Vocal jazz

Last updated

Vocal jazz or jazz singing is an instrumental approach to jazz using the voice. Similar to a cappella, it utilizes vocal arrangements to create sounds forming music, rather than relying on traditional musical instruments.

Contents

Vocal jazz emerged in the early twentieth century, with its roots in Blues. Popular blues singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey had a great deal of influence of jazz vocalists such as Billie Holiday. [1] Other characteristics of vocal jazz such as scat singing came out of the New Orleans jazz tradition. Louis Armstrong's 1926 recording of "Heebie Jeebies" is often cited as the first modern song to employ scatting. [2] This later evolved into the complex vocal improvisation of the bop era that was adopted by Anita O'Day, Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, and Dizzy Gillespie. [3] The Boswell Sisters were a vocal jazz trio originating from New Orleans that help popularize vocal jazz music among the general American public during the 1930s. [4]

Repertoire of vocal jazz typically includes the music of the Great American Songbook, however contemporary popular music is now often arranged for vocal jazz ensembles in addition to original music. Such arrangements/original music typically employ the harmonic language of jazz, improvisation, and rhythms derived from the syncretized music of West Africa, African-Americans, and European Art Music traditions. This includes swing music, as well as Latin jazz, jazz fusion, and rhythm and blues. [5]

Technical characteristics of vocal jazz include diction based on vernacular rather than formal speech patterns. Legato and vibrato are also not constants in the articulation of vocal jazz. [6] Vocal jazz often uses microphone amplification and singers are accompanied by a rhythm section (piano, bass, drums, and guitar) and sometimes vocal percussion. [4]

History

Early in the twentieth century, jazz began developing as a musical movement. [7] Jazz singing, or vocal jazz, was the last of four innately American musical conceptions to develop, along with instrumental jazz, the blues, and Tin Pan Alley songwriting. [7]

While vocal jazz emerged during the early twentieth century, it was the turn of the 21st century where jazz fans began to accept the broader definition of vocal jazz. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

Funk Music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s

Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of gospel, soul, jazz fusion, rhythm and blues (R&B), and black rock. It de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. Funk uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals.

Rhythm guitar Guitar used to provide rhythm

In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section ; and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums.

Song Musical composition for human voice

A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition and variation of sections.

Bebop Subgenre of jazz music originated in the United States in mid-1940s

Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure, the use of scales and occasional references to the melody.

Scat singing Vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all

In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. This is different from vocalese, which uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos.

Jazz band Musical ensemble that plays jazz music

A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a horn section.

Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, Arabic, or other languages – the medium of sheet music typically is paper. However, access to musical notation since the 1980s has included the presentation of musical notation on computer screens and the development of scorewriter computer programs that can notate a song or piece electronically, and, in some cases, "play back" the notated music using a synthesizer or virtual instruments.

Vocal music Genre of music performed by one or more singers

Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered to be instrumental music as is music without singing. Music without any non-vocal instrumental accompaniment is referred to as a cappella.

Singing Act of producing musical sounds with the voice

Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music, Japanese music and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, ghazal and popular music styles such as pop, rock and electronic dance music.

New Orleans rhythm and blues Style of R&B music originating in New Orleans

New Orleans rhythm and blues is a style of rhythm and blues that originated in New Orleans. It was a direct precursor to rock and roll and strongly influenced ska. Instrumentation typically includes drums, bass, piano, horns, electric guitar, and vocals. The style is characterized by syncopated "second line" rhythms, a strong backbeat, and soulful vocals. Artists such as Roy Brown, Dave Bartholomew, and Fats Domino are representative of the New Orleans R&B sound.

Jazz Age American period in the 1920s and 1930s

The Jazz Age was a period in the 1920s and 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles rapidly gained nationwide popularity in the United States. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New Orleans as mainly sourced from the culture of the African diaspora, jazz played a significant part in wider cultural changes in this period, and its influence on popular culture continued long afterwards. The Jazz Age is often referred to in conjunction with the Roaring Twenties, and in the United States, it overlapped in significant cross-cultural ways with the Prohibition Era. The movement was largely affected by the introduction of radios nationwide. During this time, the Jazz Age was intertwined with the developing youth culture. The movement also helped start the beginning of the European Jazz movement.

Jazz improvisation

Jazz improvisation is the spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts in a performance of jazz music. It is one of the defining elements of jazz. Improvisation is composing on the spot, when a singer or instrumentalist invents melodies and lines over a chord progression played by rhythm section instruments and accompanied by drums. Although blues, rock, and other genres use improvisation, it is done over relatively simple chord progressions which often remain in one key.

School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School is the second conservatory of The New School university. It is located on West 13th Street in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood. It was known as The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music before it was rebranded as School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and becoming part of College of Performing Arts at The New School in 2016.

Non-lexical vocables, which may be mixed with meaningful text, are a form of nonsense syllable used in a wide variety of music. Common English examples would be "la la la", "na na na" or "da da da".

Each style and era of jazz adopted new techniques to help educate younger musicians. Early forms of jazz education were more informal. Since the first degree program was founded in 1947, the rise of institutionalized jazz education, resulted in jazz education becoming more formalized and more structured. Formalized jazz education has brought a new wave of interest in jazz. JazzTimes.com currently lists 492 collegiate jazz programs globally. This database is exclusive to just schools that offer majors and does not include the number of schools that also offer jazz courses in their curriculum. The formalization of jazz was and still is a controversial subject. Many professional musicians believe that it has harmed the spirit of the music, while others maintain that it has been beneficial for the art form.

Glossary of jazz and popular music List of definitions of terms and jargon used in jazz and popular music

This is a list of jazz and popular music terms that are likely to be encountered in printed popular music songbooks, fake books and vocal scores, big band scores, jazz, and rock concert reviews, and album liner notes. This glossary includes terms for musical instruments, playing or singing techniques, amplifiers, effects units, sound reinforcement equipment, and recording gear and techniques which are widely used in jazz and popular music. Most of the terms are in English, but in some cases, terms from other languages are encountered.

Outline of jazz Overview of and topical guide to jazz

Jazz – musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States, mixing African music and European classical music traditions.

Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development, by Gunther Schuller, is a seminal study of jazz from its origins through the early 1930s, first published in 1968. It has since been translated into five languages. When it was published, it was the first volume of a projected two volume history of jazz through the Swing era. The book takes an enthusiastic tone to its subject. A notable feature of the series is transcriptions of jazz performances, which increase its value for the musically literate.

References

  1. ↑ "Bessie Smith Biography: Controversy". SparkNotes. Retrieved 2022-04-16.
  2. ↑ Crowther, Bruce; Pinfold, Mike (1997). Singing Jazz. Miller Freeman Books. ISBN   0-87930-519-3.
  3. ↑ Robinson, J. Bradford (2007). Scat Singing. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
  4. 1 2 Moline, Lara Marie (2019). "Vocal Jazz in the Choral Classroom: A Pedagogical Study". Dissertations. University of Northern Colorado. 576– via Digital UNC.
  5. ↑ Amerind, Gregory (November 2013). "The Collegiate Vocal Jazz Ensemble: An Historical and Current Perspective on the Development, Current State, And Future Direction of the Genre" (PDF). Arizona State University.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ↑ Spradling, Diana; Binek, Justin (June 2015). "PEDAGOGY FOR THE JAZZ SINGER". The Choral Journal. American Choral Directors Association. 55 (11): 6–17 – via JSTOR.
  7. 1 2 3 Jazz, All About (2015-04-21). "Vocal Jazz: 1917-1950 article @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.