A message on the topic of what jazz is. History of the development of jazz. Origins and styles. Decline of jazz music

Jazz was born in New Orleans. Most histories of jazz begin with a similar phrase, usually with the obligatory clarification that similar music developed in many cities of the American South - Memphis, St. Louis, Dallas, Kansas City.

The musical origins of jazz, both African American and European, are numerous and too long to list, but it is impossible not to mention its two main African American predecessors.

You can listen to jazz songs

Ragtime and blues

For about two decades turn of XIX-XX centuries - a short heyday of ragtime, which was the first type of popular music. Ragtime was performed primarily on the piano. The word itself translates as “ragged rhythm,” and this genre received its name because of the syncopated rhythm. The author of the most popular plays was Scott Joplin, nicknamed the “King of Ragtime.”

Example: Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag

Another equally important predecessor of jazz was the blues. If ragtime gave jazz its energetic, syncopated rhythm, blues gave it a voice. And in the literal sense, since blues is a vocal genre, but primarily in a figurative sense, since blues is characterized by the use of blurred notes that are absent in the European sound system (both major and minor) - blues notes, as well as a colloquially shouted and rhythmically free manner execution.

Example: Blind Lemon Jefferson - Black Snake Moan

The birth of jazz

Subsequently, African-American jazz musicians transferred this style to instrumental music, and wind instruments began to imitate the human voice, its intonations and even articulations. So-called “dirty” sounds appeared in jazz. Every sound should have a peppery quality. A jazz musician creates music not only with the help of different notes, i.e. sounds of different heights, but also with the help of different timbres and even noises.

Jelly Roll Morton - Sidewalk Blues

Scott Joplin lived in Missouri and the first known published blues was called the "Dallas Blues." However, the first jazz style was called "New Orleans Jazz".

Cornetist Charles "Buddy" Bolden combined ragtime and blues by playing by ear and improvising, and his innovation influenced many of the more famous New Orleans musicians who later smashed new music around the country, primarily in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles: Joe "King" Oliver, Bunk Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Kid Ory and, of course, the king of jazz, Louis Armstrong. This is how jazz took over America.

However, this music did not immediately receive its historical name. At first it was called simply hot music (hot), then the word jass appeared and only then jazz. The first jazz record was recorded by a quintet of white performers, the Original Dixieland Jass Band, in 1917.

Example: Original Dixieland Jass Band - Livery Stable Blues

The Swing Era - Dance Fever

Jazz emerged and spread as dance music. Gradually, dance fever spread throughout America. multiplied dance halls and orchestras. The era of big bands, or swing, began, lasting about a decade and a half from the mid-20s to the end of the 30s. Never before or since has jazz been so popular.
A special role in the creation of swing belongs to two musicians - Fletcher Henderson and Louis Armstrong. Armstrong influenced a huge number of musicians, teaching them rhythmic freedom and variety. Henderson created the format of a jazz orchestra with its later division into a saxophone section and a wind section with a roll call between them.

Fletcher Henderson - Down South Camp Meeting

The new composition has become widespread. There were about 300 big bands in the country. The leaders of the most popular of them were Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Chick Webb, Jimmy Lunsford, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman. The repertoire of orchestras includes popular melodies that are called jazz standards, or sometimes called jazz classics. The most popular standard in the history of jazz, Body and Soul, was first recorded by Louis Armstrong.

From bebop to post-bop

In the 40s The era of big orchestras ended quite abruptly, primarily for commercial reasons. Musicians began to experiment with small compositions, thanks to which a new jazz style was born - bebop, or simply bop, which meant a whole revolution in jazz. This was music intended not for dancing, but for listening, not for a wide audience, but for a narrower circle of jazz lovers. In a word, jazz ceased to be music for the entertainment of the public, but became a form of self-expression for musicians.

The pioneers of the new style were pianist Thelonious Monk, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Charlie Parker, pianist Bud Powell, trumpeter Miles Davis and others.

Groovin High - Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie

Bop laid the foundations for modern jazz, which is still predominantly the music of small bands. Finally, bop sharpened jazz's constant desire to search for something new. An outstanding musician aimed at constant innovation was Miles Davis and many of his partners and the talents he discovered, who later became famous jazz performers and jazz stars: John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Wynton Marsalis.

Jazz of the 50s and 60s continues to evolve, on the one hand, remaining true to its roots, but rethinking the principles of improvisation. This is how hard bop, cool...

Miles Davis - So What

...modal jazz, free jazz, post-bop.

Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island

On the other hand, jazz begins to absorb other types of music, for example, Afro-Cuban and Latin. This is how Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian jazz (bossanova) appeared.

Manteca - Dizzy Gillespie

Jazz and rock = fusion

The most powerful impetus for the development of jazz was the appeal of jazz musicians to rock music, the use of its rhythms and electric instruments (electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizers). The pioneer here was again Miles Davis, whose initiative was picked up by Joe Zawinul (Weather Report), John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Herbie Hancock (The Headhunters), Chick Corea (Return to Forever). This is how jazz-rock or fusion arose...

Mahavishnu Orchestra — Meeting Of The Spirits

and psychedelic jazz.

Milky Way - Weather Report

History of jazz and jazz standards

The history of jazz is not only about styles, movements and famous jazz performers, it is also about many beautiful melodies that live in many versions. They are easily recognized, even if they don’t remember or don’t know the names. Jazz owes its popularity and attractiveness to such wonderful composers as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Hoggy Carmichael, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kernb and others. Although they wrote music primarily for musicals and shows, their themes, taken up by representatives of jazz, became the best jazz compositions of the twentieth century, which were called jazz standards.

Summertime, Stardust, What Is This Thing Called Love, My Funny Valentine, All the Things You Are - these and many other themes are known to every jazz musician, as well as compositions created by the jazzmen themselves: Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Paul Desmond and many others (Caravan, Night in Tunisia, 'Round Midnight, Take Five). This is a jazz classic and a language that unites both the performers themselves and the jazz audience.

Modern jazz

Modern jazz is a pluralism of styles and genres and a constant search for new combinations at the intersections of directions and styles. And modern jazz performers often play in a variety of styles. Jazz is susceptible to influence from many types of music, from avant-garde and folk music to hip-hop and pop. It turned out to be the most flexible type of music.

The recognition of the worldwide role of jazz was the proclamation of UNESCO in 2011 International Day jazz, which is celebrated annually on April 30.

A small river, the source of which was in New Orleans, in just over 100 years turned into an ocean that washes the whole world. American writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald once called the 20s. the age of jazz. Now these words can be applied to the twentieth century as a whole, since jazz is the music of the twentieth century. The history of the emergence and development of jazz almost fits into the chronological framework of the last century. But, of course, it doesn't end there.

