2 UMS 09-10
Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs
University of Michigan
Anonymous
Arts at Michigan
Arts Midwest’s Performing Arts Fund
Bank of Ann Arbor
Bustan al-Funun Foundation for Arab Arts
The Dan Cameron Family Foundation/Alan and Swanna Saltiel
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art
DTE Energy Foundation
The Esperance Family Foundation
David and Phyllis Herzig Endowment Fund
Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP
JazzNet Endowment
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Masco Corporation Foundation
Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C.
THE MOSAIC FOUNDATION (of R. and P. Heydon)
The Mosaic Foundation [Washington, DC]
National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
Prudence and Amnon Rosenthal K-12 Education Endowment Fund
Rick and Sue Snyder
Target
TCF Bank
UMS Advisory Committee
University of Michigan Credit Union
University of Michigan Health System
U-M Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
U-M Office of the Vice President for Research
Wallace Endowment Fund
This Teacher Resource Guide is a product of the UMS Youth Education Program. Researched, compiled, and edited by Carlos Palomares and Cahill Smith.
Special thanks to Savitski Design and Omari Rush for their contributions, feedback, and support in develop-ing this guide.
SUPPORTERS
3UMS 09-10
Photo: John Christenson
T H E B A D P L U SREID ANDERSON bass - ETHAN IVERSON piano - DAVID KING drums
T E A C H E R R E S O U R C E G U I D E 2 0 0 9 - 2 0 1 0
U M S Y O U T H E D U C AT I O N P R O G R A M
GRADES K-12
1 1 A M - 1 2 N O O N
FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 5
2 0 1 0
LYDIAMENDELSSOHN
THEATRE
4 UMS 09-10
ATTENDING THE PERFORMANCE6 Attending the Show8 Map + Directions9 The Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
THE BAD PLUS11 Who is The Bad Plus?12 In Their Own Words: A Conversation with The Bad Plus15 Discography18 Further Resources
TABLE OF CONTENTS
JAZZ20 What is Jazz?
Jazz in Grove Music•What is Jazz? by Jason West•
23 Elements of Jazz28 Brief Hisotry of Jazz + The Style of Jazz
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES36 Internet Resources39 Recommended Reading
ABOUT UMS41 University Musical Society43 Youth Education Program45 Send Us Feedback!
Short on time?If you only have 15 minutes to review this guide, just read the sections in black in the Table of Contents.
Those pages will provide the most important information about this performance.
6 UMS 09-10
TICKETS We do not use paper tickets for
Youth Performances. We hold school reserva-
tions at the door and seat groups upon arrival.
DOOR ENTRY A UMS Youth Performance
staff person will greet your group at your bus
as you unload. You will enter through the
main entrance (south) of the League Building.
BEFORE THE START Please allow the usher
to seat individuals in your group in the order
that they arrive in the theater. Once everyone
is seated you may then rearrange yourselves
and escort students to the bathrooms before
the performance starts. PLEASE spread the
adults throughout the group of students.
DURING THE PERFORMANCE At the
start of the performance, the lights well
dim and an onstage UMS staff member will
welcome you to the performance and provide
important logistical information. If you have
any questions, concerns, or complaints (for
instance, about your comfort or the behavior
of surrounding groups) please IMMEDIATELY
report the situation to an usher or staff memer
in the lobby.
PERFORMANCE LENGTH One hour (ap-
proximately) with no intermission
AFTER THE PERFORMANCE When the
performance ends, remain seated. A UMS
staff member will come to the stage and
release each group individually based on the
location of your seats.
SEATING & USHERS When you arrive at
the front doors, tell the Head Usher at the
door the name of your school group and he/
she will have ushers escort you to your block
of seats. All UMS Youth Performance ushers
wear large, black laminated badges with their
names in white letters.
ARRIVAL TIME Please arrive at the Men-
delssohn Theater between 10:30-10:50pm to
allow you time to get seated and comfortable
before the show starts.
DROP OFF Have buses, vans, or cars drop off
students on westbound (north) side of North
University Avenue in front of the Michigan
League Building. If there is no space in the
drop off zone, circle the block until space
becomes available. Cars may park at curbside
metered spots or in the visitor parking lot
behind the power Center. Buses should wait/
park at Briarwood Mall.
DETAILS
AT T E N D I N G T H E S H O WWe want you to enjoy your time with UMS!
PLEASE review the important information below about attending the Youth Performance:
TICKETS
USHER
7UMS 09-10
BUS PICK UP When your group is released,
please exit the performance hall through the
same door you entered. A UMS Youth Perfor-
mance staff member will be outside to direct
you to your bus.
AAPS EDUCATORS You will likely not get
on the bus you arrived on; a UMS staff mem-
ber or AAPS Transportation Staf person will
put you on the first available bus.
LOST STUDENTS A small army of volun-
teers staff Youth Performances and will be
ready to help or direct lost and wandering
students.
LOST ITEMS If someone in your group loses
an item at the performance, contact the UMS
Youth Education Program (umsyouth@umich.
edu) to attempt to help recover the item.
AAPS
SENDING FEEDBACK We LOVE feedback
from students, so after the performance please
send us any letters, artwork, or academic
papers that your students create in response
to the performance: UMS Youth Education
Program, 881 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor,
MI 48109-1011.
NO FOOD No Food or drink is allowed in
the theater.
PATIENCE Thank you in adavance for your
patience; in 20 minutes we aim to get 1,300
people from buses into seats and will work as
efficiently as possible to make that happen.
ACCESSIBILITY There is a barrier free access
located at the North University entrance to
the building, with elevator access to the main
floor of the theater level. Wheelchair seating is
available on the rear of the main floor.
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre is equipped with
assistive listening devices. Earphones may be
obtained upon arrival. Please ask an usher for
assistance.
ENTRANCES + ELEVATORS The Lydia
Mendelssohn Theatre is located in the
Michigan League Building on the University of
Michigan’s central campus. The main entrance
is off of North University, in front of the
Michigan League Building. Elevators for access
to the both the Main Floor and Balcony are
located in the middle of the Michigan League
along the main hallway.
8 UMS 09-10
M A P + D I R E C T I O N SThis map, with driving directions to the Mendelssohn Theatre, will
be mailed to all attending educators three weeks before the performance.
MAP
Bussing/Transportation Directions The Bad Plus Youth Performance
Fri, Feb 5, 2010, 11am-12pm, Mendelssohn Theatre
1. Drop-Off Zone is on the North side of N University from Thayer to Fletcher. If no space is available in the Drop-Off Zone, circle the block (see above) until space becomes available. Please arrive between 11:30am-11:50am.
2. Mendelssohn and Mall Bus Parking driving directions on the next page.
3. The best Visitor Parking: Palmer Dr. Parking Structure behind Power Center: $1.10/hr
4. Need Day-of Help? Call Omari on his cell phone: 734-730-9202.
9UMS 09-10
LY D I A M E N D E L S S O H N T H E AT R E
VENUE
LOCATED WITHIN the Michigan League
building on the central campus of the
University of Michigan, the Lydia Men-
delssohn Theatre is an intimate, shoe-box
theatre seating 658. Decorated with solid
oak paneling that creates an atmosphere
of elegance and charm, the Mendelssohn
Theatre is perfect for smaller conferences.
Just down the hallway in the Michigan
League are similarly designed, tasteful
private dining rooms and a large ball-
room. The Mendelssohn Theatre is also
used extensively for theatrical produc-
tions and solo recitals.
Opening on May 4, 1929, the theatre
was designed by the Chicago architec-
tural firm of Allen Pond & Pond, Martin
& Lloyd. In 1995, new carpeting and
seats were installed, and the proscenium
curtain was replaced. Its lighting equip-
ment is modern.
The Mendelssohn Theatre is one of the
few theaters in the United States to have
a “cyclorama,” a curved wall at the back
of the stage. The cyclorama improves
sound in the theater and can be used for
creative lighting effects.
Notwithstanding an isolated effort to es-
tablish a chamber music series by faculty
and students in 1938, UMS regularly be-
gan presenting artists in the Lydia Men-
delssohn Theatre in 1993, when Eartha
Kitt and Barbara Cook graced the stage
for the 100th May Festival’s Cabaret Ball.
Today, the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre is
used primarily for theatrical productions
and song recitals.
LYDIA MENDELSSOHN
THEATRE
911 North University Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 763-333
Emergency Contact
Number:
(734) 764-2538(Call this number to reach a UMS staff person or
audience member at the performance.)
11UMS 09-10
THE BAD PLUS is a collective made
up of bassist Reid Anderson, pianist
Ethan Iverson, and drummer David
King. The group dug its roots in the
wood-paneled, sump-pumped base-
ments of the Midwest. King and Ander-
son hooked up as teens in their native
Minnesota, bouncing between junior
high rock bands and long nights listen-
ing to John Coltrane and The Police.
Soon after, Anderson met Wisconsin-
reared pianist Ethan Iverson and formed
an alliance – sort of. The threesome
played for the first time in 1990.
Nonetheless, it is only after spending
their formative 20s apart — King as
member of the seminal indie jazz group
Happy Apple, Iverson as the musical di-
rector for the Mark Morris Dance Group,
Anderson as a prominent up-and-coming
player on the New York jazz scene —
that they reunited in late 2000 to play a
weekend club date in Minneapolis. The
chemistry was immediate and obvious.
They planned a second gig and a one-day
recording session for the indie jazz label
Fresh Sound and The Bad Plus was born.
In the studio as well as onstage, The Bad
Plus proudly foregoes convention in favor
of curiosity and craftsmanship – recogniz-
ing and respecting the rules while ripping
them to shreds. They “bring together
a lot of different influences, without
drawing any lines around one style or
another,” says Anderson. “We don’t cre-
ate barriers. It’s all brought together with
a very open mind. We’ll try anything, as
long as it makes good music.”
The trio challenges the common pre-
conceptions about high art versus pop
culture by juxtaposing compositions from
20th century rock and pop artists with
those of 20th century classical artists. The
mix of highly familiar rock and pop pieces
alongside some not-so-familiar 20th cen-
tury classical compositions represents the
band’s egalitarian approach to all forms
of music, regardless of source, genre or
style. To their way of thinking, quality
and integrity can be found at any point
along the continuum.
“The 20th century is filled with music by
great composers, but it’s a mistake to as-
sume that all of those composers are lim-
ited to classical or jazz or other types of
music that are commonly considered to
be ‘high art,’” says Iverson. “There were
rock and pop songwriters of that same
period whose work was just as significant
as the work of the classical composers.
They’re all part of a continuum of great
music, and as such, they’re all worthy of
recognition and respect.… recognizing
the value of every aspect of 20th century
music, regardless of the genres in which
their composers specialized.”
“We really care about classical music, and
we also care about the more improvi-
sational forms like rock, pop and jazz,”
says Iverson. “I believe that we can pay
composers like Ligeti and Stravinsky and
Babbitt the respect they deserve, and we
can also recognize composers like Kurt
Cobain and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters
and David Gilmour as poets at the same
time.”
