Write a 50 word min response to each paragraph starting with ” I
agree with you” 1-16
1) Title: Have you met miss Jones?
Personnel: Ellis Marsalis (Piano), Ray Brown (Bass), Billy
Higgins (Drums).
This song is played in a smaller ensemble and is put together
with the piano, drums and bass. The general character of this song
is mid-tempo and harmonious. The song begins with a piano solo that
then goes into a mid-tempo Jazz feel that includes the bass and the
drums. The piano gets faster and faster in the middle of the song
creating an upbeat melody. Towards the end of the song there is a
bass and drum solo that does a call and response. One plays and the
next responds creating dialogue using instruments. The song ends
with all the instruments playing together in unison again and at
the very end the piano keys ends the song in a soft melody.
2)Title: Triste
Personnel: Bruce Barth
The instruments being used in this piece include drums, piano,
and saxophone. The atmosphere of this song is soft and a little
quiet. The mood that is given throughout this piece is calm and
relaxing. It gives a vibe such as finally I get to rest after a
long day. The tempo throughout this wonderful piece by Bruce Barth
is medium throughout the whole song. While I would consider this
piece to be consonant (harmonious) is does have just a tiny bit of
dissonance (clashing) in it when the drums are played. From
beginning to end this piece doesnt have a change in aspects of the
character of the music. As the piece is played the mood changes a
little bit but in a positive way. The mood is changed in that you
just feel more relaxed as the piece is played. You get more relaxed
as the piece goes on. The atmosphere stayed on the soft side for
this piece. One thing I found neat about this piece was the drum
solo that was around the middle/end of the song. As the drums were
being played you can hear the different cords and follow along with
the structure that was played which was awesome to observe! I also
think the transition after the drum solo was very smooth. I think
that the combination between the drums, piano, and saxophone was
unique as Im new to listening to the genre of Jazz music but the
saxophone definitely shocked me as I thought it would overrule the
other instruments in terms of loudness.
3) Title: Soultrane
Ensemble: John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), Red Garland (piano),
Paul Chambers (bass), Art Taylor (drums)
This musical performance is a slow tempo piece that combines all
the instruments above beautifully and harmoniously. It starts off
very melancholy with the sax by itself and then the piano joins in
making it seem like dance between two people, in harmony but
standing out on their own. It maintains the same slow tempo until
the piano has a solo about half way through, slowing it down a
little more. When the solo is finished, the saxophone and the rest
of the ensemble come back sounding a bit more faster in tempo then
gradually slowing down like it was in the beginning. To me it
sounds like a man and woman who are in a relationship and the
different stages. Over all it was a very relaxing, almost romantic
performance.
4) Title: A Love Supreme Part II Resolution
Band leader: John Coltrane
I believe it is a smaller ensemble with a drum set, piano, stand
up base, and saxophone. It started off with a somber, mellow base
solo and then at about 20 seconds in, the whole ensemble kicks in
with an excited, fast paced tempo with the saxophone out in front.
It sounds almost like Coltrane is improvising with the sax in a
dissonant sound that is kind of chaotic and sporatic. The mood
seems excited and antsy, almost like someone would feel in a
passionate moment with a lover. The drums keep a constant, upbeat
tempo the majority of the tune. About two minutes in the piano
starts a solo with the drums and bass keeping the tempo in the
background. The piano also starts to get dissonant with improvised
notes that seem to come from all over the scale. In the end,
Coltrane jumps in with the sax and brings the melody and tempo down
to a harmonious resolution.
Overall, I found the song to be a little too disorderly for my
taste. I can tell that the band members are quite talented and I
bet that fellow musicians (I am not one…yet) probably appreciate
this piece much more due the technical aspect of the song.
5) Title: Raincheck
Personnel: Sonny Rollins (Saxophone), Ray Bryant (Piano), George
Morrow (Brass), Max Roach (Drums).
This song utilized the saxophone, drums, piano, and double brass
throughout its entirety, opening with just the saxophone and drums,
starting out with a moderate tempo and slowly picking up faster as
the song progressed. The all round character of the piece is upbeat
and for the instruments were very harmonious with each other, never
drowning another out. While all the instruments seem to talk with
each other, each instrument is given multiple solos which really
gave me a chance to appreciate each instrument individually before
they would all flair back up and allow me to enjoy the harmony and
organization between the four separate instruments. The song ends
just as it began, with the drums and the saxophone trailing off and
bringing the tempo back to a medium pace just before cutting
off.
6)Title: West End Blues
Personel: Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Jimmy Strong, Fred
Robinson, Mancy Carr, and Zutty Singleton
The instruments included were the trumpet, piano, clarinet,
trombone, banjo, hand cymbals, and vocals. The trumpet and vocals
are by Louis Armstrong.The piano is played by Earl Hines. The
clarinet is played by Jimmy Strong. The trombone is played by Fred
Robinson. The banjo is played by Mancy Carr. Finally, the hand
cymbals are played by Zutty Singleton. The atmosphere of this piece
calm creating an emotion of happiness and a vibe of relaxation. The
tempo of this song is medium and the music is consonant. The song
began with the trumpet and then goes into the other instruments
except for the hand cymbals, but the hand cymbals are played
shortly after. Armstrongs vocals are very quit and in the
background causing a feeling of softness and relaxation. After some
of his vocal the piano begins to play and after once again all the
other instruments. This song ended with one clap of the hand
cymbals.
