Ellington and Early Jazz

Jeff Hellmer
 Announcements
• Pre-roll music:
• Duke Ellington: “Solitude” and “Isfahan”
• Louis Armstrong: “Potato Head Blues”
• Al Hirt: “Darktown Strutters’ Ball”
 Announcements
• Next in-class quiz will be given on Tuesday,
March 12
• Review guide posted on Canvas
 Announcements
• UT Jazz Ensemble Thursday night at 7:30
• Live Performance Summary #1 due Monday,
March 11 at 3 PM
• Cerego sets due Friday, March 15 at midnight
 Live Performances
• No laptops; notes with pencil and paper
• Sit next to each other!
• No standing in back or sitting in aisles
 Live Performances
• If you arrive after the start of the second
song of the concert, you will not be seated
• Signatures after the concert
Final Piece of Ellington’s Mood Music
–“Prelude To A Kiss”
–Features Johnny Hodges, alto
saxophone
–Hodges with Ellington from 1928-
1970 (except for four years)
Final Piece of Ellington’s Mood Music
–Hodges “scoops” into long notes
–Nicknames: “Jeep” and “Rabbit”
Duke Ellington’s Extended Form
Category
–Lengthy works about a particular
subject or theme
–Examples: Sacred Concerts, Such
Sweet Thunder, Far East Suite
(inspired by 1963 tour), Queenie Pie
 Duke Ellington’s Extended Form
Category
• “Madness In Great Ones” from Such Sweet
Thunder (1957)
• Depicts Hamlet
 Duke Ellington’s Extended Form
Category
• Hamlet attempts to make his stepfather
believe that he is crazy
• Imaginative, sometimes schizophrenic
colors in the arrangement
• First excerpt: leaping melodies with
unexpected starts and stops
 “Madness In Great Ones”
• High-note trumpet specialist Cat Anderson
• Audio excerpt: high trumpets; dissonant
chord; squeaks
 Extended Form
• Ellington at Newport
(1956)
 Duke Ellington
• “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue”
• Tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves’ blues
solo
 Duke Ellington
The platinum blonde
 Duke Ellington
• 27 chorus solo by Gonsalves
• The “blond who launched 7,000 cheers”
• One of the most exciting live jazz
performances in jazz history
 Ellington at Newport
One of Ellington’s biggest selling albums

Resurgence in the number and quality of gigs

Ellington frequently said in the years after this

performance: “I was born in Newport in 1956.”
 MUS307: Jazz Appreciation

Quiz in Progress
Having technical issues? Go to the homepage & click HELP
 Origins of Jazz
• Blend of European and African cultures
• New Orleans – the right place at the right
time
 European Influences
• Instruments—first common jazz
instruments
• Trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone,
tuba, piano
• Not from Europe: drum set, banjo
 European Influences
• Form/Structure—
• Jazz adopted the 8 measure phrase, 4
measure phrase, 4 beats per measure
 European Influences
• Harmony—
• Chord progression (“changes”) came
from European music
 African Influences
• Music an integral part of African
musical culture
 African Influences
• Call and response – a dialogue between
leader and a group
• Groups of drummers
• Vocalist and instruments
• Dance
• Call often improvised
 African Influences
• Rhythm—emphasis on drumming and
“polyrhythm” (similar to “cross-
rhythm”)
 African Influences
• Rhythm—
• Drums/Percussion very important
 African Influences
• Rhythm—
• Polyrhythm is likely the seed for the
swing rhythmic feel in jazz
 African Influences
• Vocal characteristics of African music
applied to instruments
• Crying, singing, shouting
 Why New Orleans?
• Cultural melting pot
• Band instruments
• Party town
Congo Square – French Quarter
 Early Jazz: The Features
• Collective Improvisation
Featured during melody presentations
– Trumpet, clarinet, and trombone all
“improvise” at the same time (trumpet sticks
close to melody)
 Early Jazz: The Features
• Collective Improvisation
• Instrumentation differs from many eras
that follow
• Short selections
 Early Jazz: The Features
• Function of music: social (dancing,
carousing)
• Happy, fast paced music
 Early Jazz: The Features
• The “jazz funeral”
 Hearing The Difference:
Swing v. Early Jazz
• Focus on three major differences
– Collective improvisation: important feature of
Early Jazz
– Instrumentation
– The sound of Louis Armstrong: a hallmark of
Early Jazz
 For Next Time

• Live Jazz Performances

• Cerego deadlines
• Enjoy jazz!