In The end, The Bad Plus seeks to level
the playing field. “We’re not going to
treat one kind of music like high art and
another like disposable entertainment,”
says King. “We’re making music to
engage the audience,” Anderson says,
“and to challenge the audience and our-
selves with an energy aimed at everyone
involved having a mutual experience
through the music.”
Compiled from:www.concordmusicgroup.com/albums/Prog/ www.concordmusicgroup.com/artists/The-Bad-Plus/ http://imnworld.com/artists/detail/76/bad-plus-the http://bighassle.com/publicity/a_bad_plus.html www.concordmusicgroup.com/albums/For-All-I-Care/ www.thebadplus.com/
W H O I S T H E B A D P L U S ?
ABOUT
12 UMS 09-10
I N T H E I R O W N W O R D S :A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H T H E B A D P L U S
ABOUT
THE THREE MEMBERS of The Bad Plus
tackle a wide range of topics in recent
conversations following the completion
of PROG. Here are some of the highlights
of these talks:
EARLY DAYS
DAVID — When we met at 15, Reid and I
were leaning toward progressive rock and
some fusion stuff. But by the next year
we were deeply entrenched in Coltrane
and free jazz. We’d go to every concert
that came to town. High school was the
transition from prog-rock to free jazz and
bebop and everything.
ETHAN — I was in a hermetically sealed
chamber in high school. I wasn’t inter-
ested in classical music or rock and roll
or anything but jazz. First I loved boogie
woogie, then early jazz. Eventually I got
my first Monk record and that really
made an impression and I slowly started
to figure out Miles Davis. When I met
Reid at 16 or 17, I had a strong interest
in free jazz-- so my history of jazz is that
of jazz history.
REID — Dave and I met in 1986 when I
went to try out a bass amp at his house.
We’ve been friends ever since. We bond-
ed over the music that we liked. We
both could play already. When you’re
that age, you’re looking for other kids
who can play. From that moment on we
were inseparable. I met Ethan in 1989
when I spent one year in Eau Claire, Wis-
consin, going to the university there. He
was a high school kid at the time. We
became friends and made music together
as much as we could.
FIRST TIME (1990)
ETHAN — We were all so determined to
be individuals that we didn’t have a com-
mon perspective yet.
DAVID — Ethan came in as a heavily
opinionated cat. I was into the ironic late
80s downtown thing. Reid has always
been in the middle. It was a fun session
but that was it.
REID — We were young and completely
inexperienced and we were fighting. It
was uneventful except for the fact we’re
still playing together.
NEXT TIME (2000)
REID — We came together as mature
musicians and three leaders with some
pretty definable sounds, even at that
point. It was clear to me that we had
found what we wanted to do.
ETHAN — We put together a gig with
the three of us. And from the first set, I
felt that here was a way of playing very
high level music that didn’t really refer-
ence normal jazz. I’ve always tried to be
a musician that knew jazz but didn’t play
normal jazz. It never occurred to me that
rock would be part of the solution.
DAVID — We got together for this gig
in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I was
living. The response and our connec-
tion were very strong. There was an
immediate feeling like the temperature
had changed. A few weeks later I came
up with the name The Bad Plus and we
booked our next gig.
COVERS
DAVID — Ethan at first was very shy
about it because he doesn’t know any
rock music. We mentioned “Smells Like
Teen Spirit.” He’d never heard of it, and
a light bulb went on. Reid and I could
approach this material with honesty and
our memories of cruising along with our
chicks and Ethan could approach it like
he does — like an android.
REID — Dave and I had been talking
about this idea since we were kids,
fantasizing about how cool it would be
to be in an improvising band that played
Led Zeppelin.
ETHAN — There was a practical consid-
eration. While we were all writing, it
didn’t mean we could figure out two sets
of original music for the first gig. That’s
what jazz musicians always do: they have
a couple of new tunes and fill out the
set with standards and blues. When we
needed two sets in The Bad Plus, one of
them suggested playing a rock cover. I
never liked it when jazz musicians play
rock tunes, but since it felt like a collec-
tive already, I said to myself, “What the
hell, I’ll go down with a sinking ship for
one song, who cares?”
14 UMS 09-10
DAVID — Playing covers never has been a
gimmick. It starts as a tune we like. We
don’t believe that music has to end with
Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Ar-
ranging and playing covers sharpens our
knives. Every one of them has its own
flow, a very unique arrangement, and is
approached with a different palette.
ETHAN — Once we actually started doing
it I could immediately feel the energy, the
heat from the idea. And of course later
on I realized that whenever I heard jazz
musicians play rock tunes they treated
them as if they were playing a jazz stan-
dard from the 40’s. The musical materials
that we have always used while playing
the rock songs are more out of the avant-
garde…our harmonic approach comes
more from Stravinsky than Bill Evans, so
somehow our treatments of rock and
pop are starker and have more strength.
REID — The covers give us an incredible
amount of freedom because they’re very
sturdy structures to hang our sound on;
to support the intentions of The Bad
Plus. When we do a cover it becomes
our music, in a way.
COMPOSING
ETHAN — The first piece of music that I
wrote is preserved in a musical notebook
from 5th grade. It’s called “Mod-
ern.” Composition is something I have
talent for, but here everyone is such a
good composer that I take a little bit of
a backseat. There is no requirement for
me to come up with a bunch of stuff. I
could never write as good a melody as
Reid can so there’s no point in compet-
ing there. I can write endless amounts of
music on demand but it’s nice that in The
Bad Plus I don’t have to.
REID — I think I was afraid to start
composing. Once I did, at 27, it felt
like I knew what I wanted to do. I can
definitely stand behind the first pieces I
wrote. I had been carrying a sound in
my head for a while and then, finally, out
it came.
DAVID — Of the three of us as a
composer, Reid has the most detailed
aesthetic. He is basically a frustrated pop
songwriter. He can write some incredibly
complicated music, but he really is a pop
songwriter that plays bass.
REID — Regardless of the fact that we
play in a band together, Ethan and Dave
are two of my favorite composers from
our generation. In that respect it’s very
powerful for us to be a committed band
because it keeps things in perspective.
The bar is always very high in terms of
what you need to deliver.
SOUND
REID — A big part of our sound is our
equality within the band. Each one of us
is playing music we have a stake in. It’s
group music — music that only sounds
like the three of us. There’s a basic level
of trust. Not only of trusting that every-
body’s taking care of business at every
moment, but that your own ideas are
going to be treated with respect and also
confronted by exceptional imaginations.
ETHAN — Three factors make our
sound: first, all three instruments are
upfront in the mix. That’s the most
important thing. Then the harmony is
basically simple to begin with. We use
complex harmony but our starting point
is almost always one of simple har-
monic clarity. The third would be our
tremendous rhythmic acuity, especially
from Dave.
DAVID -— There is deep personal freedom
involved. There is the idea that you can
bring personal esthetics together and
create a new one. There’s no bending to
the will but there’s also a deep trust and
support. But it’s a strange, invisible line
that none of us fully understands: three
alpha personalities coming together and
expressing what we want in the moment
but also caring about each other beyond
the normal thing. It’s like riding on some-
thing that’s bigger than you. This band
is about embracing that kind of energy;
being able to say things like that with a
straight face. We believe in the human
spirit, in the idea that there is so much
weight to intention. Unapologetic inten-
tion. We put our full weight behind every
idea. We believe in every minute of it.
IRONY
DAVID — In this band irony exists much
less than people think. There is very lit-
tle irony. We’re hearing the beauty of
the music and our intent is very serious
and very strong. When we play Black
Sabbath’s “Iron Man” we’re not wink-
ing...You put a Black Sabbath record
on and in their genre it’s like putting a
Coltrane record on. It’s the real deal. To
us it’s not funny.
REID — Nothing is ever played with an
ironic intent. I hate ironic music. If irony
is ever a part of our music, it only exists
as part of a much more complex emo-
tion which is ultimately not ironic. We
deliver our music with absolute earnest-
ness, always.
ETHAN — There is no way we can claim
that there is no irony in The Bad Plus,
because there is. It’s just that we mean
it, too. That’s the problem. Let’s look
at Tom Sawyer: the outrageousness of
what we’re doing is certainly informed by
the knowledge of transgression. For me,
the type of irony that we’re going for
is like Nabokov, where some new piece
of art is formed on the ruins of a lot of
knowledge and deep irony. But we mean
“Tom Sawyer.” We mean “Iron Man”. It’s
for real.
Courtesy IMN
15UMS 09-10
D I S C O G R A P H Y
ABOUT
AMID RELENTLESS TOURING the band crafted material for 2003’s These Are the Vistas. The album contained riveting originals
alongside sharp readings of Nirvana, Aphex Twin, and Blondie. Said Esquire magazine, “Can one album single-handedly make jazz
relevant again? Should you care? One listen to The Bad Plus’s These Are the Vistas will make you care.” Two more albums fol-
lowed in rapid succession – Give in 2004 and Suspicious Activity? in 2005. Worldwide touring continued, which further cemented
the trio’s reputation as being passionate and powerful.
2 0 0 1
T H E B A D P L U S
F R E S H S O U N D
Knowing me Knowing
Blue Moon
1972 Bronze Medalist
The Break Out
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Labyrinth
Scurry
Love is the Answer
2 0 0 3
T H E S E A R E T H E V I S TA S
C O L U M B I A
Big Eater
Keep The Bugs Off Your Glass And the Bears
Off Your Ass
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Everywhere You Turn
1972 Bronze Medalist
Guilty
Boo-Wah
Flim
Heart of Glass
Silence Is The Question
2 0 0 1
A U T H O R I Z E D B O O T L E G
S E L F R E L E A S E D O U T O F P R I N T
Silence Is The Question
Knowing Me Knowing You
Guilty
My Funny Valentine (Excerpt)
Keep The Bugs Off Your Glass And the Bears
Off Your Ass
Heart Of Glass
16 UMS 09-10
2 0 0 4
G I V E
C O L U M B I A
1979 Semi-Finalist
Cheney Pinata
Street Woman
And Here We Test Our Powers Of Observation
Frog And Toad
Velouria
Layin’ A Strip For The Higher-Self
State Line
Do Your Sums/Die Like A Dog/Play For Home
Dirty Blonde
Neptune (The Planet)
Iron Man
2 0 0 3
B L U N T O B J E C T- L I V E I N T O K Y O
C O L U M B I A
We Are The Champions
And Here We Test Our Powers Of Observation
Guilty
Do Your Sums/Die Like A Dog/Play For Home
Heart Of Glass
Flim
Silence Is The Question
My Funny Valentine (Excerpt)
2 0 0 5
S U S P I C I O U S A C T I V I T Y ?