1. Louis Armstrong

2. Duke Ellington

3. Benny Goodman

4. Count Basie

5. Billie Holiday

6. Ella Fitzgerald

7. Art Tatum

8. Dizzy Gillespie

9. Charlie Parker

10. Thelonious Monk

11. Art Blakey

12. Bud Powell

14. John Coltrane

15. Bill Evans

16. Charlie Mingus

17. Ornette Coleman

18. Herbie Hancock

19. Keith Jarrett

20. Joe Zawinul

Text: Alexander Yudin

The first heroes of jazz appeared here, in New Orleans. The pioneers of the New Orleans jazz style were African-American and Creole musicians. The founder of this music is considered to be the black cornetist Buddy Bolden.

Charles Buddy Bolden born in 1877 (according to other sources in 1868). He grew up amid the craze for brass bands, although he first worked as a hairdresser, then as a tabloid publisher. The Cricket, and in between he played the cornet in many New Orleans bands. The musicians of the early period of jazz development had some kind of “strong” professions, and music was a side hustle for them. Since 1895, Bolden devoted himself entirely to music and organized his first orchestra. Some jazz researchers argue that 1895 can be considered the year of the birth of professional jazz.

Enthusiastic jazz fans often assigned high titles to their favorites: king, duke, count. Buddy Bolden was the first to receive the well-deserved title of “king,” since from the very beginning he stood out among trumpeters and cornetists with his incredibly strong, beautiful sound and wealth of musical ideas. Ragtime Band Buddy Bolden, who later served as a prototype for many black ensembles, was a typical composition of New Orleans jazz and played in dance halls, saloons, street parades, picnics, and parks. outdoors. The musicians performed square dances and polkas, ragtimes and blues, and the famous melodies themselves served only as a starting point for numerous improvisations, supported by a special rhythm. This rhythm is called big four (square), when every second and fourth beat of the bar is accented. And Buddy Bolden invented this new rhythm!

By 1906, Buddy Bolden had become the most famous musician in New Orleans. King Bolden! Musicians different generations Those who were lucky enough to hear the jazzman (Bunk Johnson, Louis Armstrong) noted the beautiful and strong sound of his trumpet. Bolden's playing was distinguished by its extraordinary dynamism, sonic power, aggressive style of sound production, and genuine blues flavor. The musician was an incredibly popular person. He was always surrounded by gamblers, businessmen, sailors, Creoles, white and black, women. Bolden had the most fans in the entertainment district of Storyville, organized in 1897 on the border of the Upper and Lower cities - in the “red light” area. There are similar quarters in all port cities of the world, be it Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Hamburg in Germany or Marseille in France, even in ancient Pompeii (Italy) there was a similar quarter.

New Orleans was deservedly considered a den of debauchery. Most New Orleanians were not Puritans. Along the entire “street of pleasures” there were nightlife establishments, countless dance halls and cafes, taverns, taverns and snack bars. Each such institution had its own music: a small orchestra consisting of African Americans, or even a single player on the piano or mechanical piano. Jazz that sounded in similar establishments with a special mood, dealt with the realities of life. This is what attracted the whole world to jazz music, since it did not hide earthly carnal joys. Storyville, filled with a joyful and sensual atmosphere, was a symbol of a life full of risk and excitement, it attracted everyone like a magnet. The streets of this area were filled with people, mostly men, around the clock.

The apogee of the career of cornetist Buddy Bolden and his Buddy Bolden's Ragtime Band coincided with Storyville's best years. Wednesday, of course, was vulgar. And the time comes when you have to pay for everything! A wild life bears fruit. Bolden began drinking alcohol, quarreling with musicians, and missing performances. He always drank a lot, because often in “fun” establishments musicians were paid with drinks. But after 1906, the musician began to have a mental disorder, headaches appeared, and he talked to himself. And he was afraid of everything, even his cornet. Those around him were afraid that the aggressive Bolden might kill someone, especially since there had been such attempts. In 1907, the musician was placed in a mental hospital, where he spent twenty-four years in obscurity. He cut the hair of the unfortunate inhabitants of the mournful house like him and never again touched his cornet, from which indescribably beautiful jazz once sounded. Buddy Bolden, the creator of the world's first jazz orchestra, died in 1931, in complete obscurity, forgotten by everyone, and himself not remembering anything, although it was he who tried to bring jazz into the form of a real art.

New Orleans was home to Creoles of color, with French, Spanish and African blood flowing in their veins. In their fairly wealthy and prosperous environment, although the role of Creoles in the strict then caste system was somewhat uncertain, parents had the opportunity to give their children a decent education and taught music. Creoles considered themselves heirs European culture. Jelly Roll Morton, who will be discussed further, came from such an environment. Some sources say Morton was born in 1885, while some sources say he was born in 1890. Morton claimed to be of French descent, but his black mother was brought to New Orleans from the island of Haiti. From the age of ten Ferdinand

Joseph Lemott - that was Morton's real name - studied to play the piano. Most Creoles were Puritans, that is, people of strict rules. Morton wasn't like that! He was attracted to nightlife, he was a “night person.” Already at the age of seventeen, in 1902, Jelly Roll appeared in Storyville and soon became a famous musician, playing in saloons and brothels. He witnessed and then took part in everything that happened around him. The temperamental and unrestrained young man loved to pull out a knife with or without reason; he was a braggart and a bully. But the main thing is that Morton was the most talented musician, a ragtime performer, the first composer in the history of jazz, who, with the help of improvisation, melted all the melodies that were fashionable at that time into an unprecedented musical fusion. Morton himself was the first connoisseur of his music, claiming that everything that other musicians played was composed by him. This, of course, was not the case. But one thing was true: Morton was the first to write down on the musical staff those melodies that he composed and which later became jazz classics. Often these melodies had a "Spanish flavor", they were based on the rhythms of "Habanera" - Spanish tango. Morton himself believed that without this “seasoning” jazz turns out to be insipid, but he was a man of thrills. The musician demanded to be called Jelly Roll, which was a rather frivolous nickname, since this slang phrase meant “sweet tube” and had an erotic meaning.

