The Real History of Jass (Jazz) @ Monday Nite Jazz Jam!!! Between 1916 and 1918 the word Jass used within the band name of the Original Dixieland Jass Band was changed to Jazz. The word Jazz stuck and has been used ever since that first jass/jazz recording to describe an ever changing and evolving musical style. The success of the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917 with the first Jass recording was immense. The Victor Talking Machine Company had placed advertising posters in the New York subway cars (the same long thin rectangular posters you see on buses today) and the first letter in the word Jass was defaced. This wouldn’t do with society and the Victor Talking Machine Company changed the name to Jazz. Dating back to 1914 there were only three or four other groups that used the name Jass within their band name. The term was used more in general language slang and was certainly not used to describe a musical style. Prior to 1916 the word “Jass” was supposedly used in general language slang meaning to do something with vigor and energy. “Let’s Jass it up on the dance floor.” The use of a slang term “Jass,” a hit recording and changing the spelling from Ja-s-s to Ja-z-z, forever secured the word Jazz as a musical definition term. The founding fathers Ferdinand Jelly Roll Morton LaMothe, a flamboyant black (but very light-skinned) Creole pianist who stands out as the first major Jazz composer, blended blues and ragtime styles, a fusion that perhaps represented the origins of jazz music better than anything else. His Jerry Roll Blues (September 1915) was the first published piece of Jazz music. The first instrumental record by a black orchestra (i.e., the first black jazz record) was in fact cut in Los Angeles: Orys Creole Trombone (july 1922) by Edward Kid Orys Creole Orchestra, formed in 1919 by that veteran New Orleans band-leader with former New Orleans musicians who had relocated to the West Coast. Jazz became a mixture of many types of music. Its roots date back to the 1880s with African origins. Jazz combines elements of African music with elements of Western European instruments. The birthplace of that combination, is said to be New Orleans. One theory as to why New Orleans is the birthplace is contributed to the black Creole subculture. The Creoles were originally from the West Indies and lived under the Spanish and French rule in Louisiana. They became free Americans under the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The Creoles spoke Spanish and French ....and lived in the high society of the French district in New Orleans. The Creoles took pride in their formal knowledge of the Western European music and their social and cultural values that classified them as upper class. Their music focused on sight-readings and correct performances for they played at the Opera House and chamber ensembles. On the West Side of New Orleans live the uneducated, culturally and economically poor American blacks. Their music was based on simple melodies and complex cross-rhythms mixed in with verbal slurs, vibrato, syncopated rhythms, and blues notes. The songs they sang were mostly spiritual or sung to pass the time of hardship and hard labor. The songs were actually encouraged because the workers seem to work better with the soothing effects of the music. Their music was characterized more by memorization and improvisation. In 1894, The Jim Crow segregation laws were in effect in New Orleans, which forced the upper class Creoles to live on the West Side with the poor, uneducated American blacks. The mixture of the two cultures clashed and created some of the beginnings of Jazz. Jazz changed and new forms were developed often. Between the 1890 and the 1900, Ragtime and the Blues was the new craze. New Orleans seemed to be the Mecca of new artists and sounds that included everything including but not limited to brass band, Ragtime, marches, pop, dances, and Blues. The music spread to the north and west through migrating travelers and records. Jazz really came into effect by the 1920s when the whites adapted and imitated it. Some of the leaders of the popular Jazz bands include Joe King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Ferdinand Jelly Roll Morton. These bands played in a style that would come to be known as Dixieland. Dancing became the latest craze during the late 30s. Many people wanted to shake off the depression by dancing. So Jazz music developed into new types of music to dance to. By the 1940s Jazz has developed into many styles of music. There were Bop, Traditional, Swing, Dixieland, and Latin influences on Jazz. Jazz has a variety of forms, even today. Acid Jazz is the most recent form of Jazz. It seems to becoming more and more popular these days. Jazz has such a great mixture of rhythm and beats that it will never cease to exist. To view great photographs and listen to some great Jazz songs from the golden age of Jazz visit the American Memory Library of Congress. wwwSmithsonianjazzorg Join Us This Monday for The Real History of Jass @ The Original Monday Nite Jazz Jam!!! Straight-No-Chaser Jazz Ensemble Nelson Mills, III...............Trumpet & Vocals Robert Sanders..................Piano Lex Valk.............................Upright String Bass Carl Lott, Jr. III................Drums Doc Como..........................Congas and Percussion Plus Special Guest Artists each Week from around the world!!! Tell a friend to tell a friend to meet you at the jam session Phil & Dereks Jazz Cafe A Fine Restaurant and Wine Bar 2811 Bammel Ln., 77098 (4 blocks West of Kirby off Westheimer) Every Monday - 8pm to 12 midnite (713) 901-4863 Info/Press (713) 529-1314 Restaurant Reserve dinner tables early See you this Monday !!! youtu.be/P5k9E717QVM
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 03:04:13 +0000
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