7) Sweet Jazz is a tamer type of jazz music compared to hot jazz
which was higher energy and fast tempo (Week 2 Notes). Sweet jazz
had more of an orchestral sound and is a lot easier to dance to
(Week 2 Notes). Hot jazz emerged from New Orleans and it led to
swing dancing (Week 3 Notes). Hot jazz was also very popular in
Chicago (Week 2 Notes). Sweet jazz was popularized by white bands
(Week 2 Notes). Hot jazz was known as a fiery improvisation while
sweet jazz was known as jazzy sounding high society dance music
(Week 2 Notes). Due to the heavy racism in the United States, black
musicians were not as famous as white musicians (Week 2 Notes).
Paul Whiteman and Benny Goodman were considered the faces of jazz
(Week 2 Notes). King Olivers Creole Jazz Band and The Creole Jazz
Band were some black faces known for jazz.
8)Although Sweet and Hot Jazz have their similarities, they also
have their differences. Hot and Sweet jazz come from how musicians
classified themselves and what style of jazz they were portraying
because of the newest Tin Pan Alley hits. (Week 2 lecture notes)
Hot Jazz embraced a style of New Orleans, It contained high energy
and fiery improvisations. (week 2 lecture notes) Because of the
circumstances between blacks and whites at this time, whites had to
take the rolls of black performers/musicians as Vernon and Irene
Castle were for Ragtime, and Elvis Presley was for Rock N Roll.
(week 2 lecture notes) Sweet Jazz was a calm more mellow type of
music, it used moderate tempos and created more of an orchestra
sound. Sweet and Hot Jazz impacted the 20th century. Paul Whiteman
the lead man was so successful with his team he was crowned “King
of Jazz”. (week 2 lecture notes)

9)Hot jazz originated in New
Orleans and was very specific to the multicultural inspiration and
musical experimentation characteristic of its origin. Two
characteristics of hot jazz include improvisation and fast tempo.
Sweet jazz also originated in New Orleans in the 1920s and
presented a more organized, less sporadic sound. Two
characteristics of sweet jazz include focused attention on melody
and steady tempo. Racially, hot jazz was coded as the African
American interpretation of jazz and sweet jazz was coded as the
White/European interpretation of jazz. Sweet jazz gained more steam
in popularity than hot jazz due to racial bias as well as
widespread accessibility and familiarity due to its performance by,
white society bands (Week 2 Lecture Notes). Sweet jazz was
popularized by Jelly Roll Morton, and leading musicians of hot jazz
included Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Ellington even
pioneered jungle sound, which was experimental and utilized muted
tones.

10) What would be the difference between Sweet jazz and Hot
jazz? Well let’s start off by talking about sweet jazz. Now this
particular jazz has a light swinging sound. I would consider this
type of jazz to be the “best” study music in my opinion. It carries
a soothing sound of medium tempos. It has less improvisation than
Hot jazz. Hot jazz is what I would describe as something for faster
paced dancing. It has a vigorous rhythmic drive that made
individuals want to get off their seat with a high-energy type of
sound. It was common to find Sweet jazz in hi class settings and
social parties. Not until the 1960s was it possible for Black
musicians to overpass their music to a white audience (Week 2
Lecture Notes). There was a huge increase in the number of African
Americans coming from the south and migrated towards the Northeast
and Midwest areas in 1920 (Week 2 Lecture Notes). This caused an
increase of musicians and talent to increase into further areas.
This migration also increased the popularity of Jazz. In the 1920s,
Jazz eventually became the most popular music around. Today we look
at how Jazz has a major influence on most music we can identify in.
During the mid-1920s professional recording technology increased
with the use of condenser microphones and devices that could save
audio recordings for others to keep their own copy.
11) Sweet jazz was much more relaxed compared to hot jazz and
was able to please an entire audience. Hot jazz was much more
upbeat which caused this music to be easy to dance to and drew the
audience of the younger generation. Two musical characteristics of
sweet jazz include, moderate tempos and mellifluous melodies
(Lecture Notes). Musical characteristics of hot jazz include faster
tempos and spirited improvisations. In racial terms sweet and hot
jazz were coded by generally being separated as to what their
interpretations were. African Americans performed hot jazz whereas
Europeans performed sweet jazz. Due to these circumstances of
course sweet jazz was more popularized due to racism at the time.
This impacted the popularization of Jazz during the Jazz Age
because hot and sweet jazz were both unique and many people loved
their musical characteristics.
12) Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson where almost polar
opposites of each other when it came to the commercial world of
jazz. Ellington was seen almost as a pioneer, employing many
techniques and arrangements that would set him apart from many of
his peers ultimately leading him towards a more classical form of
jazz as opposed to the popular demand of swing, or dance jazz.
Fletcher on the other hand kept driving his arrangements on towards
the swing side of things which was very popular among the younger
generation and on the radio. Duke Ellington was like a painter
(lecture notes – week 3) when it came to his music, helping to
elevate jazz as an art form, in no way saying Fletcher Henderson
did not contribute to jazz, he is seen more as someone that bridged
the gap of Dixieland to Swing era jazz, but I see that has a vast
difference between the two, Ellington carved his own path in a
sense, and Fletcher catered to the masses delivering what the
market wanted. A final comparison between the two is that Ellington
seemed much more driven on the harmony of his pieces, ensuring that
all the instruments blended together perfectly and painted a
picture for the listener, as opposed to Fletchers fast paced swing
style that seemed driven vastly by rhythm and tempo.

13) New Orleans was New
York/London type of city after the civil war of USA when it comes
how diverse the city was. It was a trade hub for all over the
world. History shows that rich French men rule most of the city but
also there were a lot of Anglo white people. The city was really
diverse and people were integrating within. The creoles “half black
– have french” emerged and become the middle-class citizens. the
creoles went to schools, open business like their white french
decent. They also had orchestras playing at the New Orleans
festivals when most of the city come together. But some of the
creoles did not see themselves equal to the other black people
because they went to schools and also they grew up in better
situations than slave blacks. the creoles did not associate with
other blacks also because they felt, they were better but after
Plessy vs Ferguson, all that changed because it made all color
people including the creoles second class citizens. The creoles had
to integrate back to the black community and it was awkward timing
for them. Since the ruling of Plessy v Ferguson took place, a lot
has changed and the creoles could not be part of the white. with
their musical instruments, they joined other blacks and started
mixing blues and other types of music. and that when Jazz emerged
and became a household genre.

14) In the late 1800s, there
was three main social classes in New Orleans. The affluent white
land owners of mostly French immigrants who had obtained wealth
thru land ownership. They were the upper class of the city and
reveled in many of the same arts and activites as the aristocrats
of France. Another group was the African-American freed slaves or
descendants of former slaves. They were considered the bottom of
the social hierarchy but during this period in New Orleans,
colored folk had the right to vote and some even served as
government officials. The third class of people, or the middle
social class, was the Creole. Interracial descendants of
French-oriented whites and their black mistresses or wives (Week 2
Lecture Notes). The Creole had many of the same social allowances
as the white upper class, some were even slave owners. The Creole
class were educated and trained like other European descendants and
were taught in the classical style of music.
But in 1896, Plessy vs Fergusson changed the social landscape of
New Orleans by fortifying the one drop rule. The one drop rule
meant even Creoles were subject to the Jim Crow laws that barred
people of color from white establishments and upper class
advantages. This forced Creoles to coerce and mingle with the
African-American population that they previously looked down on.
This resulted in the mixture of the classical musical style of the
Creoles and the bluesy, Ragtime sound of the southern freed slaves.
Some scholars believe this formed the basis for the current day
Jazz band and sound.
15) Sweet Jazz can be characterized by its medium tempo and its
lack of improvisation. Hot Jazz was upbeat, fiery, and kept it
going with a fast tempo. There was a lot of ragtime influences and
a lot of improvisation as well. Hot Jazz was played on radio shows
and it gained a lot of popularity. This was played on white
channels, by white bands. However, there was a black composer and
arranger curating the whole performance. This was due to the fact
that America wanted to hear black music, but that did not
necessarily mean they wanted to hear it from black people.
America’s strange attraction to black culture would make more sense
if they listened to actual black artists. But instead, they
preferred to have it mediated by white musicians. They popularized
black music simply by playing to a different audience using
musicians who look like the audience. In a way, one could claim
that the exploitation of black music could be considered as
cultural appropriation. They didn’t want to air a black band
because that was too modern and forward for the time period, but
yet they wanted masses to enjoy the beauty in it.
16) New Orleans was known for its music. Jazz was one genre that
was developed in New Orleans in the beginning of the swing era.
Jazz was broken up into two styles which were sweet Jazz and hot
Jazz. Sweet Jazz is characterized by sounding relaxed, full of
emotion and it consisted of medium tempos. Sweet Jazz was also
popularized by white society bands and were often played in high
class places. On the other hand, Hot Jazz was characterized by its
up-beat sound, improvisations and its experimental rhythmic drive.
After Plessy Vs Fergusson race became very segregated. Sweet Jazz
and Hot Jazz was coded as white Jazz and Black Jazz. Due to the
music being so segregated this impacted the popularization of jazz.
Interracial bands became obsolete due to the recording industry
being white owned. Because of the Plessy ruling Creoles and African
Americans were looked at as the same and because of this the
mixture created new musical practices and new types of ensembles.