Morton became a versatile artist: he played the piano, sang, and danced. However, the local framework of work in “fun houses” turned out to be too tight for him, and soon the pianist left New Orleans, especially since Jelly Rolla’s strict grandmother, having learned about her grandson’s true work, kicked him out of the house. In 1904, the jazzman made several tours around the United States with musicians: B. Johnson, T. Jackson and W. C. Handy. Morton became a wanderer and remained one throughout his life. The musician was recognized in Memphis, St. Louis, New York, Kansas City and Los Angeles. In order to feed himself, because music did not always bring a livelihood, Morton had to play in vaudeville, be a sharpie and play billiards, sell a medicine for consumption of dubious composition, organize boxing matches, be the owner of tailoring workshops, and a music publisher. But everywhere he felt like a stranger, and he had to prove that he was a first-class musician. From 1917 to 1922, Morton had a relatively comfortable life in warm California. He and his wife bought a hotel, and Jelly Roll's reputation as a musician was at its best. But the restless nature of the jazzman made itself felt. In 1923, the musician moved to Chicago, where he organized his own band of ten people - Red Hot Peppers, which at different times included performers of the classical jazz style: Barney Bigard, Kid Ory, brothers Dodds. Since 1926, Morton and his band began recording on records. The most famous compositions - King Porter Stomp, Kansas City Stomp, Wolverine Blues. Morton's music included elements of ragtime, blues, folk songs (Creole folklore), brass band music, Irish and French music, i.e., all the origins of New Orleans jazz, but ultimately it was the original music - the jazz of Jelly Roll Morton himself.

After the swing period of the 1930s, Morton's luck ran out and he returned to California, having previously recorded his stories and music for history in 1938 at the Library of Congress. Over the next two years, Morton performed with the revival orchestra. New Orleans Jazzmen and solo programs. Jelly Roll Morton died in Los Angeles in 1941.

Books have been written about Morton's life and work, and perhaps more has been said about this man, a strange mixture of a brilliant jazzman and a braggart bully, than about any other musician in the history of jazz. It remains indisputable that the work of Jelly Roll Morton had a great influence on the development of early jazz.

Jazz music has gone through different periods over its hundred-year history. At first they accused it of low taste, of ugliness, and they did not want to let it into decent society, considering it vicious, “rat”, old-fashioned, that is, music for ragamuffins, because it was not invented in music salons for whites... Then recognition came and love not only in America, but throughout the world. Where did the name of this music come from?

Origin of the term jazz not fully understood. Its modern spelling is jazz- established in the 1920s. There are many versions of the origin of the word “jazz”. First someone called him the word jass, by name, supposedly, jasmine perfume, which was preferred by the Storyville “priestesses of love” in New Orleans. Over time, the word "jass" became jazz. Some researchers believe that since the state of Louisiana was a territory where the French initially set the tone, jazz came from the French. jaser"have an emotional conversation." Some argue that the roots of the word “jazz” are African, that it means “to spur a horse.” This interpretation of the term “jazz” has a right to exist, since initially this music really seemed “spurred” and incredibly fast to listeners. Over the course of more than a century of jazz history, various reference books and dictionaries have continually “discovered” numerous versions of the origin of this word.

By 1910, not only black orchestras, but also white ones, appeared in New Orleans. The drummer is considered the “father of white jazz” and the first orchestra, created back in 1888, consisting only of white musicians Jack Papa Lane(1873-1966). Lane called his next orchestra, which was destined for a long forty-year life Reliance Brass Band(white musicians avoided the word “jazz” in their names, considering it derogatory, because jazz was played by blacks!). Some jazz scholars believe that Lane's orchestra imitated the black New Orleans jazz style. And Jack Lane himself called his music ragtime. The orchestra's musicians were very popular among the white population on the dance floors of New Orleans, but, unfortunately, no recordings of this band have survived.

The musical life of New Orleans did not stand still. New musicians began to appear, pioneers of New Orleans jazz, who eventually became stars: Freddie Keppard(trumpet, cornet), Kid Ory(trombone), Joe Oliver(cornet). And a clarinetist Sydney Bechet whose delightful music would amaze listeners for almost fifty years.

Sydney Joseph Bechet(1897-1959) was born into a Creole family. Parents expected that music for little Sydney would be only a light hobby, and not a profession.

But the boy was not interested in anything except music. He realized his musical genius early on. The teachers were amazed at how this child played, as if he was engulfed in fire escaping from his clarinet! Not wanting to study music for a long time, Sidney Bechet, at the tender age of eight, began playing in the bands of famous trumpeters Freddie Keppard and Buddy Bolden. By the age of sixteen, Sydney had completed school education and devoted himself entirely to music. Bechet was soon considered New Orleans' most unique musician. When we talk about jazz musicians who left a significant mark on music, we first of all talk about personalities and how they were able to express their personality through a musical instrument. Gradually Bechet developed his own individual, inimitable style with a powerful vibrato and a smooth melodic line. Every note of the jazzman trembled, trembled, shook, but the young musician also had the sharpest, “biting attack.” Sidney Bechet loved the blues, and the musician's clarinet moaned and cried as if alive, shaking with sobs.

The right to speak in one’s own voice in jazz music was the main innovation at that time. After all, before the advent of jazz, the composer told the musician what and how to play. And young Sidney Bechet, who was considered a “miracle of nature” in New Orleans, extracted sounds from the instrument that this instrument, it would seem, could not reproduce. In 1914, the musician left his father's house, began to travel around Texas and other southern states with concerts, performed at carnivals, traveled with vaudeville acts on ships, and in 1918 he ended up in Chicago, and later in New York. In 1919 with orchestra Willa Cook Sidney Bechet came to Europe for the first time. The orchestra's concert tour was very successful, and Bechet's performances were assessed by critics and professional musicians as the performance of an outstanding virtuoso clarinetist and a brilliant artist. With the tours of such outstanding New Orleans musicians as Sidney Bechet, a real epidemic of jazz in Europe will begin. In London, the musician purchased a soprano saxophone in one of the stores, which would become the jazzman’s favorite instrument for many years. The soprano saxophone allowed the virtuoso to dominate any orchestra. In the 1920s Sidney Bechet collaborated with pianist, composer, orchestra leader Clarence Williams(1898-1965), recorded with Louis Armstrong and accompanied blues singers. In 1924, Sydney played in an early dance orchestra for three months Duke Ellington bringing blues intonations and the unique deep vibrato of his clarinet to Bond’s sound. Then again toured in France, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Poland. In 1926, Sidney Bechet gave concerts in the USSR with the ensemble Frank Withers. Over the course of three months, the musicians visited Moscow, Kharkov, Kyiv and Odessa. Probably, Europe, which was more tolerant in racial terms, was very fond of the musician, since later, from 1928 to 1938, the jazzman worked in Paris.

