Jazz.

American jazz music is an extraordinary art form, so unlike any other that all humanity has ever experienced before that we have record of. Based upon the American principle of freedom of expression, the complexity of the music ranges from it's basic three chord blues roots, where variation of pitch and intonation often become trademarks of an artist's signature, to the seemingly atonality of modern, free jazz, which fully encompasses the entire structure of the equal temperament system. Adding into this mix the idea that historically an integral part of the creation of jazz music is to be improvised "in the moment", helps us to understand the basic freedoms enjoyed by the art form, encouraging a more educated view of the American jazz artist and the music they create. Jazz is often said to be America's classical music.

Of all of the popular American styles, the jazz world is by far and away potentially the most theoretically complex. Even in it's least complicated songs, performance in the jazz styling tend to scramble the folk, blues and rock players, leaving them little or no toehold in the music. Often it is in the rhythmic complexity of the jazz music that leaves lots of folks out so to speak, tempos alone will often do it. Modulation coupled with extending the harmonies with their color tones also tend to confuse players of other styles. Does one have to play jazz to understand the theory of jazz? Of course not, the tradition is to hear it, feel it and play I think. Does knowing the theory help? Absolutely. For from it's ageless blues roots of call and response and pitch variation of the blue notes to all of the modern melodic and harmonic sophistication of equal temperament, the music can surely ask an awful lot of it's players to understand.

In it's most cerebral ( ? ) presentations, jazz music can fully embrace the entire melodic and harmonic capabilities created by the equal tempered division of the octave into 12 tones. That each of these 12 pitches can potentially assume the role of the tonic pitch, from each of which we can project our vast melodic and harmonic colors. Thus, jazz melodies do range from crying blues lines to complex chromatic tone rows, with everything in between and amazingly enough, no musical sound is really ever out of place when "artistically" done in jazz performances. This broad approach to melody is combined with the full 12 tone range of a precisely tuned harmony, creating a potentially huge palette of artistic elements of combined varied tunings. Is this the essence of the "anything from anywhere" jazz mantra? Yep. What? You'll have to click to get there from here.

As in most of the popular American styles, jazz musicians historically place this palette of tonal resources within a performance environment whereby the players are called upon to improvise certain aspects ( or all ) of the music being created. And while there are oftentimes written out guidelines to assist the improviser in performance, so often these guidelines end up located inside one's consciousness, the ideas coming forth being from the creative genius of the player. All of this is oftentimes driven by exciting tempos, occasionally setting a pace that defies definition, even to the dancers! All combined, the structural potentials of the theory and improvisational performance format of American jazz music is potentially among the most complex and challenging of any music on our planet, past and present. And in the future ...

Jazz styles. The following listing of stylistic distinctions within the world of jazz music follows the historical evolution of the styles over the last 125 years or so. While each of the genres tend to have their own unique sound and theoretical characteristics, not only do they share common elements but there is an evolution of traits within this history that retains the musical elements that helped in keeping the music popular, i.e., sell records. Lest we forget that until the 50's and the emergence of rock and roll, jazz was Americas "pop" music. All of the players mentioned in the following discussions are also on the legends page, where links to their web sites are included if available.

Blues. At the historical core of American jazz is the "blues" and as the term has come to imply, is anything but a joyous or "comfy" environment. It's musical form, pitches and the stories it tells formed the foundation for later expansion into the myriad of different jazz styles we enjoy today. In our current times, while a blues played in a jazz setting often follows the original form and uses the blue notes to set the overall tone and mood of the piece, we usually experience brighter tempos, more advanced chord and melodic substitution, generally a more chromatic nature to all of the lines and the complex layering of rhythms to create the swing thing.

Ragtime. Dating to the 1880's, ragtime was New Orleans based and was a solid step away from the blues traditions. The music often is reminiscent of the energetic, booming American era in which it was first created. Mostly a piano style, the complex rhythmic groove of the ragtime sounds was in later times broken up into individual lines, which were parted out to the players of larger ensembles. Scott Joplin and his "Maple Leaf Rag" is perhaps the most famous of the era.

Dixieland. Emerging at the dawn of the 20th century, the Dixieland style basically evolves from orchestrating piano ragtime songs for an instrumental ensemble. Retaining the early blues approach to melody, where everyone involved plays the melody, the results create a seemingly "cacophony of sound", which is jubilation to behold, a joyous, toe tappin dance extravaganza. Louis Armstrong leads the band with tunes such as "When The Saints Go Marching In."

Swing / big band sounds of the 30's and 40's. Here the American jazz sounds become the big band sounds, 10 to 17 or so instruments precisionly arranged for a maximum swinging effect. Perhaps the most elegant of the American sounds, the often boisterous Dixieland sound evolves into melodic and harmonic sophistication, layers and layers of polish and refinement, gorgeous lines and adventurous harmonies and modulation, the sleeker Two / Five motion becomes the cadential motion of choice, even in blues numbers, which swing, swing, swing. The "king of swing" Benny Goodman sets the tone in the 30's while Duke Ellington defines the genre with co-written tunes such as "Perdido," to the delight of the dancers and listeners alike.

