Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".
The term blues scale refers to several different scales with differing numbers of pitches and related characteristics.
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. was an American composer. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, then returned to the United States. After an early neoclassical phase, he developed a personal harmonic and rhythmic language. His compositions are known and performed throughout the world, and include orchestral, chamber music, solo instrumental, and vocal works. Carter was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
A suspended chord is a musical chord in which the third is omitted, replaced usually with either a perfect fourth (play ) or a major second (play ), although the fourth is far more common. The lack of a minor or a major third in the chord creates an open sound, while the dissonance between the fourth and fifth or second and root creates tension.
Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different but interrelated subjects: one of the Ancient Greek harmoniai, one of the medieval musical modes, or, most commonly, one of the modern modal diatonic scales, corresponding to the white notes from D to D, or any transposition of this.
Mixolydian mode is a musical mode. In the modern sense, it is the scale on the white piano keys that starts with G. Its ascending sequence consists of a root note, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step.
In music and music theory, a hexatonic scale is a scale with six pitches or notes per octave. Famous examples include the whole tone scale, C D E F♯ G♯ A♯ C; the augmented scale, C D♯ E G A♭ B C; the Prometheus scale, C D E F♯ A B♭ C; and the blues scale, C E♭ F G♭ G B♭ C. A hexatonic scale can also be formed by stacking perfect fifths. This results in a diatonic scale with one note removed.
The ragtime progression is a chord progression characterized by a chain of secondary dominants following the circle of fifths, named for its popularity in the ragtime genre, despite being much older. Also typical of parlour music, its use originated in classical music and later spread to American folk music. Growing, "by a process of gradual accretion. First the dominant chord acquired its own dominant...This then acquired its dominant, which in turn acquired yet another dominant, giving":
Philip Levine was an American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for more than thirty years in the English department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well. He served on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets from 2000 to 2006, and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011–2012.
Jazz piano is a collective term for the techniques pianists use when playing jazz. The piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. Its role is multifaceted due largely to the instrument's combined melodic and harmonic capabilities. For this reason it is an important tool of jazz musicians and composers for teaching and learning jazz theory and set arrangement, regardless of their main instrument.
In jazz harmony, a So What chord is a particular 5-note chord voicing. From the bottom note upwards, it consists of three perfect fourth intervals followed by a major third interval. It was employed by Bill Evans in the "'amen' response figure" to the head of the Miles Davis tune "So What".
The Jazz Piano Book is a tutorial by Mark Levine that aims to summarise the musical theory, including jazz harmony, required by an aspiring jazz pianist. It was first published in 1989.
Alice in Wonderland is the theme song composed by Sammy Fain for the Walt Disney 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland. It was performed by The Jud Conlon Chorus and The Mellomen. The lyrics were written by Bob Hilliard and were arranged by Harry Simeone for treble voices.
"Four" is a 1954 jazz standard. It was first recorded in 1954 by Miles Davis and released on his album Miles Davis Quartet. It is a 32-bar ABAC form.
"Ah-Leu-Cha" is a bebop composition written in 1948 by American jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. It is a contrafact of "Honeysuckle Rose" with a bridge based on the chord changes to "I Got Rhythm". "Ah-Leu-Cha" was originally recorded by Charlie Parker All-Stars on September 18, 1948, in New York City for Savoy Records.
"Constellation" is a bebop composition written in 1948 by American jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. It is a contrafact of "I Got Rhythm". "Constellation" was originally recorded by the Charlie Parker All-Stars on September 18, 1948 in New York City for Savoy Records.
"A Child Is Born" is a jazz instrumental that was later recorded with lyrics added. It was written in 1969 by the jazz trumpeter Thad Jones with lyrics added independently by Alec Wilder after hearing the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra perform the instrumental. The instrumental and the song have been recorded by a number of musicians including Tony Bennett, Stanley Turrentine and Bill Evans, Richard Davis, Kenny Burrell, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hank Jones and Helen Merrill.