After the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), when France was occupied by the Nazis, Bechet returned to America, worked in a club with a guitarist Eddie Condon(1904-1973), who became famous as the author of unusual musical projects in which many traditional jazz musicians took part. The life of musicians is not always smooth and prosperous. Sidney Bechet in the 1930s, during the economic crisis, was forced to interrupt his active musical activity. Sydney even had to open a tailor's shop, but the income from it turned out to be small, and the jazzman there was more involved in music than in tailoring. Throughout his musical career, Bechet was invited to many orchestras, but the quarrelsome and prickly character of the temperamental musician, who did not always control his passions, often harmed the genius of the soprano saxophone. Sydney was expelled from England and France for fighting; the jazzman spent almost a year in a Paris prison. The musician also felt like an outcast in his homeland, the USA, where jazz music was heard only in restaurants, dance halls or black revues. And Sidney Bechet, who was not devoid of star narcissism, wanted world recognition and worthy halls.

Bechet was always a supporter of New Orleans jazz. In the 1940s, when bebop replaced swing, the musician initiated the revival of traditional jazz, took part in the “revival” movement - recorded records with such jazz veterans as Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Willie Bunk Johnson, Eddie Condon etc.

In 1947, Sidney Bechet returned to his beloved Paris. Playing with French musicians, performing at festivals, and touring in many countries, Bechet contributed to the development of traditional jazz in Europe. The musician became famous, and his song theme Le Petite Fleure was incredibly popular and beloved throughout the music world, a unique business card jazz pioneer. Sidney Bechet was the “adopted son” of France and died on French soil in 1959. In 1960, after the death of the outstanding musician, his autobiographical book was published Treat It Gently. France has not forgotten its favorite, in Paris there is a street named after Sidney Bechet and a monument to the jazzman has been erected, and one of the best French traditional jazz orchestras bears his name - Sidney Bechet Memorial Jazz Band.

From New Orleans, jazz music spread throughout America, and then throughout the world, slowly but inevitably. This was also facilitated by the emergence of the recording industry, since 1901 a company of “talking” machines Victor released the first gramophone record. The most large editions records were published with recordings of classical music and great Italian singer Enrico Caruso. Recording jazz on records at the beginning of the 20th century. It hasn't occurred to anyone yet. In order to listen to jazz, you had to go to those places where jazz was heard: to dances, to entertainment venues, etc. Jazz recordings appeared only in 1917, around the same time the American press began writing about jazz. Therefore, we will never hear how the legendary Buddy Bolden played the cornet, or how pianist Jelly Roll Morton or cornetist King Oliver sounded at the very beginning of the century. Morton and Oliver began recording later, after 1920. And they caused a sensation in the 1910s. cornetist Freddie Keppard refused to make records for fear that other musicians would “steal his style and music.”

Freddie Keppard(1890-1933) - cornetist, trumpeter, one of the leaders of the New Orleans bond, was born into a Creole family. Next to Buddy Bolden, Keppard is considered the most significant figure in early jazz. As a child, Freddie learned to play many instruments, but as a teenager, having mastered the cornet, he began performing with New Orleans orchestras. In 1914, Keppard left New Orleans for Chicago in 1915-1916. performed in New York. In 1918, the cornetist returned to Chicago and played with Joe King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, impressing listeners with his signature trumpet sound, which was so powerful that its power was compared to the sound of a military brass band. This sound was given to the instrument by the “croaking” mute. But Keppard, as eyewitnesses recall, knew how to play not only bravura, the sound of his trumpet, when the composition required it, was soft or loud, lyrical or rude. The trumpeter mastered the entire spectrum of tones.

In Los Angeles, Keppard and six other musicians organized The Original Creole Orchestra. They performed in New York and Chicago, where Freddie was always received as "King Keppard". They say that the musician hit such high notes on his trumpet that people in the front rows tried to move further away. Keppard was tall and strong man, and the sound of his trumpet matched the musician. One day, a jazzman made such a powerful sound that the mute of his trumpet flew onto a nearby dance floor. All Chicago newspapers wrote about this unprecedented incident. Keppard was a self-taught musician who had no musical literacy, but he had a phenomenal memory. When it was necessary to learn something new, Freddie first listened carefully as one of the musicians played a new melody, and then he himself played back what he heard. New Orleans musicians often

they didn’t know sheet music, but they were virtuoso performers. For all the artistry and power of his playing, Freddie Keppard was so afraid of imitators that he played the trumpet, covering his fingers with a handkerchief, so that no one could repeat his music and remember his improvisations.

In December 1915 the company Victor invited Keppard and his orchestra to record a record, even though jazz had never been recorded before and record companies had no idea whether the records would sell. Of course, for a musician it was a unique chance to be a pioneer in this matter. Amazingly, Freddie refused, afraid that other musicians would buy his record and be able to copy his style and steal his fame. Keppard missed his chance to be the first jazz musician to be recorded on record.

It should be noted that the entire history of jazz, which occurred in the 20th century, turns out to be incomplete, since the main evidence of this history - recordings - is not comprehensive evidence. After all, jazz is undocumented music, unlike classical music. The improvisational nature of jazz has caused vast gaps in its history. Many jazz musicians who did not have a chance to record remained forever unknown to the history of jazz. Fashion, the commercial attractiveness of the musical product, and even the personal tastes of representatives of this business also influenced the publication of recordings. However, without the people of the music industry, we must give them their due, the creation of jazz music and bringing it to listeners would be impossible.

But let's go back to the historical year 1917, when jazz finally hit the gramophone record. The group was first Original Dixieland Jazz Band, which consisted of five white musicians from New Orleans who moved from their hometown to New York. This team was led by Nick LaRocca (1889-1961), who had previously played cornet in Jack "Papa" Lane's orchestra. Other musicians in the quintet played clarinet, trombone, piano and drums. And although in their playing the musicians used the techniques of black New Orleans jazzmen, even in the name of their ensemble, Nick and his comrades used the term “Dixieland” (from the English. Dixieland- land of Dixie - comes from the name of the southern states of the country used in the USA), wanting to emphasize some difference from African Americans.

Dixieland leader Nick LaRocca was the son of an Italian shoemaker. An assertive and ambitious man, Nick taught himself to play the cornet while locking himself in a barn, away from his skeptical father. (It should be noted that at this stage of the development of jazz, many white families were categorically against their offspring’s passion for incomprehensible, “vulgar and immoral” music). Nick's careful study of the performing techniques of New Orleans musicians Lane and Oliver bore fruit.