Bebop. Considered by many to be America's most theoretically complex style of music, bebop emerged in the early 40's and was an outrage to even many of the players of those days in that it made no sense, had no singable melody line and no discernable form for the dancers. Based on extending the harmony to the 9th and beyond, the 5th was often flatted with the rhythms took on a whole new character. Gone was the steady beat of the bass drum from the swing era, that four beat pulse now going over to the bass player. The drum groove was created by combining a 2 and 4 beat on the high hat or sock cymbals with a " tah ta ta tah" type subdivision of the quarter note on the ride cymbal, the clear sound of which was clearly heard throughout the band. Sounding softer by nature of the smaller groups of players, the intensity of "bop" was fueled by the rapid tempos, complex unison melodic lines and the new and exciting chord substitutions and extensions. Charlie Parker was the undisputed king of bebop, his composition "Confirmation" often referred to as the "granddaddy" of them all.

Straight ahead / hard bop / cool. In perhaps a reaction to the "boppers", things started to mellow in the early 50's and onward by the reintroduction of a few of the American elements that were not essential to the bebop sound. A basic change was to move back to a more danceable tempo. Not that too many young people were dancing to jazz, what with the advent of rock and roll emerging from the blues during these years, but tempos quieted down a bit, songs from the swing era / Broadway and tin pan alley reemerged and the writing and playing often takes on a bluesier, simpler quality. With the emergence of the Hollywood movie scene / west coast thing, cool jazz evolved. Less hectic, more lyrically simplistic, cool jazz was a welcome relief to the uninitiated musician / listener in it's approachability. Miles Davis' epic album "All Blues" is said to have signaled the "birth of the cool."

Bossa Nova. From the warm and luscious shores of Brazil comes the soft and enchanting sounds of Bossa Nova. Emerging in the early 60's, Bossa nova went on to combine the best of the jazz sophistication with the ease and gentle rhythms of the Bossa dances, to become so popular here in America it was often termed "pop" than jazz. Many jazz artists of the day embraced these sounds so naturally with their jazz training, creating a new sound that continues to enjoy to this day a certain degree of global acceptance. Brazilian composer and player Antonio Carlos Jobim is king of the Bossa and his popular composition "The Girl From Impanema" his queen.

Jazz - rock fusion / free jazz players. In the late 60's and 70's, jazz merged a bit with rock music. The basic elements of rock afforded the jazz player a new format for their improvisations. Oftentimes wide open grooves for blowing, melodies often became riffs played in unison follow by extended solo blowing over one or two chords. Coolness emerges from this fusion of the rock and jazz styles in the form of "funk", an inner city rock / jazz / blues combination that was very danceable and hip. Based on the 16th note permutation of the beat, as funk evolved, it's lines became very tight, rhythmically very complex and oh so cool in the inner urban setting. Miles Davis' "On The Corner" was an early and rather influential jazz / rock album of it's day.

Free jazz. An extension of this jazz rock fusion was into the world of free jazz and chromaticism. Here the lines become less and less tonal, the music sounding further and further out there. Compositions are titled after the planets of our solar system and players often don celestial costumes, to invoke the spirit of the music visually. Certain aspects of this music become very spiritual, as new doors were being opened during the 70's through meditation and an influence of eastern religions. John Coltrane's "Ascension" is a journey in these free jazz directions.

Modern jazz. Perhaps as a reaction to the earlier "sell out" to rock and roll, modern jazz players came back with a vengeance during the late 70's and onward, many embracing the entire jazz tradition into their styles. From the hot and bluesy Louis, to the intense bebop of Bird, through the cool Miles, to the post bop complexities of Trane towards the polytonal sounds, many modern jazz players of today can do it all so well. With the popular resurgence of mainstream jazz, classic jazz compositions or "standards" are being done in modern terms, compositions such as "When I Fall In Love", written in 1952 by Victor Young win Grammy awards for jazz / pop singers in the mid 90's. Wynton Marsalis and Michael Brecker are two giants among so many that lead this resurgence of the mainstream jazz language through their incredibly impeccable, articulate and swinging styles of playing.

Contemporary / smooth jazz. As the 70's waxed and the disco 80's emerged, many younger jazz players began to create a "easy listening" style of jazz that is anything but easy to play, often requiring some pretty solid chops to pull it off. Seemingly "easy" based on the grooves, lines and diatonic scheme of things, smooth jazz today is a modern day version of the jazz / rock fusion, but done this time around with all of the magic of midi and players who have the benefit of the earlier experimentation's from the 70's. Much of this contemporary sound borrows from the Bossa Nova, but this time around plays it twice as fast creating the Samba, a real whirl and twirl for the dancers brave enough to try. All of this material is oftentimes placed into neat, tight forms, created with synth sounds of incredible beauty and played so cleanly it's scary. Guitarist Pat Metheny and groups such as "Spyro Gyra" set the standard early on for so many happening contemporary jazz players of today.