C O L U M B I A
Prehensile Dream
Anthem For The Earnest
Let Our Garden Grow
The Empire Strikes Backwards
Knows The Difference
Lost Of Love
Rhinoceros Is My Profession
O.G. (Original Gentleman)
(Theme from) Chariots Of Fire
Forces
MORE INFORMATION ON RECENT ALBUMS In May 2007, the band released Prog. The disc opens with the first of four covers
included in the ten-song set: a melodic, yet churning rendition of the Tears for Fears 1985 synth-pop classic, “Everybody Wants to
Rule the World.” The arrangement juxtaposes lush piano lines with throbbing bass and drum undercurrents. The trio’s take on Da-
vid Bowie’s classic “Life on Mars” is part atonal rock, part symphony, part cabaret jazz. Further into the set, their reading of Rush’s
art-rock anthem “Tom Sawyer” opens with the well-known riffs and melody line originally crafted by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson,
but interjects some frenetic piano and drum combinations along the way that take the song to an even more heady place than the
original. As with the Tears for Fears cover, Burt Bacharch’s “This Guy’s in Love with You” gets under way in melodic fashion, but
Anderson, Iverson and King – individually and as a unit – experiment with tempo and dynamics to stretch the song’s sensibilities to
a point that redefines the essence of the song.
After the success of Prog, the trio, never content to stand still, moved on their next challenge with For All I Care, their first album
with vocals. “The Bad Plus has always reworked contemporary songs,” said Anderson, “the next logical step was do so with the
added clarity of a voice.” But For All I Care is more than just an album pairing a singer with a backing band. The recording is
17UMS 09-10
2 0 0 7
P R O G
H E A D S U P / U N I V E R S A L /
D O T H E M AT H
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Physical Cities
Life On Mars
Mint
Giant
Thriftstore Jewelry
Tom Sawyer
This Guy’s in Love with You
The World Is the Same
1980 World Champion
2 0 0 9
F O R A L L I C A R E
J O I N E D B Y W E N D Y L E W I S
H E A D S U P / U N I V E R S A L /
D O T H E M AT H
Lithium
Comfortably Numb
Fem (Etude No. 8)
Radio Cure
Long Distance Runaround
Semi-Simple Variations
How Deep is Your Love
Barracuda
Lock, Stock and Teardrops
Variation d’Apollon
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
Semi-Simple Variations (Alternate Version)
inspired in part by the collaborative recording by John Coltrane and vocalist Johnny Hartman, released in 1963. “Coltrane’s quartet
had already developed a group language, and then they enlisted this incredible singer without changing the language of the
band,” says King. “In that same sense, this is still very much a Bad Plus record.”
It was going to take a very special singer who could fit into the band’s style without disrupting the group’s internal balance. Wendy
Lewis, a longtime associate of The Bad Plus and a fixture in the Minneapolis alt rock scene, steps in and takes the trio’s ongoing
experimental ride to a new level of exploration and sophistication. Her haunting voice adds a fresh and powerful dimension within
the fabric of the group. “Wendy is like another instrument with intense, compressed energy,” says King. Her storytelling propels
The Bad Plus’ music into an exciting new place.
The philosophy behind the album is cleverly implied in its title. While For All I Care may sound like an expression of apathy, it is
anything but. The phrase is lifted from Cobain’s “Lithium,” but in the context of this recording, the overriding message is that The
Bad Plus – collectively and as individuals – embraces and appreciates all forms of music, enough to showcase any and all of them in
a single recording.
WATCH
IMNWORLD
http://imnworld.com/news/detail/185/
the-bad-plus-and-wendy-lewis-video-
from-the-cedar-in-minneapolis
Streaming video of The Bad Plus and
Wendy Lewis video from The Cedar in
Minneapolis on April 25th as well as
interviews with the band members.
READ
DO THE MATH
http://thebadplus.typepad.com/
Do The Math is a blog written by Ethan
Iverson with occasional contributions by
Reid Anderson and David King. There
are monthly performance updates,
occasional video blogs, and photos of
the band, but the greater emphasis at
DTM is celebrating all inspired music and
culture, regardless of style. The archives
going back to September 2005 can be
accessed by going to December 2007
and scrolling back.
18 UMS 09-10
F U R T H E R R E S O U R C E S
EXPLORE
LISTEN
IMNWORLD
http://imnworld.com/artists/detail/76/bad-
plus-the
STEREOGUM
http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/the_
bad_plus_cover_rush_005083.html
NPR
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.
php?storyId=15182358
Npr has several interviews and concert
recording available through the bands
NPR page.
HERE + NOW
www.hereandnow.org/2009/06/run-down-615/
The Bad Plus Featured on Here and Now: “Moving Past Jazz ‘Standards’”
Recently, several jazz groups have
ventured outside the great American
songbook for inspiration. Here and Now’s
jazz aficionado James Isaacs brings us
songs by Nirvana, Wilco, Rufus Wain-
wright, and Bob Dylan reinterpreted by
The Bad Plus, Dave Douglas, Jim Hall and
Bill Frisell.
JAZZTIMES
http://jazztimes.com/guides/artists/6287-
bad-plus
“The Bad Plus: Great White Hypes?”
John Murphy. April 2004 - http://jazz-
times.com/articles/14545-the-bad-plus-
great-white-hypes
“The Bad Plus: Saying It Proud, But Way
Too Loud.”
Bill Milkowski, April 2004 - http://jazz-
times.com/articles/14544-the-bad-plus-
saying-it-proud-but-way-too-loud
“The Bad Plus: These are the Bad Plus”
Stuart Nicholson, April 2003 - http://jazz-
times.com/articles/14139-the-bad-plus-
these-are-the-bad-plus
20 UMS 09-10
ABOUT
W H AT I S J A Z Z ?
THE BAD PLUS, as stated above, has “forced critics, fans and everyone in between to re-think their perceptions of jazz, rock, and
music in general.” In this section, we will look at common definitions of jazz. Before you read this section, ask yourself, “what is
jazz?” What sounds and artists come to mind? Then, listen to some Bad Plus samples available online. Would you call the music of
the Bad Plus jazz? If you are confused, don’t worry, you are not alone!
KENNEDY CENTER JAZZ LESSON Jazz almost defies definition. There are many types and styles of jazz. As we get further and
further away from the beginnings of jazz, many elements fuse together to add to the confusion. Jazz was more of a separate entity
years ago, but now we have jazz-rock, latin jazz, acid jazz, fusion and many others.
The definition of jazz depends on to whom you talk. Jazz has been called “America’s Classical Music” and America’s only true art
form. The dictionary has several definitions ranging from those with very strict confines, to those that are more inclusive and gen-
eral in nature. However, most agree on several points:
It developed around the turn of the century.1.
It was created mainly by Afro-Americans.2.
It contains elements of European and Afro-American culture.3.
Source: www.kennedy-center.org/programs/jazz/ambassadors/Lesson1.html
21UMS 09-10
ABOUT
T H E E N T RY F O R J A Z Z I N G R O V E M U S I CThe next two articles attempt to answer the question “What is Jazz.”
THE TERM “JAZZ” conveys different
though related meanings: 1) a musical
tradition rooted in performing conven-
tions that were introduced and devel-
oped early in the 20th century by African
Americans; 2) a set of attitudes and
assumptions brought to music-making,
chief among them the notion of per-
formance as a fluid creative process
involving improvisation; and 3) a style
characterized by syncopation, melodic
and harmonic elements derived from
the blues, cyclical formal structures and
a supple rhythmic approach to phrasing
known as swing.
Writers have often portrayed the history
of jazz as a narrative of progress. Their
accounts show jazz evolving from a bois-
terous type of dance music into forms of
increasing complexity, gradually rising in
prestige to become an artistic tradition
revered around the world. Certainly, at-
titudes towards the music have changed
dramatically. In 1924 an editorial writer
for The New York Times called jazz ‘a
return to the humming, hand-clapping,
or tomtom beating of savages’; in 1987
the United States Congress passed a
resolution designating jazz ‘an outstand-
ing model of individual expression’ and ‘a
rare and valuable national American trea-
sure’. In keeping with this general theme
of progress, historians have emphasized
innovation as a primary force driving jazz
forward, identifying new techniques,
concepts and structures that presumably
helped push the music to ever higher
stages of development.
But tracing lines of evolution and innova-
tion in jazz reveals only part of a story
much broader in scope and more com-
plex in structure. For if some musicians
have sought to make a mark as adventur-
ous innovators, many others have viewed
themselves as stalwart bearers of tradi-
tion. If some have struggled as uncom-
promising creative artists whose work
reaches only a small, select audience,
others have flourished providing enter-
tainment for the masses. And if jazz has
undeniably accrued status and respect
over the years, it has also consistently
provoked controversy. The term itself has
often carried negative associations, which
is partly why Duke Ellington and other
musicians spurned the label, and why
Max Roach once told an interviewer, ‘I
resent the word unequivocally’.
Several factors account for the volatil-
ity of jazz as an object of study. First,
its musical identity cannot be isolated
or delimited. Although often used to
designate a single musical idiom, ‘jazz’
(like the signifier ‘classical’) refers to an
extended family of genres, with all mem-
bers sharing at least some traits in com-
mon yet none capable of representing
the whole. Second, the varying functions
of jazz have made it difficult to perceive
as a unified entity. Jazz can be back-
ground sounds for social recreation, lively
accompaniment for dancing or music
that invites close listening and deep con-
centration – and the same performance
might operate on these different levels
simultaneously. Third, the subject of race
has generated heated debate over jazz
and shaped its reception. While jazz is a
product of black American expressive cul-
ture, it has always been open to musical
influences from other traditions and since
the 1920s has been performed by musi-
cians of varying backgrounds throughout
the world. In different eras, for example,
commercially successful white musicians
such as the bandleader Paul Whiteman
and the saxophonist Kenny G have been
identified by large segments of the public
as major exponents of jazz. Many others,
however, view these two as standing
outside the tradition altogether and con-
sider jazz to be a form of ‘black music’
in which black Americans have been the
leading innovators and most authoritative
practitioners. www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/45011
22 UMS 09-10
ABOUT
W H AT I S J A Z Z ? G O O D Q U E S T I O N . . .B Y J A S O N W E S T
WHAT IS JAZZ? According Wynton
Marsalis, jazz is music that swings. Ac-
cording to Pat Metheny, jazz is not the
music of Kenny G. According to Web-
ster’s, jazz is characterized by propulsive
syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensem-
ble playing, varying degrees of improvisa-
tion, and often deliberate distortions of
pitch and timbre.
Certainly, the question is a highly sub-
jective one. Ask 100 different people
“What is jazz?” and you’re likely to
get 100 different answers. The debate
becomes even more confusing given the
fact that the history of jazz is relatively
well documented.
It’s no secret that jazz music started in
the black ghettos of New Orleans at the
end of the 19th century. In the 1920s
jazz moved up river to Chicago and New
York as African Americans migrated
north in search of a better life. The 1930s
saw the evolution of swing bands like
those lead by Duke Ellington and Count
Basie. At the same time great soloists
emerged, virtuosi like Louis Armstrong,
Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. In
the 1940s bebop hit, personified in the
music of Charlie Parker. The Mozart of
his day, Bird took all of the melodic and
harmonic information available and crys-
tallized it into bebop. But, even in 1955,
at the time of Bird’s death, most people
could answer with confidence when
asked, “What is jazz?”
Why then, less than half a century later,
can’t we agree on a working definition?
Part of the reason is because jazz has al-
ways been and remains today a living art
form, ever changing and ever growing.