Band records - Livery Stable Blues, Tiger Rag, Dixie Jass One Step- were a huge success. (You should pay attention to the spelling of the word jass; that’s how it was spelled in those days.) The record, released in March 1917, immediately became a hit. Most likely because the music was danceable, fun, hot and lively. The musicians played as fast as they could. The sound engineer demanded this: two pieces had to be placed on one side. The play was especially funny Livery Stable Blues("Stable Blues") Jazz musicians imitated animals on their instruments: the cornet neighed like a horse, the clarinet crowed like a rooster. The circulation of this record exceeded one hundred thousand copies, which was several times more than the circulation of records by the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso!

This is how jazz entered American life. Many famous musicians subsequently listened to this record and learned to play new rhythms from it. “Musical anarchists,” as LaRocca himself called his comrades, left their mark on the history of early jazz. In 1919, the musicians of Nick LaRocca's ensemble toured England, where they had stunning success. The jazz band recorded its music at an English company Columbia. From Europe, the musicians brought many popular themes at that time, which were included in the ensemble’s repertoire. But the band soon broke up (the war and the death of one of the musicians intervened). Nick himself sheathed his pipe in 1925 and returned to New Orleans to the family construction business.

However, until the end of his life, LaRocca continued to insist that he invented jazz, and black musicians stole this invention from him. One thing is certain: the credit for popularizing jazz belongs to Nick LaRocca and his team. Although we now know how this wonderful music was born, which is inevitably connected with all of American history and mythology, the black race and skin color.

Soul, swing?

Probably everyone knows how a composition in this style sounds. This genre arose at the beginning of the twentieth century in the United States of America and represents a certain combination of African and European culture. Amazing music almost immediately attracted attention, found its fans and quickly spread throughout the world.

It is quite difficult to convey a jazz musical cocktail, since it combines:

• bright and lively music;
• the unique rhythm of African drums;
• church hymns of Baptists or Protestants.

What is jazz in music? It is very difficult to define this concept, since it contains seemingly incompatible motives, which, interacting with each other, give the world unique music.

Peculiarities

What characteristic features has jazz? What is jazz rhythm? And what are the features of this music? The distinctive features of the style are:

• a certain polyrhythm;
• constant pulsation of bits;
• a set of rhythms;
• improvisation.

The musical range of this style is colorful, bright and harmonious. It clearly shows several separate timbres that merge together. The style is based on a unique combination of improvisation with a pre-thought-out melody. Improvisation can be practiced by either one soloist or several musicians in an ensemble. The main thing is that the overall sound is clear and rhythmic.

Jazz history

This musical direction has developed and been shaped over the course of a century. Jazz arose from the very depths of African culture, as black slaves, who were brought from Africa to America in order to understand each other, learned to be one. And, as a result, they created a unified musical art.

The performance of African melodies is characterized by dance moves and the use of complex rhythms. All of them, together with the usual blues melodies, formed the basis for the creation of a completely new musical art.

The whole process of combining African and European culture in jazz art started from the end XVIII century, lasted throughout the 19th century and only at the end of the 20th century led to the emergence of a completely new direction in music.

When did jazz appear? What is West Coast Jazz? The question is quite ambiguous. This trend appeared in the south of the United States of America, in New Orleans, approximately at the end of the nineteenth century.

The initial stage of the emergence of jazz music is characterized by a kind of improvisation and work on the same musical composition. It was played by the main trumpet soloist, trombone and clarinet performers in combination with percussion musical instruments against the backdrop of marching music.

Basic styles

The history of jazz began quite a long time ago, and as a result of the development of this musical direction, many various styles. For example:

• archaic jazz;
• blues;
• soul;
• soul jazz;
• scat;
• New Orleans style of jazz;
• sound;
• swing.

The birthplace of jazz left a big imprint on the style of this musical movement. The very first and traditional type created by a small ensemble was archaic jazz. Music is created in the form of improvisation on blues themes, as well as European songs and dances.

Blues can be considered a fairly characteristic direction, the melody of which is based on a clear beat. This type of genre is characterized by a pitiful attitude and glorification of lost love. At the same time, light humor can be traced in the texts. Jazz music implies a kind of instrumental dance piece.

Traditional black music is considered to be a soul movement, directly related to blues traditions. New Orleans jazz sounds quite interesting, which is distinguished by a very precise two-beat rhythm, as well as the presence of several separate melodies. This direction is characterized by the fact that the main theme is repeated several times in different variations.

In Russia

In the thirties, jazz was very popular in our country. Soviet musicians learned what blues and soul are in the thirties. The attitude of the authorities towards this direction was very negative. Initially, jazz performers were not banned. However, there was quite harsh criticism of this musical direction as a component of the entire Western culture.

In the late 40s, jazz groups were persecuted. Over time, repressions against musicians ceased, but criticism continued.

Interesting and Fascinating Facts about Jazz

The birthplace of jazz is America, where various musical styles were combined. For the first time this music appeared among the oppressed and disenfranchised representatives African people who were forcibly taken away from their homeland. In rare hours of rest, the slaves sang traditional songs, clapping their hands to accompany themselves, since they did not have musical instruments.

At the very beginning it was real African music. However, over time it changed, and motifs of religious Christian hymns appeared in it. At the end of the 19th century, other songs appeared in which there was protest and complaints about one’s life. Such songs began to be called blues.

The main feature of jazz is considered to be free rhythm, as well as complete freedom in melodic style. Jazz musicians had to be able to improvise individually or collectively.

Since its inception in the city of New Orleans, jazz has gone through a rather difficult path. It spread first in America, and then throughout the world.

The best jazz performers

Jazz is a special music filled with unusual inventiveness and passion. She knows no boundaries or limits. Famous jazz performers are able to literally breathe life into music and fill it with energy.

The most famous jazz performer is Louis Armstrong, revered for his lively style, virtuosity, and inventiveness. Armstrong's influence on jazz music is invaluable, as he is the greatest musician of all time.

Duke Ellington made a great contribution to this direction, as he used his musical group as a musical laboratory for conducting experiments. For all my years creative activity he wrote many original and unique compositions.

In the early 80s, Wynton Marsalis became a real discovery, as he chose to play acoustic jazz, which created a real sensation and provoked a new interest in this music.

Jazz as a form of musical art appeared in the United States at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries, incorporating the musical traditions of European settlers and African folklore melodic patterns.

Characteristic improvisation, melodic polyrhythm and expressive performance of steel distinctive feature the first New Orleans jazz ensembles (jazz-band) in the first decades of the last century.

Over time, jazz went through periods of development and formation, changing its rhythmic pattern and stylistic direction: from the improvisational style of ragtime, to the danceable orchestral swing and leisurely soft blues.

