free jazz"), also became a symbol of the turn of the 50s and 60s in jazz. Harmony and rhythm in this style are practically not respected, and the musicians follow any, even the most absurd melody. In harmonic terms, free jazz became the pinnacle - then there was either absolute noise and cacophony, or complete silence. Such an absolute limit made Ornette Coleman a genius of music in general and jazz in particular. Perhaps only the avant-garde musician John Zorn came closest to him in his work.

The 60s also did not become the era of the unconditional popularity of jazz. Rock music came to the fore, whose representatives willingly experimented with recording techniques, loudness, electronics, sound distortion, academic avant-garde, playing techniques. According to legend, the idea of ​​a joint recording of virtuoso guitarist Jimi Hendrix and the legendary jazzman John Coltrane was hatched at that time. However, already in 1967, Coltrane died, and a couple of years later Hendrix died, and this idea remained in legend. Miles Davis also succeeded in this genre: in the late 60s, he was quite successfully able to cross rock music and jazz, creating a jazz-rock style, the leading representatives of which in their youth mostly played in Davis' band: keyboardists Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, guitarist John McLaughlin, drummer Tony Williams. At the same time, jazz-rock, aka fusion, was able to give birth to its own, individual prominent representatives: bass guitarist Jaco Pastorius, guitarist Pat Metheny, guitarist Ralph Towner. However, the popularity of fusion, which arose in the late 60s and gained popularity in the 70s, quickly declined, and today this style is a completely commercial product, turning into smooth jazz ("smoothed jazz") - background music in which rhythms and melodic lines gave way to improvisations. Smooth jazz is represented by George Benson, Kenny G, Fourplay, David Sanborn, Spyro Gyra, The Yellowjackets, Russ Freeman and others.

In the 70s, a separate niche was occupied by world jazz ("music of the world") - a special fusion obtained as a result of the fusion of the so-called "worlmusic" (ethnic music, mainly from the Third World countries) and jazz. It is characteristic that in this style the emphasis was placed equally on both the old jazz school and the ethnic structure. Known for, for example, the motives folk music Latin America(only the solo was improvised, the accompaniment and composition remained the same as in ethno music), Middle Eastern motifs (Dizzy Gillespie, Keith Jarrett's quartets and quintets), Indian music motifs (John McLaughlin), Bulgaria (Don Ellis) and Trinidad (Andy Narrell).

If the 60s became the era of mixing jazz with rock and ethnic music, then in the 70s and 80s the musicians again decided to start experimenting. Modern funk has its roots in this period, with accompanists playing black pop soul and funk music, while extensive solo improvisations are more creative and jazzy. Prominent representatives of this style were Grover Washington Jr., members of The Crusaders Felder Wilton and Joe Semple. Subsequently, all the innovations resulted in a wider range of jazz funk, the brightest representatives of which were Jamiroquai, The Brand New Heavies, James Taylor Quartet, Solsonics.

Also, acid jazz ("acid jazz") gradually began to appear on the stage, which is characterized by lightness and "dancing". A characteristic feature of the musicians' performances is the accompaniment of samples taken from vinyl magpies. The ubiquitous Miles Davis again became the pioneer of acid jazz, and Derek Bailey began to represent the more radical wing of the avant-garde plan. In the United States, the term "acid jazz" has practically no popularity: there such music is called groove jazz and club jazz. The peak of the popularity of acid jazz came in the first half of the 90s, and in the "zero" the popularity of the style began to decline: new jazz came to replace acid jazz.

As for the USSR, the Moscow orchestra of pianist and composer Alexander Tsfasman is considered to be the first professional jazz ensemble to perform on the radio and record a disc. Before him, young jazz bands focused mainly on the performance of dance music of those years - foxtrot, Charleston. Thanks to the Leningrad ensemble led by actor and singer Leonid Utyosov and trumpeter Ya. B. Skomorovsky, jazz came to large sites The USSR is already in the 30s. The comedy "Merry Fellows" with the participation of Utyosov, filmed in 1934 and telling about a young jazz musician, had a corresponding soundtrack by Isaac Dunayevsky. Utyosov and Skomorovsky created a special style called tea-jazz ("theatrical jazz"). Eddie Rosner, who moved from Europe to the Soviet Union and became a popularizer of swing, along with Moscow bands of the 30s and 40s, made his contribution to the development of jazz in the USSR. under the leadership of Alexander Tsfasman and Alexander Varlamov.

The government itself in the USSR was rather ambiguous about jazz. There was no official ban on the performance of jazz songs and the distribution of jazz records, however, there was criticism of this style of music in light of the rejection of Western ideology in general. Already in the 40s, jazz had to go underground due to the persecution that had begun, but already in the early 60s, with the advent of Khrushchev's "thaw", jazzmen came out again. However, criticism of jazz did not stop even then. Thus, the orchestras of Eddie Rozner and Oleg Lundstrem resumed their activities. New compositions also appeared, among which the orchestras of Joseph Weinstein (Leningrad) and Vadim Ludvikovsky (Moscow), as well as the Riga Variety Orchestra (REO), stood out. Talented arrangers and solo improvisers also take the stage: Georgy Garanyan, Boris Frumkin, Alexei Zubov, Vitaly Dolgov, Igor Kantyukov, Nikolai Kapustin, Boris Matveev, Konstantin Nosov, Boris Rychkov, Konstantin Bakholdin. Chamber and club jazz is developing, whose adherents are Vyacheslav Ganelin, David Goloshchekin, Gennady Golshtein, Nikolai Gromin, Vladimir Danilin, Alexei Kozlov, Roman Kunsman, Nikolai Levinovsky, German Lukyanov, Alexander Pishchikov, Alexei Kuznetsov, Viktor Fridman, Andrey Tovmasyan, Igor Bril and Leonid Chizhik. The Mecca of Soviet and then Russian jazz was the Blue Bird club, which existed from 1964 to 2009 and brought up such musicians as the brothers Alexander and Dmitry Bril, Anna Buturlina, Yakov Okun, Roman Miroshnichenko and others.

In the "zero" jazz found a new breath, and the rapid spread of the Internet served as a colossal impetus not only for commercially successful recordings, but also for underground performers. Today, anyone can go to the concerts of the crazy experimenter John Zorn and the "airy" jazz-pop singer Cathy Malua, a resident of Russia can be proud of Igor Butman, and a Cuban can be proud of Arturo Sandoval. Dozens of stations appear on the radio, broadcasting jazz in all its forms. Undoubtedly, the 21st century has put everything in its place and given jazz the place where it should be - on a pedestal, along with other classical styles.