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main styles of jazz

© Agha Yasir

MAIN STYLES OF JAZZ

• New Orleans (early 1900s).
  Swinging, syncopated rhythms, collective improvisation, based in spirituals, blues, work songs, assorted European Music.

Major players:
Buddy Bolden, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Sidney Bechet, Jimmie Noone, Johnny Dodds, Freddie Keppard, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong.

• Midwest territory bands (1920s).
  Precursor of big band swing featuring start soloists, battling horn sections, driving, bluesy rhythms.

Key Players:
Lester Young, Herschel Evans, Bennie Moton's band, Walter Page's Blue Devils, Casa Loma Orchestra, McKinney's Cotton Pickers.

• Big Band Swing (1930s and 1940s).
  Sophisticated ensemble jazz by bands with 12 or more members. Tight arrangements with spotlight star soloists.

Key Players:
Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bennie Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hines, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Stan Keaton.

• Bebop (1940s and 1950s).
  Fast, frenetic jazz with complex combinations of chords, melodies, and rhythms.

Key Players:
Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, Fats Navarro, Kenny Clarke, Charles Mingus.

• Latin Jazz. (1930s to 1990s)
  Merger of jazz with assorted Latin influences - Cuban, South American, Caribbean.

Key Players:
Machito, Chano Pozo, Mario Bauza, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader.

• Cool Jazz (1950s).
  Smooth Melodic West Coast Brand of jazz.

Key Players:
Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, Shelly Manne, Frank Wess.

• Hard Bop (1950s, early 1960s).
  Gritty, bluesy '50s descendent of '40s bebop, made by some of the same musicians plus several new ones.

Key Players:
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver, Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet, Cannonball Adderly, J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Jordan, Lee Morgan.

• Avante Garde/Free Jazz(1960s forward).
  Avante Garde is experimental jazz that often has elaborate structure. Free jazz is where everything goes. But it also sounds good to the ears.

Key Players:
Lennie Tristano, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Sun Ra, Anthony Braxton, Lester Bowie, Art Ensemble of Chicago, World Saxophone quartet, Henry Threadgill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, Don Pullen, Don Cherry, George Russel.

• Fusion (late 1960s forward).
  Blend of jazz with soul, rock, and funk elements, usually utilizing electric instruments. Indian Classical Music has played an important role in fusion.

Key Players:
Miles Davis, Weather Report, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, the Yellow Jackets, Spyrogyra.

• Contemporary/Smooth Jazz (1980s forward).
  Although it may seem a long time about 20 years back when contemporary jazz was evolved it is a bit new considering the long history of jazz. Light, instrumental pop that some critics feel shouldn't be labeled at all - although some of its players have genuine roots in jazz.

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