Players / era / style. Here is a beginning listing of some of the major influences within the jazz idiom over the last century or so.

Click American legends to expand on the above ideas.

List of tunes. Is learning tunes where it's at? Well ... it is what we play when we're on the bandstand eh ...? Click standard tunes for a listing of suggested song titles for the emerging jazz artist. Tunes become standards for good reasons, and they are many. A cool melody, cool harmony, interesting substitution, nice lyrics, classic interpretation all figure in. There is also the real possibility that within a "standard" is something very unique, which as a component, can be extracted from the tune it was written in and applied in other tunes as well. We can examine these "components" theoretically and create principles of understanding or rules of thumb that facilitate their application in other settings. After learning a number of standards, a player often times begins to see common links between tunes and start a collection of their favorite components. Original tunes can evolve from this collection as well as a players sound and approach to the music, gradually creating one's artistic signature. And as so often happens, learning one cool tune simply leads to another by the same composer, then another ...

Learning tunes is where it's at for me. I hopefully don't ever play scales when I gig or sit in, jam whatever, but improvise melodies. Playing tunes usually illuminates my weakness, both in theory and in practice, so preparing to play tunes also covers scales, different chords, voicings etc. Does it all comes out of playing tunes? With this in mind, here is a list of jazz standards for the emerging artist, most of which are commonly found in many of the jazz real books out there. Got a favorite or two?

So, where to start learning the jazz language? Play the blues my friend. Already play the blues? Perhaps try Monk's "Straight No Chaser" and enter into the world of the Two / Five cadential motion." Hip to the Two / Five? Maybe double it up to Three / Six / Two / Five? Try a tritone sub going into Four? Cycle down chromatically from Four using minor chords? Check out blues substitutions for more ideas. Maybe it is time to start the search for a jazz real book eh? Learning tunes is one big key aspect to understanding the artform. Comments, questions?

The gradually ascending theoretical complexity of the jazz language in this text is based on the pathway pioneered by jazz tenor saxophone legend John Coltrane and based on his harmonic explorations as preserved in his composing throughout his career. Mr. Coltranes' exhausting of the diatonic Two / Five / One cadential motion evolves into the four Two / Five pairings as created by the resolving properties of V 7b9 chord. Mixing in the b9's diminished qualities, whole step / half step and motion up or down by minor 3rd, the harmony and key scheme of Moments Notice is evolves. Exhaustion of this minor 3rd / diminished motion is gradually looped with the perfect fourth, creating a closed cycle of pitches that Mr. Coltrane eventually fits within 8 bars. This minor 3rd / perfect 4th pairing eventually becomes the basis of Giant Steps, among the most theoretically complex of American jazz standards and Mr. Coltrane's last harmonic stop before his polytonal / chromatic ascension. All this harmonic evolution from a cat who didn't play a chordal instrument professionally, crazy huh?

Mr. Coltrane's ascension towards polytonality is partially driven by explorations of the arpeggios, Mr. Coltrane's "sheets of sound", as termed by a New York music critic, as he explored further into the sounds and emotional effect of rapidly articulating arpeggios. That a consistent major 3rd / minor 3rd arpeggiating of the pitches eventually creates a closed looping of pitches, from which we can extract a cycle of triads, scales and tonalities, is the window into a new dimension of musical organization. A gradually alternating ascension of the Lydian and Dorian colors which exhaust the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale as major and minor key centers before perfectly closing to our starting pitch. Very cool, and a heartfelt thanks to Mr. Coltrane for showing me the way. So, that's how the theory basically evolves in this text.

Author's note. Is the above drawn parallel of the organization of the theory in this text and Mr. Coltrane's development pure dreaming on my part? Totally. Absolutely. Without any doubt or question. I can only surmise, speculate, and stretch to quantify my ideas from the recordings of Mr. Coltrane's work we all potentially have access of. That in his "searching", Mr. Coltrane evolved from the diatonic / blues realm into the chromatic / polytonal environment over the course of his artistic career. For my part, I have searched the theory by simply following Mr. Coltrane's musical legacy of recordings and compositions to arrive at my present understanding of the organization of our present day musical resources and the theory that glues them together. Is it possible to trace the theoretical evolution of an artist through the historical and chronological analysis of their work? That seems to be the crux of it eh? Like Pablo Picasso's "blue period?" Like the "Blue Note" in New York? Comments / questions?

Perhaps in need of a curriculum to help organize your jazz studies?

A jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges. Benny Green