The period from the early 20s until the 1940s was associated with the rise of jazz orchestras (big bands), consisting of several orchestral sections of saxophones, trombones, trumpets and a rhythm section. The peak of big band popularity occurred in the mid-1930s. Music performed by the jazz orchestras of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman was heard on dance floors and on the radio.

Rich orchestral sound, bright intonations and improvisation of great soloists Coleman Hawkins, Teddy Wilson, Benny Carter and others - created a recognizable and unique big band sound, which is a classic of jazz music.

In the 40-50s. of the last century, the time has come for modern jazz; such jazz styles, like furious bebop, lyrical cool jazz, soft west coast jazz, rhythmic hard bop, soulful soul jazz have captured the hearts of jazz music lovers.

In the mid-1960s, a new jazz direction appeared - jazz-rock, a peculiar combination of the energy inherent in rock music and jazz improvisation. Founders jazz style- Miles Davis, Larry Coryell, Billy Cobham are considered rock. In the 70s, jazz-rock became extremely popular. The use of the rhythmic pattern and harmony of rock music, shades of traditional oriental melodic music and blues harmony, the use of electric instruments and synthesizers - over time led to the emergence of the term jazz fusion, emphasizing by its name the combination of several musical traditions and influences.

In the 70-80s, jazz music, while maintaining an emphasis on melody and improvisation, acquired features of pop music, funk, rhythm and blues (R&B) and crossover jazz, significantly expanding the audience of listeners and becoming commercially successful.

Modern jazz music, emphasizing clarity, melody and beauty of sound, is usually characterized as smooth jazz or contemporary jazz. The rhythmic and melodic lines of guitar and bass guitar, saxophone and trumpet, keyboard instruments, in the sound frame of synthesizers and samplers create a luxurious, easily recognizable colorful smooth jazz sound.

Despite the fact that smooth jazz and contemporary jazz both have a similar musical style, they are still different jazz styles. As a rule, it is stated that smooth jazz is “background” music, while contemporary jazz is more individual jazz style and requires the listener's close attention. Further development of smooth jazz led to the emergence of lyrical directions of modern jazz– adult contemporary and more rhythmic urban jazz with shades of R&B, funk, hip-hop.

In addition, the emerging trend towards combining smooth jazz and electronic sound has led to the emergence of such popular trends in modern music as nu jazz, as well as lounge, chill and lo-fi.

How a type of music developed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. as a result of the synthesis of elements of two musical cultures - European and African. Of the African elements, one can note polyrhythmicity, repeated repetition of the main motive, vocal expressiveness, improvisation, which penetrated into jazz along with common forms of Negro musical folklore - ritual dances, work songs, spirituals and blues.

Word "jazz", originally "jazz band", began to be used in the middle of the 1st decade of the 20th century. in the southern states to refer to the music created by small New Orleans ensembles (composed of trumpet, clarinet, trombone, banjo, tuba or double bass, drums and piano) in the process of collective improvisation on themes of blues, ragtime and popular European songs and dances.

To get acquainted, you can listen and Cesaria Evora, and, , and many others.

So what is it Acid Jazz? This is a funky musical style with built-in elements of jazz, 70s funk, hip-hop, soul and other styles. It can be sampled, it can be live, and it can be a mixture of the latter two.

Mostly, Acid Jazz puts emphasis on music rather than text/words. This is club music that aims to get you moving.

First single in style Acid Jazz was "Frederick Lies Still", author Galliano. This was a cover version of the work Curtis Mayfield "Freddie's Dead" from the movie "Superfly".

Great contribution to the promotion and support of style Acid Jazz contributed Gilles Peterson, who was a DJ on KISS FM. He was one of the first to found Acid Jazz label In the late 80s - early 90s, many performers appeared Acid Jazz, which were like “live” teams - , Galliano, Jamiroquai, Don Cherry, and studio projects - PALm Skin Productions, Mondo GroSSO, Outside, And United Future Organization.

Of course, this is not a style of jazz, but a type of jazz instrumental ensemble, but still it was included in the table, because any jazz performed by a “big band” stands out very much from the background of individual jazz performers and small groups.
The number of musicians in big bands usually ranges from ten to seventeen people.
Formed in the late 1920s, it consists of three orchestra groups: saxophones - clarinets(Reels) brass instruments(Brass, later groups of trumpets and trombones emerged), rhythm section(Rhythm section - piano, double bass, guitar, drums musical instruments). The Rise of Music big bands, which began in the USA in the 1930s, is associated with a period of mass enthusiasm for swing.

Later, right up to the present day, big bands performed and continue to perform music of a wide variety of styles. However, in essence, the era of big bands begins much earlier and dates back to the times of American minstrel theaters in the second half of the 19th century, which often increased the performing cast to several hundred actors and musicians. Listen The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, And His Orchestra and you will appreciate all the charm of jazz performed by big bands.

Jazz style that developed in the early to mid-40s of the 20th century and ushered in the era of modern jazz. Characterized by fast tempo and complex improvisations based on changes in harmony rather than melody.
The ultra-fast tempo of performance was introduced by Parker and Gillespie in order to keep non-professionals away from their new improvisations. Among other things, a distinctive feature of all bebopists was their shocking behavior. "Dizzy" Gillespie's curved trumpet, Parker and Gillespie's behavior, Monk's ridiculous hats, etc.
Having emerged as a reaction to the widespread spread of swing, bebop continued to develop its principles in the use of expressive means, but at the same time revealed a number of opposing trends.

Unlike swing, which is mostly the music of large commercial dance orchestras, bebop is experimental creative direction in jazz, associated mainly with the practice of small ensembles (combos) and anti-commercial in its orientation.
The bebop phase marked a significant shift in the emphasis of jazz away from popular dance music towards a more highly artistic, intellectual, but less mass “music for musicians”. Bop musicians preferred complex improvisations based on strumming chords instead of melodies.
The main instigators of the birth were: saxophonist, trumpeter, pianists Bud Powell And Thelonious Monk, drummer Max Roach. If you want Be Bop, listen , Michel Legrand, Joshua Redman Elastic Band, Jan Garbarek, Modern Jazz Quartet.

One of the styles of modern jazz, formed at the turn of the 40s - 50s of the 20th century based on the development of the achievements of swing and bop. The origin of this style is primarily associated with the name of the Negro swing saxophonist L. Young, who developed a “cold” style of sound production that was opposite to the sound ideal of hot jazz (the so-called Lester sound); It was he who first introduced the term “kul” into use. In addition, the premises of cool jazz are found in the work of many bebop musicians - such as C. Parker, T. Monk, M. Davis, J. Lewis, M. Jackson and others.