Subsequently, after Bird took bebop to
its logical conclusion, musicians like Miles
Davis and Ornette Coleman invented
new forms like modal playing and “free”
jazz. In the 1960s musicians began
incorporating R&B, rock and new electric
instruments into their jazz. John Coltrane
gave us “sheets of sound.” The Modern
Jazz Quartet mixed jazz and classical
music. Everything exploded and suddenly
jazz was all over the place.
In their effort to market these musical
voyages, major record companies have
added to the mystification, bombarding us
with labels to ponder: Contemporary jazz,
mainstream jazz, smooth jazz, alternative
jazz, avant-garde jazz, Latin jazz, fusion,
etc. At present, it seems that there are
almost as many names for jazz as there
are jazz groups. Still puzzled? Me too.
But not to be worried. Once again, each
one of us is left with our own purely
subjective views on jazz. My guess is that,
if asked, even musicians - the men and
women who are currently dedicating
their life to creating this music - would
likely disagree on the meaning of jazz.
So perhaps a better question is: What do
you like? From Jelly Roll Morton to Lee
Morgan, from James P. Johnson to John
Zorn, the answer is out there, preserved
on record for our learning and listen-
ing pleasure. Yes, experiencing all the
different styles of jazz is a daunting task,
but the rewards are great; and the more
you listen, the more you’ll find similari-
ties within the styles. What’s more, jazz
elements can be heard outside of its own
genre - in rock, R&B, Latin music, African
music - the list is endless.
Yet, one thing is sure: Jazz remains
America’s only original living art form.
Today, its influence envelops the globe.
It’s expressive. It’s enriching. Call it what
you like - jazz is here to stay.
www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=15802
23UMS 09-10
IMPROVISATION - perhaps jazz’s most essential ingredient
A) Improvisation is spontaneous composition, that is, each musician “makes up” what he/she is playing as he/she is
playing it (easier said than done).
B) Jazz improvisation is very similar to regular conversation (see Jazz Improvisation/ Conversation analogy sheet).
C) In order to improvise, a musician needs to:
1) be able to technically play his/her instrument well
2) have an understanding of music theory (the way notes and chords go together)
3) have the ability to play by ear (i.e., the ability to play the music one “hears” in his/her head without reading
music) As jazz is usually a combination of partly planned (i.e., written) and partly spontaneous (i.e., improvised)
music, most jazz musicians have the ability to read music and play be ear.
4) have a musical vocabulary covering a wide variety of styles (i.e., be familiar with various styles of jazz, as well
as blues, rock, pop, classical, etc.)
RHYTHM
A) Basic definition:
1) according to the American Heritage Dictionary, rhythm is a regular pattern formed by a series of notes of
differing duration and stress
E L E M E N T S O F J A Z Z
ABOUT
IMPROVISATION
RHYTHM AND GENERAL SWING FEEL
SOUNDS AND INSTRUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH JAZZ
HARMONY
FORM
24 UMS 09-10
2) that part of the music which concerns how long or short each note is played
3) the beat of the music
4) that part of the music that makes the listener want to tap his/her foot
5) the “feel” of a tune (song); a tune’s “groove” (i.e., rock, funk, swing, salsa, etc.)
B) Jazz rhythms can range from simple to extremely complex; however, underlying even the most complex rhythms per-
formed by each individual musician in a jazz group is an underlying pulse (the beat), that which makes the listener able
to tap his/her foot with the music. While most jazz utilizes a steady pulse (beat), certain styles of jazz are played “freely”
with no steady beat.
C) Tempo: the speed of the pulse (beat)
1) the speed at which the listener (or the player) taps his/her foot is the tempo of that particular version of a tune
2) tempos in jazz range from very slow (ballads) to extremely fast (tunes that are “burning”)
D) Syncopation
1) the accenting of beats that are normally not accented
2) stressing the notes that are on the up beat (i.e., when one.s foot is in the air - or up position . when tapping
normally with the beat of the music)
E) Swing
1) a difficult-to-define rhythmic concept
2) for the musician, the definition of swing, among other complexities, is a manner of playing a steady stream of
notes in a long-short-long-short pattern
3) for the listener (as well as the player), swing refers to the music.s buoyancy, rhythmic lilt, liveliness, and cohesiveness
4) if a jazz performance has constant tempo (not slowing down or speeding up), rhythmically cohesive group
playing, syncopation, and an upbeat feeling, it’s swinging
F) Through listening to jazz recordings (as well as live jazz), practice, and performance, jazz musicians internalize the
rhythmic element so completely that it is as natural for them as breathing.
G) The often subtle and varied use of a multitude of simple and complex rhythms, all interwoven extemporaneously into
one cohesive sound, is, perhaps more than any other element, what makes jazz, jazz.
25UMS 09-10
SOUNDS AND INSTRUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH JAZZ
A) Jazz musicians play their instruments utilizing the complete gamut of tone colors (tonal quality) that their instruments
will allow.
B) Unlike classical players who usually strive for a clear, “pure” tone, jazz players strive for a tone that is generally more
“vocal” in nature, i.e., jazz musicians will bend pitches, “growl,” “whine,” play “raunchy,” “dark,” “light,” “airy,”
“raspy,” “bluesy,” “throaty,” “nasally” (anything the human voice can do to express emotion and then some) in addition
to playing clearly.
C) Today, jazz can be (and is) played on virtually any instrument, including the human voice; the most common instru-
ments associated with jazz (in order of basic precedence) are:
1. saxophone
2. trumpet
3. piano, bass, and drums (known as the rhythm section)
4. guitar
5. clarinet
6. trombone
7. flute
D) Each instrument has its own general tone color (e.g., a saxophone sounds different from a trumpet, guitar, flute,
piano, etc.) and each musician has his/her own particular sound on that instrument.
1) although, say, a saxophone still sounds like a saxophone no matter who’s playing it, most jazz musicians and
aficionados can distinguish one saxophonist from another by his/her tone alone
a. in the same way, we can distinguish one human voice from another
b. even if we hear someone speak whom we haven’t talked to in months, we usually can distinguish-
who it is even after just one “hello” on the phone: that’s how distinctive one particular voice can be;
that’s how distinctive one saxophonist’s sound can be
2) a jazz musician’s particular sound is part of his/her signature, part of what distinguishes him/her from another
3) what attracts the listener is not just what a particular jazz musician plays (i.e., how he/she improvises), it’s also
the way he/she plays (i.e., his/her particular sound)
26 UMS 09-10
HARMONY
A) Two or more notes played at the same time constitutes harmony; also known as a chord (also known as a “change”
among jazz musicians).
B) Jazz chords are usually four to seven notes played simultaneously.
C) Each chord and each chord voicing (the way the notes are arranged) depicts a different emotion, e.g., happy, sad,
angry, hopeful, etc. (most can’t be labeled as the emotion they convey is beyond wording and different for every listener;
“music is in the ears of the beholder”)
D) A series of chords (known as a chord progression or simply the “changes”) accompanies the composed melodies of
and improvisation-on tunes (songs)
1) although there are some chord progressions that are used over and over for several different tunes, most
tunes have their own distinctive chord progression
2) jazz musicians (primarily pianists and guitarists since they are the ones who play chords) have the autonomy
to voice chords (put the notes in a particular order from bottom to top) the way they want, add notes to chords,
and substitute other chords for the original ones, all in order to make the music “hipper,” i.e., more up to date,
better sounding, more “happening,” and more personal
E) Comping
1) definition: the rhythmically syncopated playing of chords
2) pianists and guitarists comp the chords
3) the term comping comes from two words: to accompany and to compliment; that is precisely what pianists
and guitarists do: they accompany and compliment the soloists. Guitarists and pianists, when it is their turn,
improvise solos as well; when soloing, pianists usually comp chords with their left hand, accompanying their
own right hand solos.
FORM
A) Most jazz tunes utilize a recurring chord progression that serves as the structure of the tune; the way in which the sec-
tions of the progression are grouped determines the form of the tune.
B) Form can be considered a tune’s “musical blueprint,” allowing each musician (and educated listener) to keep his/her
place in the structure.
C) Each different section of a chord progression is assigned a different letter.
1) for example: if a tune is 24 measures long and is divided into three eight-measure sections with the first two sec-
tions containing a set of identical chords and the last section containing a set of different chords, the form is AAB
2) for example: if a tune is 32 measures long and is divided into four eight-measure sections with the first two
sections containing a set of identical chords, third section a different set of chords, and the last section the same
as the first, the form is AABA .
27UMS 09-10
D) In a jazz performance, the form of a tune, i.e., all the chords of the tune in a predetermined sequence (such as AAB,
AABA, ABAC, etc.) will be repeated over and over; each time through is called a chorus.
E) For each chorus, something different happens; the most common sequence is:
1) first chorus: the melody instruments (e.g., the horns) play the head, that is, the composed melody of the
song. Sometimes, not often, the head will be repeated for the second chorus; this is usually up to the players
involved.
2) middle choruses (undetermined number): each musician in turn improvises a solo using the form as his/her
guide, knowing the chord progression of each section (the chords provide the impetus for what notes can be
played by the improviser); each soloist can improvise for as many choruses as he/she desires
3) last chorus: the head again (called the “out” head as the musicians are taking the tune “out,” that is, ending
the tune)
F) Often before the first chorus (the head), there is an introduction; often after the last chorus (the out head), there is
an ending.
G) The most common forms found in jazz include AABA, ABAC, 16-Bar Tune, and 12-Bar Blues.
H) Who does what during each chorus is called the arrangement.
1) arrangements can be determined prior to the performance and are often written
2) Generally speaking, the larger the ensemble, the more written notes (melodies, harmony parts, background
accompaniment parts, etc.), the less room for improvisation.
a. arrangements are written and published for jazz bands of all sizes and levels from elementary school
to professional
b. most are written for the standard “big band” instrumentation of five saxes, four trumpets, four
trombones, and four “rhythm,” i.e., piano, bass, guitar,13 and drums (incidentally, most high school
jazz bands utilize this instrumentation); more to come on big band music in lesson #4 when discussing
the swing era
3) arrangements can be determined by a brief “talk over” prior to a performance or even on the spur of the mo-
ment (this is called a head arrangement)
a. usually occurs in the small group (quintet or smaller) setting
b. when occurring at an informal jam session, who does what when is directed by common practice
intuition, and visual cues (e.g., head nods, looks, etc.)
Source: www.jazzinamerica.org/LessonPlan/11/2
28 UMS 09-10
B R I E F H I S T O RY O F J A Z Z +S T Y L E S O F J A Z Z
ABOUT
OUTLINE
Jazz Heritage/The Roots of Jazz
AFRICAN ROOTS
CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN MUSIC
EUROPEAN INFLUENCES
NEW ORLEANS/THE BIRTHPLACE
GEOGRAPHIC FACTS
DEMOGRAPHIC
CREOLES
CREOLES OF COLOR
SLAVES/FREED SLAVES
CULTURAL INFLUENCES
The Blues
ORIGIN
FORM
COUNTRY BLUES
URBAN/CITY BLUES
Early Jazz
PIANO STYLES
RAGTIME
HARLEM STRIDE PIANO
NEW ORLEANS DIXIELAND
CHICAGO DIXIELAND
SWING
BEBOP
Beyond Bebop
COOL
AVANT- GARDE/FREE JAZZ
FUSION
JAZZ HERITAGE +
THE ROOTS OF JAZZ
Jazz is a music that grew from roots that
stretched from Africa to Europe to Ameri-
ca. Each contributed its own individual
cultural and musical traditions that came
together in many different places, but
was centered in the city of New Orleans.
