Jazz, sound of surprise

Jazz is a rhythmic, vital music that originated in the United States towards the end of the 19^th century. Two main characteristics define jazz: the use of improvisation, and a unique rhythmic propulsion or drive called ‘swing’. Unlike classical music, jazz is a performer’s music: every piece is a personal statement by the musician playing it. Composers do exist in jazz, writing complete pieces of music, but they are always personally involved in the performance of their music.

Beyond basic musical considerations, jazz has few rules; it is, as jazz writer Whitney Balliett aptly put it, ‘the sound of surprise’. This is why jazz and modern classical music have had practically no influence on each other. The formal classical musician and composer cannot function in the freer atmosphere of jazz, and he does not appreciate the rhythmic qualities needed for swing. The jazz musician and composer cannot tolerate the rigidity and lack of rhythmic vitality of most classical music.

Jazz is associated with commercial popular music by most people, in spite of the fact that it has been a remarkably unpopular music for much of its life and (like classical music) is essentially uncommercial. The ability to play jazz is a very rare quality, probably because it demands a good musical ear and feeling for rhythm.

Jazz differs from other kinds of music in its sound, its structure, and its use of improvisation and rhythm. But jazz also sounds different, because several different instruments are used, and in different combinations. The wind instruments of jazz play the melody – the trumpet, trombone, saxophone, the clarinet and flute. The other instruments to be heard are the piano, guitar (usually amplified), double bass, vibraphone and drums. These instruments form the rhythm section of the band, and are played percussively to create swing, although all of them except the drums may also be played melodically. Instruments such as the oboe, bassoon, harp, and the violin, viola, and cello are rarely heard in jazz.

Most jazz pieces have a very simple structure. A theme or tune is played at the beginning; improvised solos by the musicians follow, and the theme is repeated to end the piece. These themes are of two basic lengths. Many are blues (characteristic Negro melodies), which are 12 bars long; others are 32 bars long, often songs from musical shows of the 1920s and 1930s. Musicians also compose their own themes, but many stick to the 12 or 32 bar formula. In traditional jazz, marches or hymns form a staple part of the repertoire.

The improvised solos make up the central and longest part of a performance. Musicians improvise in turn, and every member of a band may play a solo. Sometimes the length of the solo is determined beforehand, and the order in which the soloists play is also worked out in advance. In traditional jazz and in the most recent form of jazz, free jazz soloists often improvise together, but in other forms this collective improvisation is only occasionally practised by the players.

(from “Music, Song and Dance”. The Marshall Cavendish Learning System.)