At the same time cool jazz has significant differences from bopa. This was manifested in a departure from the traditions of hot jazz that bop followed, in a rejection of excessive rhythmic expressiveness and intonation instability, and in a deliberate emphasis on specifically black flavor. Played in this style: , Stan Getz, Modern Jazz Quartet, Dave Brubeck, Zoot Sims, Paul Desmond.

With the gradual decline in the activity of rock music starting in the early 70s, with the decrease in the flow of ideas from the world of rock, fusion music became more straightforward. At the same time, many began to realize that electric jazz could become more commercial, producers and some musicians began to look for such combinations of styles to increase sales. They really successfully created a type of jazz that was more accessible to the average listener. Over the past two decades, many different combinations have emerged for which promoters and publicists like to use the expression " Modern Jazz", used to describe the "fusions" of jazz with elements of pop music, rhythm and blues and "world music".

However, the word "crossover" more accurately describes the essence of the matter. Crossover and fusion achieved their goal of increasing the audience for jazz, especially among those who were fed up with other styles. In some cases, this music is worthy of attention, although generally the jazz content in it is reduced to zero. Examples of the crossover style range from (Al Jarreau) and vocal recordings (George Benson) to (Kenny G), "Spyro Gyra" And " " . In all this there is the influence of jazz, but, nevertheless, this music fits into the field of pop art, which is represented by Gerald Albright, George Duke, saxophonist Bill Evans, Dave Grusin,.

Dixieland- the broadest designation musical style the earliest New Orleans and Chicago jazz musicians who recorded records from 1917 to 1923. This concept also extends to the period of subsequent development and revival of New Orleans jazz - New Orleans' Revival, which continued after the 1930s. Some historians attribute Dixieland only to the music of white bands playing in the New Orleans jazz style.

Unlike other forms of jazz, the musicians' repertoire of pieces Dixieland remained quite limited, offering endless variations of themes within the same tunes composed throughout the first decade of the 20th century and included ragtimes, blues, one-steps, two-steps, marches and popular tunes. For performance style Dixieland characteristic was the complex interweaving of individual voices into the collective improvisation of the entire ensemble. The opening soloist and the other soloists who continued his play seemed to oppose the “riffing” of the rest of the wind instruments, right up to the final phrases, usually performed by the drums in the form of four-beat refrains, to which the entire ensemble responded in turn.

The main representatives of this era were The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Joe King Oliver, and his Famous Orchestra, Sidney Bechet, Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Paul Mares, Nick LaRocca, Bix Beiderbecke and Jimmy McPartland. Dixieland musicians were essentially looking for a revival of the classic New Orleans jazz of yesteryear. These attempts were very successful and, thanks to subsequent generations, continue to this day. The first of the Dixieland revivals took place in the 1940s.
Here are just some of the jazzmen who played Dixieland: Kenny Ball, Lu Watters Yerna Buena Jazz Band, Turk Murphys Jazz Band.

Since the early 70s, a German company has occupied a separate niche in the jazz style community ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music- Modern Music Publishing House), which gradually became the center of an association of musicians who professed not so much an attachment to the African-American origin of jazz, but rather the ability to solve a wide variety of artistic problems, without limiting themselves to a certain style, but in line with the creative improvisational process.

Over time, a certain personality of the company was developed, which led to the separation of the artists of this label into a large-scale and clearly defined stylistic direction. The label's founder Manfred Eicher's focus on uniting various jazz idioms, world folklore and new academic music into a single impressionistic sound made it possible to use these means to claim depth and philosophical understanding of life values.

The company's main recording studio, located in Oslo, clearly correlates with the dominant role in the catalog of Scandinavian musicians. First of all, they are Norwegians Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Nils Petter Molvaer, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen. However, the geography of ECM covers the whole world. Europeans are here too Dave Holland, Tomasz Stanko, John Surman, Eberhard Weber, Rainer Bruninghaus, Mikhail Alperin and representatives of non-European cultures Egberto Gismonti, Flora Purim, Zakir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu, Nana Vasconcelos, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Anouar Brahem and many others. The American Legion is no less representative - Jack DeJohnette, Charles Lloyd, Ralph Towner, Redman Dewey, Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie, Leo Smith. The initial revolutionary impulse of the company's publications turned over time into a meditative and detached sound of open forms with carefully polished sound layers.

Some mainstream adherents deny the path chosen by the musicians of this trend; however jazz is like world culture, is developing despite these objections, and is producing very impressive results.

In contrast to the refinement and coolness of the cool style, the rationality of progressive on the East Coast of the United States, young musicians in the early 50s continued the development of the seemingly exhausted bebop style. The growth of self-awareness of African Americans, characteristic of the 50s, played a significant role in this trend. There was a renewed focus on staying true to African-American improvisational traditions. At the same time, all the achievements of bebop were preserved, but many developments of cool were added to them both in the field of harmony and in the field of rhythmic structures. Musicians of the new generation, as a rule, had good music education. This current, called "hardbop", turned out to be quite numerous. Trumpeters joined in Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Donald Byrd, pianists Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, drummer Art Blake, saxophonists Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Cannonball Adderley, double bassist Paul Chambers and many others.

Another technical innovation turned out to be significant for the development of the new style: the appearance of long-playing records. It became possible to record long solos. For musicians, this has become a temptation and a difficult test, since not everyone is able to speak out fully and succinctly for a long time. Trumpeters were the first to take advantage of these advantages, modifying Dizzy Gillespie's style to a calmer but deeper playing. The most influential were Fats Navarro And Clifford Brown. These musicians paid the main attention not to virtuosic high-speed passages in the upper register, but to thoughtful and logical melodic lines.

Hot jazz is considered to be the music of the New Orleans pioneers of the second wave, whose highest creative activity coincided with the mass exodus of New Orleans jazz musicians to the North, mainly to Chicago. This process, which began shortly after the closure of Storyville due to the US entry into World War I and the declaration of New Orleans as a military port for this reason, marked the so-called Chicago era in the history of jazz. The main representative of this school was Louis Armstrong. While still performing in the King Oliver ensemble, Armstrong made revolutionary changes to the concept of jazz improvisation at that time, moving from traditional schemes of collective improvisation to the performance of individual solo parts.

The very name of this type of jazz is associated with the emotional intensity characteristic of the manner of performing these solo parts. The term Hot was originally synonymous with jazz solo improvisation to highlight the differences in approach to soloing that occurred in the early 1920s. Later, with the disappearance of collective improvisation, this concept began to be associated with the method of performing jazz material, in particular with the special sound that determines the instrumental and vocal style of performance, the so-called hot intonation: a set of special methods of rhythmization and specific intonation features.

