Seungyong Chang: Bix Beiderbecke

Friday, June 5, 2020

52. The history of Jazz: 8. Cool Jazz, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 52nd 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.

The 8th theme of “The history of Jazz” I will introduce this week is “Cool Jazz”. It is a summary of the contents of “52nd ACJ Music Academy, The history of Jazz: 8. Cool Jazz”, which was introduced on June 18, 2016.

“Cool Jazz” is a genre of modern jazz music that originated in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by its comfortable tempo and light tone. Cool Jazz, contrasted with the tense and complex Bebop style, often uses formal arrangements and elements of classical music. In addition, it is a jazz style that gives more comfort and a sense of stability than other jazz genres that existed at the same time.

The term “Cool” began to be used for the music in this atmosphere after the release of Capitol Records' album <Classics in Jazz: Cool and Quiet> in 1953.

Mark C. Gridley of ‘All Music Guide to Jazz’ identified music categories belonging to Cool Jazz, among which are included the music in the album of <Birth of the Cool> by ‘Miles Davis’, the works of the ‘Modern Jazz Quartet’, the music of Gerry Mulligan, especially with Chet Baker and Bob Brookmeyer, and the works of George Shearing and Stan Getz.

Birth of the Cool, Miles Davis (1957)

Miles Davis

American jazz critic Ted Gioia has identified Cornet player ‘Bix Beiderbecke’ as early progenitors of the Cool Jazz. Beiderbecke alleviated strong rhythmic impact of jazz by employing complex techniques such as unusual harmonies and whole tone scales in favor of maintaining melodic flow.

Bix Beiderbecke

Cool Jazz is often used synonymously with “West Coast Jazz”. For the background, Gerry Mulligan and his colleagues in California often referred "West Coast Jazz" despite the fact that Lester Young, Claude Thornhill, and Miles Davis were based in New York at the time. With frequent use of the term, “West Coast Jazz” has gradually become synonymous with “Cool Jazz”.

Chet Baker

Cool jazz has influenced various music genres such as bossa nova, modal jazz, and even free jazz.

Some critics argue that Hard Bop was developed, which will be introduced in next week, with the remarkable popularity decline of Bebop and to the response of Cool Jazz which was very popular at the time.

Stan Getz

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Next week, I will introduce you “Hard Bop” as the 9th theme of “The history of Jazz” lectures.

Thank you.

Friday, May 8, 2020

48. The history of Jazz: 4. Chicago Jazz, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 48th 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.

The 4th theme of “The history of Jazz” I will introduce this week is “Chicago Jazz”. It is a summary of the contents of “48th ACJ Music Academy, The history of Jazz: 4. Chicago Jazz”, which was introduced on May 21, 2016.

New Orleans Jazz, which was settled musically in the early 1920s, moved to Chicago until the mid-1920s and reached its peak.

The reason many musicians who led New Orleans jazz came to Chicago was that since the Storyville in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, was forcibly closed, jazz musicians lost their ground in New Orleans, then while they were traveling to other cities to find jobs, Chicago was a right city because it is a big city having huge commercial districts with booming of construction economy.

Also, another reason New Orleans jazz musicians gathered in Chicago was the railroad structure of the United States at the time. Chicago was the center of transportation at that time and people had to change trains in Chicago to get from New Orleans to New York. Therefore, if there were railroads that could go directly from New Orleans to New York, the Chicago Jazz might not have born. In addition, some musicians who left Storyville to find jobs after its closure confused Chicago with New York.

After the Great Fire in the 19th century, Chicago, which had been active in reconstruction, demanded more Labor force than any other cities in the United States, thus people naturally gathered to Chicago. In this situation, many musicians who originally wanted to go to New York settled in Chicago, and some people heard about the situation and moved to Chicago.

The Great Chicago Fire (October 8, 1871 – October 10, 1871)

Jazz at this time is referred to as “Chicago Jazz,” or perceived as just a transitional form from New Orleans jazz to Swing. In fact, since many of the New Orleans jazz we hear now are recorded in Chicago, sometimes Chicago jazz is defined as “New Orleans Jazz recorded in Chicago.”

The main characters of the Chicago jazz are the three major classes of New Orleans Jazz, such as the Original Dixieland Jass Band, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, and additionally Bix Beiderbecke.

The most famous musician in the Original Dixieland Jass Band class was ‘New Orleans Rhythm Kings’, who spread New Orleans Jazz to Chicago, traveling between Chicago and New Orleans.

New Orleans Rhythm Kings

Louis Armstrong, who came to Chicago, escaped from King Oliver's influence and formed his own bands such as ‘Hot Five’ and ‘Hot Seven’, and their music became occupied a very important position in jazz history.

Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five

One of the most notable jazz musicians with Armstrong in this era is ‘Bix Beiderbecke’, who played cornet. Beiderbecke was born in a white family in Iowa near Chicago, and at the age of 15, he was already developing a jazz player's dream under the influence of the Original Dixieland Jass Band. However, his parents did not allow his son to become a jazz musician and transferred him to a high school in Chicago, but eventually he did not graduate from the school, and made a band called "Wolverines" with his friends. Then, he joined the band of Frankie Trumbauer, who was active in clubs in Chicago, and then gained his fame. “Singin’ the blues” and “Riverboat shuffle” are his remarkable songs. Beiderbecke, who died at the age of 28 in 1931, had a very fragile and tender-hearted personality. It was said that the direct reason for his early death was alcohol due to discord with his family.

Bix Beiderbecke

Comparing Armstrong and Beiderbecke, Armstrong's performance is very challenging, self-confident, and full of inspiration, while Beiderbecke's performance is very lyrical and restrained as if representing his tender sensibility.

Louis Armstrong

By the late 1920s, Chicago musicians made their way to New York with popularity. They play Swing in New York, and around 1930, Jazz's main stage actually moved from Chicago to New York.