This lesson will examine those individual
cultures and their contributions to this
music we call Jazz.
AFRICAN ROOTS African culture and life
is centered around the tribe or village.
They identified with that particular tribe
and participated in all of its functions. It
was and is definitely, to use a 1998 word,
interactive. Everyone participated in some
way. This was very true with the musical
activities of the tribe. No one sat back
and just listened. African music was very
functional and tied to everyday events
in the village. They did not build concert
halls, but rather, gathered wherever
music was needed. There are songs for
every type of occassion from births to
deaths, from marriages to clearing a path
to chopping down a tree. Music serves
as a kind of social glue that binds people
together. Although there were what we
might call “professional” musicians that
did travel from village to village, they
were an addition to the musical life of
the village. The participatory nature of
the African culture can be seen today in
Black churches and Pentecostal churches
throughout the United States.
CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN MUSIC
1. It involves the body. Clapping, sway-
ing to the beat, pounding a stick on the
ground, dancing, etc. are all examples of
how people participated. And remember
everyone joined in, not just the musicians.
2. Everyone sang. This is also another
manifestation of using the body.
3. Although there are many different
types of African instruments, chordo-
phones, idiophones, aerophones, to
name just a few, the predominant instru-
ment was the drum. Drums came in all
sizes and shapes. Made from gourds,
hollowed out logs, an animal skin
stretched across the opening, they were
the foundation of African music. At the
heart of African music is rhythm, and it
is this aspect of the music that we find in
jazz. Not exact African rhythms, but the
emphasis on rhythm. African drummers
created polyrhythms and cross rhythms
that gave the music its driving force. To
demonstrate this establish a beat, then
divide the class in half and have one half
clap twice to one beat and the other half,
three times to one beat. This is a very
“tame” polyrhythm. Two against three.
It is the presence of very complicated
polyrhythms that gives African music
its sometimes seemingly unorganized
sound. Nothing could be further from the
truth. Each drum had a very set rhythm
that when heard by itself was very clear,
but when added to many other drums
with their own set rhythms, produced a
very complex musical tapestry.
29UMS 09-10
4. The musical scale that is found in most
African music is the pentatonic scale.
(On a piano play C D E G A) This is a five
note (pent) scale that is also found in the
music of Japan, Scotland, Mexico, Peru,
and many more.
5. There is something in a lot of African
music that we identify by the name:
call and response. This practice involves
a leader singing or chanting a melody
and the rest of the group responding in
a prescribed way. This can be found in
Jazz and in a slightly different fashion in
many churches.
6. The vocal characteristics of African
music included all types of voices, all
kinds of vocal manipulation, raspy tone,
buzzes in the voice, falsetto and bend-
ing tones. In other words there was no
attempt at finding and producing a pure
vocal sound. People expressed them-
selves vocally with whatever came out.
This characteristic can be heard in almost
every blues singer you can name.
EUROPEAN INFLUENCES The main
influence that we can attribute to Europe
lies in the area of instrumentation and
harmony. The effect of this will be seen
much clearer a bit later. Harmonically,
the diatonic scale which is prevalent
in Western music was an expansion of
the pentatonic scale found in African
music. The classical/Western concept and
practice of chords and chord progressions
was also a major area of influence. In the
area of instrumentation, the instruments
that we would consider to be symphonic
in nature, trumpets, trombones, clarinets,
etc. would eventually find there way into
the hands of individuals who did not
necessarily have the classical/European
background.
NEW ORLEANS/THE BIRTHPLACE
GEOGRAPHIC FACTS - New Orleans
seems tailor-made for the birthplace of
jazz due to many factors, one of which
was where it was situated. New Orleans
lies at the end of the Mississippi River
which provided a ready-made highway
for not only people to come to New
Orleans, but for jazz to be exported from
the city. The Mississippi River touched
many states including several slave states
which factored into the diverse popula-
tion. New Orleans was a bustling seaport,
a center of commerce that was a gate-
way to thje Caribbean. These geographic
facts certaily had a tremendous influence
on all aspects of New Orleans life as we
will soon learn.
DEMOGRAPHIC - New Orleans is trul;y a
unique city. Having been under the flags
of Spain and France before it became
a part of the USA, there were many,
many different ethnic groups that were a
part of the city’s makeup. Each of these
groups contributed to the overall culture
of the city.
CREOLES - Again, there are several
definitions of the word “creole”. For our
purposes Creoles were people of French
or Spanish ancestry who were born in the
New World. They were highly educated,
provided the best for their children,
including music lessons and supported
the musical and cultural activites of this
bustling city.
CREOLES OF COLOR - One custom that
was French in origin allowed the men
to keep mistresses. Many chose light
skinned women of mixed blood that
were plentiful in the South. This pro-
duced a kind of lower class of “black”
creoles. In fact in Louisiana there was a
very explicit way of categorizing “black”
creoles based on the amount of Negro
blood that one had . For instance, 50%
white, 50% black was a mulatto.
The black creoles, because they resulted
from the union of Creoles and light
skinned women, originally were accepted
into white society and had the same
rights and privileges. Around 1894, the
Louisiana Legislature passed a law that
said that anyone with African blood was
considered a Negro. The ultimate result
of this law was that the “black” creoles
were pushed out of white society and
eventually became fused with the black
culture This fact more than any other
provided the impetus for the new music
we call jazz.
SLAVES/FREED SLAVES - As we all know,
slaves were uprooted from their home-
land and brought to this country with
literally nothing but the clothes on their
backs. However, within themselves they
brought their culture including their mu-
sical practices and heritage. ( Remember
the African roots of the vocal tradition
and the emphasis on rhythm.) New
Orleans was a haven for escaped slaves
and freed slaves. They met on Sundays in
a place called Congo Square. There they
were allowed to dance, sing, play drums
and generally participate in their African
culture. Of course, many people came
and just watched.
CULTURAL INFLUENCES This where it
all comes together. New Orleans at the
turn of the century was a bee hive of
musical activity. Symphony orchestras,
opera companies, musicales, brass bands
and a myriad of other musical ensembles.
There was also a tremendous party at-
mosphere that continues to this very day.
This atmosphere provided a tremendous
amount of work for musicians, especially
in the red light district of New Orleans
called Storyville. The presence of several
brass bands and the fact that many
Army bands were de-activated in New
Orleans provided many cheap musical
30 UMS 09-10
instruments that found their way into the
hands of blacks who previously had no
access to them.
The Creoles and “black” Creoles (before
they lost their status) were the trained
musicians. They were the orchestra
players, they gave their children music
lessons. They were in the mainstream of
musical activity. The blacks (slaves) on
the other hand were not a part of this
but had their own traditions that ,at least
for now, were largely vocal. Except for
Sunday at Congo Square drums were
not allowed because the white masters
associated drums with rebellion.
When the “black” creoles began to
come into contact with the black slave
culture there was a coming together of
two separate and distint musical styles
and cultures. This amalgamation of styles
over time had a direct influence on how
the music was played. The African field
holler, the call and response, the rhythmic
emphasis, the highly interactive nature
all found their way into Jazz. The next
few lessons will examine in detail several
different styles of jazz and you will be
able to see how these events affected the
music and how it is still affecting it today.
THE BLUES
The first thing to understand about the
blues is that it is as much how as what
you play or sing. The second thing is that
the blues will be here long after we all
are gone. It is one of the most venerable
forms of music that we have, There have
literally been thousands of blues that
have been written and recorded, and
many more that have simply been played.
When musicians get together, especially if
they have not performed together, on of
the first things they will do is play a blues.
ORIGIN No one really knows where the
blues came from. There are some that
say it was from the work song, some
from the field holler, some from the ring
shout. It is in general agreement that the
blues as such, did not come from Africa
but was developed in this country. It
began as a purely unaccompanied vocal
solo. Early accompaniments were played
primarily on a banjo or guitar and were
very primitive. (A good example is Robert
Johnson.) As the blues developed a stan-
dard pattern of lyrics and a basic chord
progression began to take shape.
FORM The most standard form of the
blues is 12 measures long. There are 8
bar blues and 16 bar blues but most are
12 bars long. Each chorus (one complete
playing) is divided into 3 phrases of four
bars each. The most basic blues uses only
3 different chords that provide the basis
for endless variations over which soloists
play melodies. The lyrics of the blues
also follow a standard practice. The first
two lines are the same and the third is
different. One theory on the evolution
of the lyrics is that during the repeat ot
the first line, the singer could be making
up the third line. This is also connected
to the call and response that we talked
about earlier. It should be pointed out
here that many, many blues lyrics had a
double meaning that, more often than
not, had sometning to do with sex.. Be-
cause the lyrics rarely took up the entire
four measures, an instrumentalist usually
completed the phrase. This instrumnental
completion is called a fill.
In the blues we see one of the great-
est manifestations of African musical
practices or characteristics. This is vocal
tone and includes the bending of notes
so prevalent in African music. It is the
bending of notes that gives the blues its
flavor. It is like playing or singing in the
cracks of the notes on a piano key-
board. Remember our diatonic scale that
Western music uses all the time? Well in
order to simulate blues tonalities within
this scale we have to alter several of the
notes. These are called the “blue notes”.
Books have been written on the origin,
deliniation, use, etc. of these notes but
for us it is enough to know that the”
blue notes” in a diatonic scale are made
by lowering/flatting the 3rd, 5th and 7th
degree of that scale In the case of the
C scale it would be E-flat, G-flat, and
B-flat. These are “approximations” of the
“blues” tonality but the only way to ap-
proach it given the scale we have to work
with. The blues is a major style of music
today and has been incorporated into
many other styles including rhythm and
blues, and rock and roll.
There are two basic blues styles that
we will examine: country blues and city
blues. There are many other names for
blues styles but a basic understanding of
these two will provide a solid foundation
for further investigation.
COUNTRY BLUES Accompaniment: Very
sparse, usually a guitar.
Lyrics: Usually dealt with the hardships
of life.
Vocal Style: Expressive but very unde-
veloped
Rhythm: Very free, no set patterns.
Location: Work camps, rural areas.
Singers: Usually men.
It is easy to see how all the musical char-
acteristics fit the other social and cultural
aspects of the music. The same holds
frue for the Urban blues.
31UMS 09-10
URBAN/CITY BLUES Accompaniment:
Piano or instruments.
Lyrics: More sophisticated, problems of
the heart, love, etc.
Vocal Style: More refined.
Rhythm: 12 bar structure, more comntrolled.
Location: Vaudeville, concert/club settings.
Singers: Usually women:
Please remember that we are speaking
in generalities for the most part and you
can find examples of the exact oppo-
site if you look long enough. This fact
applies to any style of music that you
want to name. There are many, many
fine blues singers, both past and present
but I might suggest Robert Johnson for
Country Blues and Bessie Smith for City
Blues. Enjoy!!!
