A Blended Musical Expression...

In my last posting, I essentially wrote a preface concerning the Origins of JAZZ and concluded with the idea of blending... This posting will serve to reveal more about that idea and how its influence crossed preset cultural divides to contribute to the development and evolution of this unique form of musical expression.

The term: "classical music" is actually the misnomer generally used to describe the music of European Composers; it's further been misused to give the 4 or 5 more traditionally-recognized styles an elitist credibility: Baroque, Romantic, Renaissance, French Impressionism, 20th Century and 12-tone Serialism. Notably: Julia Perry, Billy Strayhorn, William Grant Still, David Baker, Charlie "Yardbird" Parker, Thelonius Monk, Oliver Nelson, Miles Davis, James Weldon Johnson, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Horace Silver, Eubie Blake, Bill Evans, Cole Porter, Mary Lou Williams, Earl "Fatha" Hines, George Gershwin, Gil Evans, Billy Taylor, Irving Berlin, Oscar Hammerstein, Erroll Garner, John Coltrane and Duke Ellington, just to name a few, have all written music which would and should qualify for inclusion under this heading, yet are notably omitted, and not necessarily due to ethnicity as some might mistakenly conclude.

When one considers French Impressionism for example, names like Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel come to mind, and if one has been thorough, then Eric Satie who preceded them both, but Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Billy Strayhorn, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, Gil Evans, Miles Davis and even Leonard Feather should also come to mind when discussing this style. Whether one is enamored with the canons and fugues of the Black Moors - Bach and Haydn, or enjoys the work which Bela Bartok, the Hungarian, adapted from folk melodies, or appreciates Handel's "Messiah" which he wrote while incarcerated in a jail cell, or the music of Schoenberg, Copeland and other modernists, Beautiful Music has always proven nourishing to the soul and healing to the mind.

If you are interested in music which originated in European Countries, you can visit the library and ask for the Norton Scores, 10th edition - The Enjoyment of Music (An Anthology). This is the standard resource which is most commonly utilized in most secondary education to enable students to begin their development of musical appreciation.

If you are, however, interested in American Classical Music (a.k.a. JAZZ), that is, the music which America has had to claim as its own and which has influenced all of the known styles -- including Country Western and today's Hip-hop, I would personally recommend that you begin with the field hollers of African Slaves, followed by Negro Spirituals and a few Blues Folk Songs and come forward through the deep southern blues (which planted a seed along the way for Mississippi Delta Blues, R&B and Rock & Roll's future) into the New Orleans "Blending" of Creole and Afro-Centric influences (later the "Blending" would include others who had migrated to America, many arriving on Ellis Island) through Louis Armstrong and so-called "Ragtime" (which was anything but raggedy - Scott Joplin, Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton).

The natural migration north into Chicago would follow without forgetting about what was going on out mid-west in Kansas City with Count Basie's Swing with Lester Young, and from there, heading further east into New York whereupon Charlie Parker would later upset the all too fragile apple-cart of the Big Dance Bands via his creation of Be-Bop a.k.a. "Hot Bop" assisted by Dizzy Gillespie and followed by musicians like John Coltrane but preceded by many, including Earl "Fatha" Hines who mentored George Gershwin. The Big Dance Bands I formerly mentioned included Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington. Around this time, Thelonius Monk came on the scene along with musicians like Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and others who would venture abroad into Paris and points beyond (Denmark, Germany). No one would want to over-look the influential role JAZZ had on Broadway Musicals via composers like Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart collaborations and Richard teaming up a second time with Oscar Hammerstein, Eubie Blake, Scott Joplin and others. Just beyond this came Miles Davis (his latest news) and a musical growth spurt with "the birth of cool" which included his collaboration with Gil Evans.

Proceeding, one will note that JAZZ migrated to the West Coast with "COOL" continued and commercialized via its usage in Television (studio orchestras and later on early talk shows: Steve Allen, "Doc" Severinsen, Merv Griffin; chronicling-documentary shows concerning JAZZ featured Billy Taylor, Bill Evans and many other notables) and for all the Major Hollywood Movies which included appearances by Hazel Scott, Nat King Cole, Dave Brubeck and others. Film Music Composers like Calvin Jackson and Quincy Jones appeared on the scene. Notably, many of the songs made famous on Broadway found new life with singers like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, Carmen McRae, Della Reese, Nancy Wilson, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Johnny Hartman and many others whose interpretive abilities served to promote and market American Classical Music (a.k.a. JAZZ) even more as well as lending an even greater range to its character.

This posting only serves to further scratch the surface and in no way is meant to suggest a comprehensive treatise, but rather a well-cropped snapshot from which the reader might begin to conduct his or her own research to further appreciate this God-given form of artistic musical expression.

The Ethnic Influences of Early Jazz...

While Jazz has often been called the only truly American Classical Music, it's origins actually began from a forcibly imported Afro-Centric influence. The West Africans who were kidnapped and brought into the United States endured the harshest form of human slavery ever carried out on Earth. Following its demise, a remnant spirit continued to persist that would never fully allow Afro-Centric people to be completely acclimated as an integral part of the American fabric.

Given this history, Jazz has very little to do with being American, native or otherwise. Because much of its evolutionary development occurred within the United States, Jazz has been claimed by America. Born from the pain and struggles of a disenfranchised people (stripped of their culture and languages with no way to return home), its genius as the highest musical art-form is irrefutable! African slave labor funded the American Industrial Revolution yet the great-grandchildren of those people were never permitted to share in that wealth.

In spite of insurmountable odds, the indomitable Spirit of these Afro-Centric People did find the means to carve its own path as they fought to survive. From that pain came the birth of Jazz. Following the 400 years of legalized American slavery came the reconstruction of the south and with it came Jim Crow Laws and segregation. These two issues made life and an equitable quality of living impossible for Afro-Centric People but it served to instill a unity and cohesion which future formal one-way integration has not been fully able to erase with all its intended assimilation and social pretense.

With imposed hardships brought about via a socially and politically un-inclusive environment, many of the young Afro-Centric men and women would later migrate from the south into the north seeking employment because no substantial work opportunities existed in the south. As a result, these folk began exploring one of the few opportunities which would enable them to survive, namely, as music and melody makers. Notably, this first began in New Orleans, home of Louis Armstrong. He was one of the key and principal pioneers of Jazz due to his phenomenal talent and he was "hope personified" for all others who would follow.

New Orleans was and to some extent has always been an unusual place where folk of different ethnic origins and cultures learned to live side by side. Without going into the particulars concerning the origin of Afro-Centric Creole folk and how they happened to be a wealthier and better than an ordinary class of folk, suffice it to say that the interaction between them and other Afro-Centric folk contributed heavily to the development of Jazz as it brought together two musical genres which combined to form the Earliest Jazz! From that point, migration coupled with a sophisticated 'Grapevine' had its way and spawned further cultural syncretism focused on this newly invented style of music.

This background is important to note since it would predominate and influence the thinking of many who otherwise might not have pursued careers in music had other employment been readily available nor would the music have had such a richness of expression across a broad spectrum of the then unified Afro-Centric Community. Notably, this key aspect fed and nurtured experimentation because the Earliest Jazz was born from the idea of blending...