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Blue Note is perhaps the most recognized and revered record label in the history of jazz. While there are many other important record labels we have encountered (Columbia, Impulse, RCA, Prestige, Savoy, and dozens of others) The artists, sound, design, and dedication to progressive music sets Blue Note apart form many of its peers – … Continue reading Jazz History Module 9: The Blue Note Era →
In this week’s module we enter the complex era of the 1950s and encounter one of the most innovative and influential musicians in American history – trumpeter Miles Davis. Davis and his music can be viewed as a mirror reflecting the rapidly changing musical and societal forces in the 1950s. His outspoken and transformative style … Continue reading Jazz History Module 8: The 1950s – Miles Davis Pt.…
In this week’s module we will conclude our semester with a survey of some of the artists, music, and dynamics that help to shape contemporary jazz, a thriving scene of diverse artists exploring and expanding the traditions of African American music. This will include work by jazz icons Carla Bley, Maria Schneider and Terence Blanchard, … Continue reading Module 14 – The Long Arc, Contemporary…
This module will explore another musical revolution occurring in the Bronx during the 1970s – the birth of the cultural movement known as hip-hop. We will explore what makes this musc unique, how it is made, explore some of its iconic pioneers, and how hip-hop is both an outgrowth of the jazz tradition and simultaneously … Continue reading Module 13 – Hip Hop Origin Story →
This unit focuses on some of the most important eras and locations in music history, namely Spanish Harlem or El Barrio and the South Bronx in New York City during the 1960s and 1970s. This week and next we will hear how the seminal African American and Afro-Latin musics from earlier in the century were … Continue reading Jazz History Module 12 – El Barrio and the Bronx: Afro-Latin Revolutions →
Welcome to module 7, where we will explore the musical and social dynamics of the 1940s and the revolution in improvised music from Harlem known as bebop. As this is where music and society at large began to accelerate rapidly, we are going to go on an up-tempo ride through some of the people, places, … Continue reading Jazz History Module 7: Bebop and the Birth of Modern Jazz →
We continue our tour of the swing era, this week looking at one of the major developments in American music – what are known as “standard” songs, aka the American songbook. Questions: WHAT ARE STANDARDS? The “American songbook” is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century “standardized” songs, – usually popular songs, show tunes, and … Continue reading Jazz History Module 6: The…
This week we are swinging into the 1930s, a decade marked by the Great Depression and a time when big band jazz became the dominant form of American popular music. These bands offered a signature groove, arrangement, and style that became known as swing. We will look at innovators such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, … Continue reading Jazz History Module 5: The Swing Era →
Welcome to module 4! This week’s module examines one of the most important types of music in our course – early American blues music. Blues began in the late 19th century and by the end of the 1930s had become a dominant influence in all types of American music and soon after a pervasive influence across … Continue reading Jazz History Module 4: Early 20th Century Blues →
WELCOME BACK! Welcome to module two of the history of jazz. This week we examine African American music in the 19th century, music that was to influence all of the 20th century and is still influencing music today. This module will detail many of the tracks found in this week’s playlist as well as offering … Continue reading Jazz History Module 2: African American Music in the 19th Century →