EARLY JAZZ
PIANO STYLES RAGTIME - Ragtime is a
style of music that was played by many
different types of groups but is known
primarily as a piano style and it is in the
area of piano that the style has survived.
It is a highly syncopated style of music
that was centered in Sedalia, Mo. It is
considered by many to be outside the
realm of jazz because, in large part, the
music was written down and not impro-
vised. Much of the music, was published
and was responsible for the sale of many
pianos due to the fact that the piano
was the center of family entertainment
at the turn of the century. Anyone could
purchase the “sheet music” and learn to
play their favorite rags.
Characteristics: 1. More written than improvised.
2. Usually played on a piano.
3. Highly syncopated.
4. The form of classic ragtime follows
the form of a standard march wherein
there are equal, repeated strains of 16
measures.
5. The rhythm of ragtime is 2/4 .
Perhaps the greatest known composer
of rags was Scott Joplin. He composed
hundresds of rags including “Maple
Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer”. The
movie “The Sting” used his music as a
background score and led to a revivial
of sorts. His music is readily availabe on
CD. Another very famous ragtime player
and composer was Jelly Roll Morton. In
addition to his solo piano playing he had
a wonderful group called the “Red Hot
Peppers” not to be confused with the
more current Red Hot CHILI Peppers
HARLEM STRIDE PIANO Harlem stride
piano or simply stride, was the first jazz
style to develop somewhere other than
in the South. Its “inventor”, James P.
Johnson was born in New Jersey and the
music had its greatest success in uptown
New York City: Harlem. The “stride” in
the title came from the ;practice of play-
ing the bass note and chords in the left
hand by “striding” over the keyboard to
accomplish this. It was played at “rent
parties” where the tennant threw a party
to raise the next month’s rent. These
parties would go on all night long until
enough money was raised. There were
often more than one piano player since
the music never stopped. This led to a lot
of “cutting” contests where each player
would try to outdo the preceeding player.
It also provided a good setting for a lot of
experimentation.
Characteristics: 1. It was an extension of ragtime.
2. Stride players applied the style to any
tune they wanted to play.
3. Unlike ragtime, stride was more impro-
vised than written.
4. Stride was generally played at much
faster tempi than ragtime, which
demanded a higher level of technique
and execution.
Generally considered to be the most
exciting stride player was Thomas “Fats”
Waller. From 1935 to 1943 he was one
of the hottest entertainment properties
in the country and had careers enough
for 3 men. Only Louis Armstrong was
more popular. Fortunately his legacy is
immense: over 500 records as a soloist,
accompanist and small group member.
An examination of the man and the
music is well advised.
NEW ORLEANS DIXIELAND The party
atmosphere of New Orleans provided
many opportunities for musicians to play.
In addition many dixieland bands played
for funerals in a very unique way. Going
to the cemetery the music was slow and
dirge-like, while after the burial the music
was joyous .
The makeup of the New Orleans dixie-
land bands was fairly standard and ar-
rived at due to the playing circumstances.
Since they played outdoors a great
deal and had to march, all the instru-
ments had to be portable. The standard
instrumentation is : trumpet(or cornet),
clarinet, trombone, banjo, drums and
tuba(Sousaphone). All of these could be
played while walking and they all had a
specific part to play. Not a written part
as such but a particular function. The
cornet(trumpet) played the melody, the
clarinet played a melody (countermelody)
32 UMS 09-10
above the trumpet, the trombone was re-
sponsible for the low harmony parts, the
banjo provided the chords, the tuba the
bass notes and the drums, the beat. They
all improvised together in a fashion called
collective improvisation. The cornet, clari-
net and trombone were known as the
front line. The rhythm of NO Dixieland
was a steady 4/4 with every beat receiv-
ing the same amount of accent. Solos
as such were not that prevalent and it
would not be until Chicago Dixieland
that this was to change.
CHICAGO DIXIELAND When Storyville
was closed many musicians migrated
to many other parts of the country. In
Chicago the music began to change in
several ways. The instrumentation was
slightly different because no longer
was a lot of the playing done outdoors.
Therefore all the instruments didn’t need
to be portable. The piano replaced the
banjo, the string bass replaced the tuba,
a saxophone was added and collective
improvisation fell by the wayside. There
was also a drastic change in the rhythm
from flat four 4/4 to 2/4. This in part,
was due to the fact that by adding a
piano player who played in the ragtime
style of 2/4 the other members of the
group were exposed to this new rhythmic
feeling which was not as stiff. The other
major change was in the improvisation.
Collective improvisation was out and the
individual soloist was in. As you will see,
one man, Louis “Pops” Armstrong was
largely responsible for this change.
SWING There has never been a more
popular style of jazz than swing, and
today there is a tremendous ressurgence
of interest in this style. Today just as in
the 40’s, it is centered around dancing.
The Swing Era has also been dubbed the
BigBand Era. It was during this time that
literally hundreds of bands were playing
for thousands of dancers in every city,
town and hamlet. The “name” bands
had very individual sounds that could be
heard on the radio every night into the
wee small hours of the morning. Their
leaders became as famous as movie stars
and had fiercely loyal followers.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
1. Larger groups. Sections of instruments.
Saxes, trumpets, trombones and rhythm.
2. Use of written arrangements with less
space for improvisation.
3. No collective improvisation due to the
number of players.
4. Most bands usually had a featured
vocalist. (Frank Sinatra)
5. Each “name” band had an identifying
feature.
6. The total package was important:
dress, music stands, risers, backup vocal
group, etc.
There were two very distinct “classifica-
tions” of big bands. White and black.
Each one had different characteristics
and styles of playing. The white bands,
Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie
Shaw, Glenn Miller received the bulk of
the publicity, air time and movie foot-
age. These bands were made up of very
accomplished players who were excel-
lent readers. The emphasis was on the
ensemble rather than on the individual
soloist. These bands had a national repu-
tation and toured extensively. One of the
most important people in these organiza-
tions was the arranger.
He was the person responsible for the
sound of the band by how he would
arrange the music for the individual
players. Of course he had to satisty the
leader of the band who may or may
not have given him guidelines to work
within. With a band of good readers the
arranger could experiment with various
techniques and provide a steady stream
of new music. This was an important fac-
tor in maintaining a band’s popularity.
The black bands came from a different
background that was largely more rural
than urban. These bands, Count Basie,
Andy Kirk, Benny Moten, etc. began as
territorial bands. Bands that played and
stayed in one certain locale. Oklahoma
City, Dallas, Kansas City, which at that
time were much more rural than today,
were centers for territorial bands. The
musicians in these bands were not good
readers if they could read at all. They did
not have the benefit of teachers, concert
halls and the like. They were much more
connected to the black vocal tradition of
the blues and gospel music. The music
of these bands was based largely on the
blues and “riffs” and were also known
as “riff” bands. (A riff is a short melodic
statement that began life as a back-
ground for players waiting their turn in
jam sessions and would be played just
to keep their “chops” fresh and harkens
back to the call and response pattern
found in African music.) The black ter-
ritorial bands put a greater emphasis on
swinging and soloing than their white
counterparts. There were however, sev-
eral black bands that were quite polished
and in a different category than the
territorial bands. The bands of Fletcher
Henderson and Jimmie Lunceford are
two such bands.
One of the seeming paradoxes of the
big band era was the fact that a number
of really excellent soloists emerged from
it. Coleman Hawkins, Benny Goodman,
Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge, Gene
Krupa, Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges
to mention a few. The big band set-up of
written arrangements and less solo space
would seem to indicate the opposite.
33UMS 09-10
The importance of radio to the swing
era cannot be over-emphasized. It was
through nightly broadcasts that the
bands would develop an audience so
that on their tours their concerts and
dances would be jam packed. It was not
an uncommon sight for a dance hall in
the middle of nowhere to have 4 or 5
thousand people in it on a Saturday night
to dance to one of the “name” bands.
BEBOP Bebop was the first style to be
classified as “modern” jazz. Like other
styles it did not suddenly burst on the
scene but developed gradually from the
swing era. It was not as popular as swing
and at the time caused great disagree-
ment among fans and players alike. In
the study of jazz, styles that follow one
another are often the excact opposite
of the preceeding style. Such is the case
with bebop.
Bebop differed from swing in many ways
that fall under the broad categories of per-
formance practices and aspects of style.
The following fall under performance
practices.
1. The preferred size and instrumentation
of the bebop group was the small combo
and not the big band.
2. The clarinet and rhythm guitar did not
make the transition to bebop and were
rarely seen or heard.
3. Bebop tempos were much faster
which led to a greater display of technical
virtuosity on the part of the players.
4. Where the big bands had elaborate
arrangements, the bop quintet usually
played the heads (melody) in unison.
5. Where the big bands were for dancing
and catered to the dancers, bebop was
almost strictly for listening and had none
of the trappings of the big band.
In the area of stylistic changes there were
many.
1. Bebop melodies were extremely com-
plicated, full of notes that seemed to leap
wildly and were unsingable.
2. Harmonies were also much more in-
tense and varied than in the swing era.
3. Improvising took on a new importance
and led to very long solos.
4. The general feeling of bebop was
frantic to say the least.
5. The rhythm section became more
responsive to the soloists and was not
concerned with keeping time for a bunch
of dancers. They supported the soloist
and freely used accents called “bombs.”
The main innovators of the new music
were “Dizzy” Gillespie, trumpet; Charlie
“Bird” Parker, Alto Sax; Thelonius Monk,
piano: Bud Powell, piano; Charlie Chris-
tian, Guitar: Kenny Clarke on drums.
Bebop began to crystallize in the 40’s at
a place in New York Citry called Minton’s
Playhouse. It was at after hours jam
sessions at Minton’s that these players
experimented with the new music. There
was also a dark side that involved the
heavy use of drugs by many of the play-
ers. This resulted in a lot of bad press,
especially when its greatest practitioner,
Charlie Parker, died at the age of 34 from
a lifetime of drug use.
Bebop is still a viable style and can be
heard on many Cds and in live perfor-
mance. It is a special kind of jazz that not
eveyone can play because of the high
demands on creativity and execution.
We say it generally separates the men
from the boys and the sheep from the
goats. There are several excellent videos
and books on each of the “inventors”
and I would highly reccommend that you
check them out.
BEYOND BEBOP
This lesson will briefly identify the charac-
teristics of several styles that came after
bebop. All of them are quite significant
and should be studied in depth for a more
comprehensive understanding of each.
COOL Cool was somewhat of a reaction
against Bop and using our yardstick of
the following style being the opposite
of the preceeding one we find this to be
quite true in every category. Cool is the
least well defined jazz style. It was an
attitude as well that called for keeping
emotions in check and being “cool”. It
is sometimes referred to as “West Coast
jazz. This due mainly to the fact that
many players were situated on the West
Coast but it was played everywhere.
There were a lot of white musicians
involved in the movement which was
the opposite of the Bebop movement.
