Friday, May 1, 2020

47. The history of Jazz: 3. New Orleans Jazz, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 47th lecture.

I had conducted music lectures at Art Collage JANG in Seoul, South Korea every Saturday from March 2015 to December 2017.

I am going to introduce the lecture by the lecture’s order every Saturday.

Please refer to the following link for my previous lectures.


The 3rd theme of “The history of Jazz” I will introduce this week is “New Orleans Jazz”. It is a summary of the contents of “47th ACJ Music Academy, The history of Jazz: 3. New Orleans Jazz”, which was introduced on May 14, 2016.

For the process of forming New Orleans Jazz, the music, which is now called the 'New Orleans Jazz', was already formed in New Orleans, in the 1910s, and until the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded first official jazz album in the Victor label in New York, on February 26, 1917, many musicians from New Orleans were already active in the Middle and Eastern parts of the United States. 

For the background of the development of the New Orleans Jazz, there was a regional foundation called Storyville, which was very decadent and entertaining, and forced to be closed by the US government in 1917. As Storyville was closed, many of the musicians who were active in New Orleans moved to Chicago.

Basin Street (Storyville)

The music of New Orleans Jazz were often introduced alongside the music of Chicago Jazz. The famous music of New Orleans Jazz include “Dippermouth blues” by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and “Black bottom stomp” by Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers

King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band

Looking at musical instruments in the New Orleans Jazz, for the melody part, there are cornet, trumpet, and clarinet, and for the rhythm part, there are piano, trombone, tuba, and banjo. Also, in New Orleans Jazz, one of the characteristics of jazz, “improvising solo performance,” was not much found, and the ensemble play was more than solo playing, and the playing time was short, about 3 minutes.

One of the representative forms of New Orleans Jazz, the “Stomp” was also the main part of Jelly Roll Morton. Simply saying, based on one bar of four beats, tuba (or trombone) and banjo alternately performs one beat’s rhythm playing, respectively, and if the syncopations are added to these rhythms, stronger volumes are added to second and fourth beats and a strong ringing sound continues as if you are rolling on the floor. This form plays a pivotal role in New Orleans Jazz, and you can listen to the typical Stomp form in Grandpa’s spells” by Jelly Roll Morton.

New Orleans Jazz becomes musically mature as jazz musicians based in New Orleans have traveled around the cities since Storyville was closed. Settled in the cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and Kansas City, New Orleans Jazz continued to develop musically until it moved the main stage to New York, and “Louis Armstrong” played a very important role for this background.

Louis Armstrong

The representative New Orleans Jazz musicians include the Original Dixieland Jass Band, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton.

First, the Original Dixieland Jass Band is a Dixieland jazz band who recorded and released the first jazz album "Livery Stable Blues" in early 1917.

The Original Dixieland Jass Band

Second, King Oliver is the most important musician when talking about New Orleans Jazz, who led the King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and played a pivotal role in New Orleans Jazz. Oliver also made a big popular success, and the clubs in Chicago and Detroit fiercely competed to scout him. 

King Oliver

He was also an outstanding 'cornet' player, and he was active traveling between New Orleans and Chicago after his first success in Chicago in 1918. The clarinet player Johnny Dodds and the cornet and trumpet player Louis Armstrong were among the great musicians who worked with him. 

Johnny Dodds

Third, Jelly Roll Morton was an outstanding pianist, composer and band leader, who was also a popular figure since the early days of New Orleans Jazz when King Oliver was so popular and famous. Morton was also the figure, who developed "Stomp," an important form of New Orleans Jazz. He moved to Chicago after New Orleans, working side by side with King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. He also played a very pivotal role in the process that the main stage of jazz is moving from New Orleans to Chicago to New York.

Jelly Roll Morton

You can also review this lecture from following media.


Next week, I will introduce you “Chicago Jazz” as the 4th theme of “The history of Jazz” lectures.

Thank you.

No comments:

Post a Comment

75th Live Broadcast of “Pops Lounge” in TBN Ulsan Traffic Broadcasting Network (November 7, 2023)

  How are you? I had 75th live broadcast of “Pops Lounge” today in TBN Ulsan Traffic Broadcasting Network ’s “Studio1041” .  Today&#...