Perhaps the most controversial movement in jazz history arose with the advent of "free jazz". Although the elements "Free Jazz" existed long before the term itself appeared, in “experiments” Coleman Hawkins, Pee Wee Russell and Lenny Tristano, but only towards the end of the 1950s through the efforts of such pioneers as the saxophonist and pianist Cecil Taylor, this direction took shape as an independent style.

What these two musicians created together with others, including John Coltrane, Albert Euler and communities like Sun Ra Orchestra and a group called The Revolutionary Ensemble, consisted of various changes in the structure and feel of the music.
Among the innovations that were introduced with imagination and great musicality was the abandonment of the chord progression, which allowed the music to move in any direction. Another fundamental change was found in the area of ​​rhythm, where "swing" was either revised or ignored altogether. In other words, pulse, meter and groove were no longer essential elements in this reading of jazz. Another key component was related to atonality. Now musical expression was no longer based on the usual tonal system.

Piercing, barking, convulsive notes completely filled this new sound world. Free jazz continues to exist today as a viable form of expression, and is in fact no longer as controversial a style as it was in its early days.

Perhaps the most controversial movement in jazz history arose with the advent of "free jazz".

A modern style direction that emerged in the 1970s on the basis of jazz-rock, a synthesis of elements of European academic music and non-European folklore.
The most interesting compositions of jazz-rock are characterized by improvisation, combined with compositional solutions, the use of harmonic and rhythmic principles of rock music, the active embodiment of the melody and rhythm of the East, and the introduction of electronic means of sound processing and synthesis into music.

In this style, the range of application of modal principles has expanded, and the range of different modes, including exotic ones, has expanded. In the 70s, jazz-rock became incredibly popular; the most active musicians joined it. Jazz-rock, which is more developed in terms of the synthesis of various musical means, is called “fusion” (fusion, merging). An additional impulse for “fusion” was another (not the first in the history of jazz) bow towards European academic music.

In many cases, fusion actually becomes a combination of jazz with conventional pop music and light rhythm and blues; crossover. Fusion music's ambitions for musical depth and empowerment remain unfulfilled, although in rare cases the search continues, for example, in groups like "Tribal Tech" and in Chick Corea's ensembles. Listen: Weather Report, Brand X, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, Spyro Gyra, Tom Coster, Frank Zappa, Urban Knights, Bill Evans, from the new Niacin, Tunnels, CAB.

Modern funk refers to popular styles of jazz of the 70s and 80s, in which accompanists play in a black pop-soul style, while solo improvisations have a more creative and jazzy character. Most saxophonists in this style use their own set of simple phrases that consist of bluesy shouts and groans. They build on a tradition adopted from saxophone solos in rhythm and blues vocal recordings like King Curtis's Coasters recordings. Junior Walker with vocal groups of the Motown label, David Sanborn from "Blues Band" by Paul Butterfield. A prominent figure in this genre - who often played solos in the style Hank Crawford using funk-like accompaniment. Much of the music , and their students use this approach. , also work in the style of "modern funk".

The term has two meanings. Firstly, this means of expression in jazz. A characteristic type of pulsation based on constant deviations of the rhythm from the supporting beats. Thanks to this, the impression of great internal energy is created, which is in a state of unstable equilibrium. Secondly, the style of orchestral jazz, which emerged at the turn of the 1920s and 30s as a result of the synthesis of Negro and European stylistic forms of jazz music.

Initial definition "jazz-rock" was the most clear: a combination of jazz improvisation with the energy and rhythms of rock music. Up until 1967, the worlds of jazz and rock existed practically separately. But by this time, rock becomes more creative and more complex, psychedelic rock and soul music emerge. At the same time, some jazz musicians began to get tired of pure hardbop, but they did not want to play difficult avant-garde music. As a result, two different idioms began to exchange ideas and join forces.

Since 1967, guitarist Larry Coryell, vibraphonist Gary Burton, in 1969 drummer Billy Cobham with the group "Dreams", in which the Brecker brothers played, they began to explore new spaces of style.
By the end of the 60s, Miles Davis had the necessary potential to transition to jazz rock. He was one of the creators of modal jazz, on the basis of which, using 8/8 rhythm and electronic instruments, he took a new step by recording the albums “Bitches Brew”, “In a Silent Way”. Along with him at this time is a brilliant galaxy of musicians, many of whom later become fundamental figures in this movement - (John McLaughlin), Joe Zawinul(Joe Zawinul) Herbie Hancock. Davis's characteristic asceticism, brevity, and philosophical contemplation turned out to be just the thing in the new style.

By the early 1970s jazz rock had its own distinct identity as a creative jazz style, although it was ridiculed by many jazz purists. The main groups of the new direction were "Return To Forever", "Weather Report", "The Mahavishnu Orchestra", various ensembles Miles Davis. They played high-quality jazz-rock that combined a huge range of techniques from both jazz and rock. Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Ska - Jazz Foundation, John Scofield Uberjam, Gordian Knot, Miriodor, Trey Gunn, trio, Andy Summers, Erik Truffaz- you should definitely listen to it to understand how diverse progressive and jazz-rock music is.

Style jazz-rap was an attempt to bring together African-American music of past decades with a new dominant form of the present, which would pay tribute and infuse new life into the first element of this - fusion - while also expanding the horizons of the second. The rhythms of jazz-rap were completely borrowed from hip-hop, and the samples and sound texture mainly came from such genres of music as cool jazz, soul-jazz and hard bop.

The style was the coolest and most famous of all hip-hop styles, and many artists demonstrated an Afro-centric political consciousness, adding historical authenticity to the style. Considering the intellectual bent of this music, it is not surprising that jazz-rap never became a favorite of the street parties; but then no one thought about it.

The representatives of jazz-rap themselves called themselves supporters of a more positive alternative to the hardcore/gangsta movement, which displaced rap from its leading position in the early 90s. They sought to spread hip-hop among listeners who could not accept or understand the growing aggression of the urban musical culture. Thus, jazz-rap found the bulk of its fans in student dormitories, and was also supported by a number of critics and fans of white alternative rock.

Team Native Tongues (Afrika Bambaataa)- this New York collective, consisting of African-American rap groups, has become a powerful force representing the style jazz-rap and includes groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and The Jungle Brothers. Soon began their creativity Digable Planets And Gang Starr also gained fame. In the mid-late 90s, alternative rap began to be divided into a large number of substyles, and jazz-rap no longer often became an element of the new sound.