However ther were players of both ethnic
backgrounds that were important to this
style. One of these was Miles Davis. One
of the most important figures in the his-
tory of jazz. He was the leader on some
recording sessions that became known
as the “Birth of the Cool” sessions. The
album by the same name is one of the
classic jazz albums of all time.
CHARACTERISTICS - As the name might
indicate all musical ingredients were now
cool, reserved, controlled, etc.
INSTRUMENTATION -The Cool move-
ment featured larger groups like nonets
(9), octets (8), septets (7), etc. The actual
instrumentation included instruments
that were not common to jazz, like flute,
French horn, flugelhorn and tuba.
TEXTURE/TIMBRE: Not only were the
instruments of a “softer” nature, but
how they and the other normal instru-
34 UMS 09-10
ments were played was different. Players
tended to play softer, in the middle
range of the horn with less vibrato and
VERY controlled. The emphasis was on
a light and buoyant sound Drummers
used brushes instead of sticks in keep-
ing with the “cool” attitude. The music
was more arranged and had a polished,
smooth sound.
Tempo: Tempos were generally slower
and more relaxed.
Solos: Solos were more melodic, easier to
understand and follow.
Some of the major players were Gerry
Mulligan, Chet Baker, Bud Shank, the
Modern Jazz Quartet, Lester Young,
Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz.. Many
of whom had come from the big bands
of Count Basie, Stan Kenton and
Woody Herman.
AVANT- GARDE/FREE JAZZ Possibly
one of the least popular styles in the
history of jazz is this one. Experimental,
dissonant, abrasive, are all adjectives for
the avant-garde style. In this style there is
a conscious attempt to push the enve-
lope of all the musical elements. Many of
the groups did not use a piano in order
to free them from normal harmonic
progressions. Individual instruments were
played in a fashion unlike anything that
had gone before. Squeeks, squawks,
multi-phonics(playing two notes at a
time), altissimo playing (the extreme high
register), rhythmic freedom, harsh tone
quality, all can be found in the avant-
garde. One of the most influential players
is saxophonist Ornette Coleman. His
album “Free Jazz” is where the move-
ment got its name. Another important
player is pianist Cecil Taylor. His style of
playing concentrated on obtaining tex-
tures rather than recognizable melodies.
Another player who is as major hallmark
in the history is tenor saxophonist John
Coltrane. One of his style periods was
avant-garde and he pushed the tenor
saxophone to new extremes. He was
a very charasmatic person who had an
influence on many, many players. He also
was an innovator in the style of playing
called modal jazz. This was a different ap-
proach to playing that featured a much
slower harmonic rhythm (fewer chords)
that allowed the soloist to concentrate
on melodic invention. (This style was
before the avant-garde)
FUSION This term covers a wide range
of styles including jazz-rock, funk, pop-
fusion, avante-garde fusion, etc. Again
one of the innovators in this style was
Miles Davis. His album “Bitches Brew” is
another pivotal album in the history of
jazz. Not only was it a fusion of rock and
jazz but one of the first albums to use
electric instruments (electric bass, Fender-
Rhodes piano, electric guitar) instead of
acoustic instruments. In some cases two
or more pianos or basses were used at
the same time. There were several players
on “Bitches Brew” that went on to long
and distinguished careers, among them
pianists Chic Corea and Joe Zawinul, gui-
tarist John McLaughlin and tenor saxo-
phonist Wayne Shorter. There are some
general characteristics that distinguish
funk and rock from jazz.
1. Fewer chord changes.
2. More repetition of both chords and
melodic phrases.
3. Chords are less comlpex.
4 Drums play simpler, repetive patterns.
5. Much less improvisation.
There are many, many important players
and groups in the various fusion styles.
Some of them are Chic Corea’s Return to
Forever and The Electric Band, Weather
Report, The Mahavishnu Orcherstra, Her-
bie Hancock and the Headhunters. Some
of the more current groups include Pat
Metheny, the Yellowjackets and Spyro-
Gyra. There are an increasing number
of groups that play a tremendous range
of music thereby making it difficult to
put them in any one category. There are
certainly is enough variety out to satisfy
the most discriminating of fans.
Source: www.kennedy-center.org/programs/jazz/ambassadors/
Lesson3.html
www.kennedy-center.org/programs/jazz/ambassadors/Les-
son4.html
www.kennedy-center.org/programs/jazz/ambassadors/Les-
son5.html
www.kennedy-center.org/programs/jazz/ambassadors/Les-
son6.html
www.kennedy-center.org/programs/jazz/ambassadors/Les-
son7.html
36 UMS 09-10
I N T E R N E T R E S O U R C E S
EXPLORE
KENNEDY CENTER ARTS EDGE
Spotlight: Celebrating Jazz - www.
artsedge.kennedy-center.org/con-
tent/3944/
Rhythm & Improv, Jazz & Poetry -
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/con-
tent/3654/
Lesson Overview: The musicality of words
is an important element of poetry, and
many poets carefully consider the sound
of the words on the page. Students will
listen to and analyze jazz music, spe-
cifically considering sound, rhythm, and
improvisation. Students will identify jazz
characteristics in poems by Yusef Komu-
nyakaa, Sonia Sanchez, and Langston
Hughes, and will incorporate these ele-
ments in their own original poetry.
You Keep Making Stuff Up! - http://
artsedge.kennedy-center.org/con-
tent/3811/
Lesson Overview: Improvisation exists in
many musical genres, from jazz to Salsa
to Afro-Cuban music. It is a concept
and skill that often seems daunting to
the novice and music-lover alike, but it
doesn’t take an expert to learn to impro-
vise. In this lesson, student will explore
the basics of improvisation, listening
to jazz and other genre excerpts and
identifying elements of improvisation in
these genres. Students will learn to play
and sing the accompaniment and melody
for an original song about improvisation.
Finally, students will perform the song as
an ensemble, taking turns to improvise
on the music.
Jazz in Time - www.artsedge.kennedy-
center.org/content/3949/
Overview: Developed for middle and high
school audiences, this interactive timeline
follows the development of this great
American art form. Divided by decade,
the timeline highlights events that helped
shape jazz and illustrates the styles of
each period through music and images.
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER
http://jalc.org/jazzED
The Jazz at Lincoln Center mission is to
engage listeners, performers, and educa-
tors of every age with a continuum of
experiences in appreciation and perfor-
mance that reflect the virtuosity, creativ-
ity, and inclusive spirit of jazz.
Online Education: Learn to play it, hear
it, and teach it from your classroom or
your living room, anywhere in the world.
Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame
Online: chronicles the life and art of
each of the Hall’s inductees through
dynamic interactive timelines, extensive
musical selections, rare photographs and
archival footage. - www.jalc.org/hallof-
fame/
Education Events Online - www.jalc.
org/jazzED/streamin/index09.asp
Education Events Online brings select
Master Classes, Jazz Talks, clinics, and
Jazz 101 courses to you and your stu-
dents, free of charge.
JAZZ FOR YOUNG PEOPLE™ ONLINE
www.jazzforyoungpeople.org
Intended primarily for 4th-9th graders,
the multimedia kit is designed for both
musicians and non-musicians an provides
flexible lessons that can be taught in one
semester-long unit or in shorter, indi-
vidual units.
This educational website supplements
the Jazz for Young People Curriculum
with original audio and video clips, classic
photographs, engaging biographies, and
dynamic activities that enliven jazz for
students of all ages.
NEA
Jazz in the Schools - www.neajazz-
intheschools.org/
NEA Jazz in the Schools is a web-based
curriculum and dvd tool kit that explores
jazz as an indigenous american art form
and as a means to understand american
history.
In partnership with the National Endow-
ment for the Arts (NEA), Jazz at Lincoln
center has produced a free educational
resource for high school teachers of
social studies, history, and music. NEA
Jazz in the Schools explores jazz as an
indigenous American art form and as a
means to understand American his-
tory. This web-based curriculum and
DVD toolkit includes a teacher’s guide
of five curricular units with teacher tips,
37UMS 09-10
cross-curricular activities, and assessment
methods. Each kit also includes student
materials, a timeline poster, and audio
and video resources.
Each of the five lessons contains an
opening essay, video, music, photo-
graphs, discussion questions, and other
resources. Each lesson contains practi-
cal suggestions for effective ways to
use the materials. We hope that these
lessons serve as an exciting jumping off
point for you and your students to learn
more about jazz and its unique connec-
tion to our nation’s past and present.
Please accept this invitation to bring the
wonders of jazz to a new generation of
Americans!
These lessons are designed as units; five
units serve as a week-long curriculum. If
you plan to teach a lesson per day, you
might find that there is more material
than can be taught in one class period.
This allows you to pick and choose the
items that best suit your students, your
curriculum design, and your teaching
goals. You might draw on an entire in-
dividual lesson or components of several
lessons. Alternately, you could spread the
units, or elements from the units, across
the semester.
Note that each lesson fulfills National
Curriculum Standards for social studies,
history, arts education, civics and govern-
ment, and geography.
To link the NEA Jazz in Schools curricu-
lum to your class, you might draw on the
following themes:
The struggle for civil rights •
The pluralistic character of American •
culture, especially in cities such as
New Orleans
Arts and culture as a reflection of •
historical events
Jazz as a metaphor for American •
identity
The effect of technology on Ameri-•
can culture
The increasing urbanization of •
America
Arts and music as a means of self-•
expression
Each unit contains: •
A Lesson Essay written by scholars •
in the fields of jazz and history; hy-
perlinks on the website direct you to
music examples and photos included
in the guide
A Major Artists section featuring •
short biographies of important jazz
artists of each era
Lesson Objectives focusing on Ameri-•
can history and jazz
The National Curriculum Standards •
met by this curriculum
Suggested Steps for Teaching the •
Lesson
Discussion Questions •
Student Activities •
Additional resources including •
recordings, videos, books, and
websites; we encourage you to
seek out other recordings and live
performance opportunities for your
students
A Student Assessment with 10 •
multiple-choice questions; essay
questions can be developed from
discussion questions if you need
further assessment
A Glossary providing definitions for •
musical terms
The interactive timeline features events
from the essays that can be viewed by
multiple categories: culture, technology,
music, history, and geography.
The Listen page contains music clips for
the entire curriculum. The list can be
sorted by lesson, track number, artist,
song title, or date by clicking at the top
of each respective column.
The Artist page contains biographies,
audio clips, and related web resources for
each of the major artists.
THE THELONIOUS MONK INSTITUTE
OF JAZZ www.jazzinamerica.org/
The mission of The Thelonious Monk
Institute of Jazz is to offer public school-
based jazz education programs for
young people around the world, helping
students develop imaginative thinking,
creativity, curiosity, a positive self image,
and a respect for their own and others’
cultural heritage.
The National Jazz Curriculum: Located on
the Web at www.jazzinamerica.org, his
Internet-based jazz curriculum is avail-
able to every 5th, 8th, and 11th grade
public school social studies and American
history classroom in the United States.
This is the first jazz curriculum to use cur-
rent Internet technology and be offered
free of charge on a national basis. It also
represents the most significant and po-
tentially wide-reaching jazz/social studies
education program ever undertaken by
an arts organization.
Includes: jazz curricula for three distinct
grade levels, as well as a lesson spe-
cifically dedicated to the blues and its
influence on jazz. The 5th, 8th, and 11th
38 UMS 09-10
grade sections each contain eight age-
appropriate class lessons to be taught as
an integral component of American his-
tory and social studies courses; they can
also be used as supplemental material for
courses in music history and appreciation.
Each lesson is aligned with the National
Standards in the areas of American His-
tory, Social Science, and the Arts.
Beginning with what jazz is and how it
began, each set of lesson plans examines
characteristics of various jazz styles and
highlights contributions of important
performers and composers. They also
explore the social, economic, and politi-
cal contexts within which jazz evolved,
providing an additional and engaging
modality for the study of American his-
tory. All pertinent content, audio and
video examples, student handouts, and
assessments are contained within.
SMITHSONIAN
Jazz Class - www.smithsonianjazz.org
Visit “Jazz Classes” to hear the elegant
Duke Ellington, the scat singer extraor-
dinaire Ella Fitzgerald, Louis “Satchmo”
Armstrong, and swingin’ Benny Carter.
There is also a cool Duke Ellington Inter-
active lesson. For those of you who want
to find out more about jazz, click on
“What is Jazz” to answer your questions.
Groovin’ to Jazz - www.smithsonianjazz.
org/class/groovintojazz/lessonplans.asp
Groovin’ to Jazz includes thirty-one
original recordings with lesson plans de-
signed for intermediate level (ages 8-13)
and middle level (ages 13-15) students.
Some lessons have worksheets to go
with them. Most lessons are designed
for teachers with limited resources and
space. You will need a computer with
access to the Internet so you can play the
recordings for your class. Some lessons
include links to websites with additional
activities or recordings. If you decide to
use the sixteen intermediate or fifteen
middle level recordings/lessons, you
should teach them in the sequence pre-
sented here because lessons build upon
each other and develop jazz skills.
Bibliography of Jazz books for Children
- www.smithsonianjazz.org/bibliography/
bib_start.asp
Download bibliographies created by by
Lois Kipnis, Director of Arts Education,
Friends of the Arts, Inc. www.FOTApre-
sents.org. There are bibliographies avail-
able: Grades Pre-Kindergarten to 6 and
Grades 6 to 12.
PBS
Jazz -www.pbs.org/jazz/classroom/
The resources offered here are designed
to help you use the PBS JAZZ video series
and companion Web site in music, social
studies, math, and language arts classes.
The lesson plans may also be adapted for
use as stand-alone resources. This site
includes Lessons and Activities for Grades
K-5, Lessons and Activities for Grades
6-12, and General Motors Music Study
Guide for Grades 5-8.
PBS has produced several programs that
touch on the music and the people of jazz.
Explore some of the best of PBS cultural
programming. www.pbs.org/jazz/links/
NPR
Jazz - www.nprjazz.org
Check out recent and classic perfor-
mances, interviews, news, and reviews
on public radio. Make sure the DJ at your
local NPR Jazz station is playing your
favorites.
Jazzset with Dee Dee Bridge Water
-www.npr.org/programs/jazzset/index.
html
Jazz Profiles - www.npr.org/programs/
jazzprofiles
Hosted by Nancy Wilson, this compel-
ling documentary series chronicles the
people, places, and events in jazz history.
By combining archival recordings, inter-
views, and narration, each program in
the series tells an informative story that
celebrates the music and the musicians of
this uniquely American art form.
Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz -
www.npr.org/programs/pianojazz/
This Peabody-award winning show
produced by South Carolina Educational
Radio features Marian McPartland and
her guests reminiscing, improvising, and
swapping stories, songs, and techniques
about jazz each week.
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
www.northwestern.edu/jazz/education.html
From Northwestern University, this site
contains links to several jazz education
sites containing free music, pedagogy,
and lessons.
39UMS 09-10
R E C O M M E N D E D R E A D I N GThis page lists several recommended books to help reinforce jazz education through literature.
PRIMARY + ELEMENTARY GRADES
•HipCatbyJonathanLondon,WoodleighHubbard(Illustrator)
•MysteriousTheloniusbyChrisRaschka
•TheJazzFlybyMatthewGollub,KarenHanke(Illustrator)
•EllaFitzgerald:AYoungVocalVirtuosobyAndreaDavisPinkney
•DukeEllington:ThePianoPrinceandhisOrchestrabyAndreaDavisPinkney
•TheSoundThatJazzMakesbyCaroleBostonWeatherford
•JohnColtrane’sGiantStepsbyChrisRaschkaandJohnColtrane
•CharlieParkerPlayedBebopbyChrisRaschka
•DJandtheJazzFestbyDeniseWalkerMcConduit
•TheJazzyAlphabetbySherryShahan
•WhoBop?byJohnathonLondon
•BringonThatBeatbyRachelIsadora
UPPER MIDDLE + SECONDARY GRADES
•JazzMakers:VanguardsofSoundbyAlynShipton
•AmericanJazzMusicians(ACollectiveBiography)byStanleyMour
•JazzandItsHistory(MastersofMusic)byGiuseppeVigna
•TheGoldenAgeofJazzbyWilliamGottleib
•LouisArmstrong-ASelfPortraitbyRichardMeryman
•TheArtofJazzbyMartinWilliams
•TheNewGroveDictionaryofJazzbyBerryKernfeld
•SweetSingBluesontheRoadbyWyntonMarsalisandFrankStewart
•TheMusicofBlackAmericansbyEileenSouthern
•TheDukeEllingtonReaderbyMarkTucker
EXPLORE
41UMS 09-10
U N I V E R S I T Y M U S I C A L S O C I E T Y
UMS
UMS IS COMMITTED to connecting audiences with performing artists from around the world in uncommon and engaging experi-
ences. One of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country, the University Musical Society is now in its 131st season. With a
program steeped in music, dance, and theater performed at the highest international standards of quality, UMS contributes to a vi-
brant cultural community by presenting approximately 60-75 performances and over 100 free educational and community activities
each season. UMS also commissions new work, sponsors artist residencies, and organizes collaborative projects with local, national,
and international partners.
UMS EDUCATION &
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT MAILING ADDRESS
100 Burton Memorial Tower
881 North University Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011
STAFF
Kenneth C. FischerUMS President
Carlos PalomaresProduction Manager
Claire C. RiceInterim Director
Mary Roeder Residency Coordinator
Omari RushEducation Manager
INTERNS
Emily Barkakati
Mark Johnson
Neal Kelley
Leonard Navarro
Bennett Stein
42 UMS 09-10
K-12 SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS
Working directly with schools to
align our programs with classroom
goals and objectives
•13-yearofficialpartnershipswiththe
Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Washt-
enaw Intermediate School District.
•SuperintendentofAnnArborPublic
Schools is an ex officio member of the
UMS Board of Directors.
•UMShassignificantrelationshipswith
Detroit Public Schools’ dance and world
language programs and is developing
relationships with other regional districts.
•UMSisbuildingpartnershipswithorof-
fering specialized services to the region’s
independent and home schools.
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS
Affecting educators’ teaching prac-
tices at the developmental stage
•UMSYouthEducationisdeveloping
a partnership with the U-M School of
Education, which keeps UMS informed
of current research in educational theory
and practice.
•Universityprofessorsandstaffare
active program advisors and workshop
presenters.
ACCESSIBILITY
Eliminating participation barriers
•UMSsubsidizesYouthPerformance
tickets to $6/student (average subsidy:
$25/ticket)
•Whenpossible,UMSreimbursesbus-
sing costs.
•UMSYouthEducationoffersperson-
alized customer service to teachers in
order to respond to each school’s unique
needs.
•UMSactivelyseeksoutschoolswith
economic and geographic challenges to
ensure and facilitate participation.
ARTS EDUCATION LEADER
One of the premier arts education
programs in the country
•UMS’speerartseducationprograms:Car-
negie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center.
•UMShasthelargestyoutheducation
program of its type in the four-state region
and has consistent school/teacher participa-
tion throughout southeastern Michigan.
•20,000studentsareengagedeachsea-
son by daytime performances, workshops
and in-school visits.
•UMSYouthEducationwasawarded
“Best Practices” by ArtServe Michigan
and The Dana Foundation (2003).
U M S Y O U T H E D U C AT I O N P R O G R A M1 0 T H I N G S T O K N O W
UMS
QUALITY
Every student deserves access to
“the best” experiences of world arts
and culture
•UMSpresentsthefinestinternational
performing and cultural artists.
•Performancesareoftenexclusiveto
Ann Arbor or touring to a small number
of cities.
•UMSYouthPerformancesaimto
present to students the same perfor-
mance that the public audiences see (no
watered-down content).
DIVERSITY
Highlighting the cultural, artistic,
and geographic diversity of the world
•Programsrepresentworldculturesand
mirror school/community demographics.
•Studentsseeavarietyofartforms:
classical music, dance, theater, jazz,
choral, global arts.
•UMS’sGlobalArtsprogramfocuses
on 4 distinct regions of the world—
Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Arab
World—with a annual festival featuring
the arts of one region.
43UMS 09-10
KENNEDY CENTER PARTNERSHIP
•UMSYouthEducationhasbeena
member of the prestigious Kennedy
Center Partners in Education Program
since 1997.
•PartnersinEducationisanationalcon-
sortium of arts organization and public
school partnerships.
•Theprogramnetworksover100na-
tional partner teams and helps UMS stay
on top of best practices in education and
arts nationwide.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
“I find your arts and culture work-
shops to be one of the ‘Seven Won-
ders of Ann Arbor’!”
–AAPS Teacher
•UMSYouthEducationprovidessome
of the region’s most vital and responsive
professional development training.
•Over300teachersparticipateinour
educator workshops each season.
•Inmostworkshops,UMSutilizesand
engages resources of the regional com-
munity: cultural experts and institutions,
performing and teaching artists.
TEACHER ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Meeting the actual needs of today’s
educators in real time
•UMSYouthEducationworkswitha
50-teacher committee that guides pro-
gram decision-making.
•TheCommitteemeetsthroughout
the season in large and small groups
regarding issues that affect teachers and
their participation: ticket/bussing costs,
programming, future goals, etc.
IN-SCHOOL VISITS & CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
Supporting teachers in the classroom
•UMSYouthEducationplacesinterna-
tional artists and local arts educators/
teaching artists in classes to help educa-
tors teach a particular art form or model
new/innovative teaching practices.
•UMSdevelopsnationally-recognized
teacher curriculum materials to help
teachers incorporate upcoming youth
performances immediately in their daily
classroom instruction.
UMS Youth Education [email protected] | 734-615-0122 |
www.ums.org/education
44 UMS 09-10
S E N D U S Y O U R F E E D B A C K !UMS wants to know what teachers and students think about this Youth Performance.
We hope you’ll send us your thoughts, drawings, letters, or reviews.
UMS YOUTH EDUCATION PROGRAM
BurtonMemorialTower•881N.UniversityAve.•AnnArbor,MI48109-1011
(734)615-0122phone•(734)998-7526fax•[email protected]
www.ums.org/education