‘Ain't Misbehavin'’ — THE EVOLUTION OF JAZZ

Jazz as we know it today has varied and diverse roots in the African-American cultures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The following is a brief history of jazz and the musical styles it has influenced.

Ragtime, although not really jazz (ragtime does not have improvisation), was an early musical style (which was at its prime during 1899-1915) that had a strong influence on early forms of jazz. Best-known as piano music, ragtime (which is totally written-out) was also performed by orchestras. Its syncopations and structure (blending together aspects of classical music and marches) hinted strongly at jazz.

The Blues developed from simple but powerful African-American folk music. Either sung a cappella (no accompaniment) or played with an instrumental, blues performers deliberately flattened certain notes. These 'blue' notes mimicked the cry of a human voice showing both sorrow and resilience in the face of trouble.

New Orleans Jazz, the earliest style of jazz, was the music played in New Orleans from about the time that Buddy Bolden formed his first band in 1895 until about 1917. Unfortunately, it went unrecorded. However, with the success of the Original Dixieland jazz Band in 1917 and the many performances documented in the 1920's, it became possible to hear what this music sounded like in later years. Ensemble-oriented with fairly strict roles for each instrument, New Orleans Jazz generally features a trumpet or cornet providing a melodic lead, harmonies from the trombone, countermelodies by the clarinet and a steady rhythm stated by the rhythm section (which usually consists of piano, banjo or guitar, tuba or bass and drums). This music is a direct descendant of marching brass bands and tends to de-emphasize solos in favor of ensembles featuring everyone playing and improvising together. Due to its fairly basic harmonies and the pure joy of the ensembles, it is consistently the happiest and most accessible style of jazz.

The 1920's were a rich decade musically with jazz-influenced dance bands and a gradual emphasis on solo (as opposed to collective) improvisations. Whether it was the stride pianists (see below), the increasingly adventurous horn soloists, or the arranged music that predates swing, much of the jazz from this decade can be given the umbrella title of Classic Jazz.

Dixieland, a style that overlaps with New Orleans jazz and Classic jazz, has also been called "Chicago jazz" because it developed to an extent in Chicago in the 1920's. Most typically the framework involves collective improvisation during the first chorus (or, when there are several themes, for several choruses), individual solos with some riffing by the other horns, and a closing ensemble or two with a four bar tag by the drummer being answered by the full group.

While New Orleans jazz has improvised ensembles, when jazz started becoming popular in the 1920's and demand was growing for larger dance bands, it became necessary for ensembles to be written down, particularly when a group included more than three or four horns. Although Swing largely began when Louis Armstrong joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra in 1924 and Don Redman began writing arrangements for the band that echoed the cornetist's relaxed phrases, the swing era officially started in 1935 when Benny Goodman's Orchestra caught on. Swing was a major force in American popular music until the big band era largely ended in 1946. Swing differs from New Orleans jazz and Dixieland in that the ensembles (even for small groups) are simpler and generally filled with repetitious riffs while in contrast the solos are more sophisticated. Individual improvisations still paid close attention to the melody but due to the advance in musicianship, the solo flights were more adventurous.

Stride is a style of jazz piano playing in which the pianist's left hand maintains a continuous pulse in groups of four beats by persuasively playing a bass note on the first and third beats and a chord on the second and fourth beats. The right hand improvises melodies and harmonies, and the result resembles a very energetic one-man band. It is performed by immensely talented pianists who were able to control the piano with a power and virtuosic force previously unknown in popular music. The style originated in New York before the 1920s, as pianists took ragtime and began developing new, more swinging styles. Major proponents were James P. Johnson (Fats Waller's teacher), Willie "The Lion" Smith (Fats' close friend), and Luckey Roberts.

Boogie-woogie is a jazz piano style using two pulses stated by the left hand for every beat and the 12-bar blues chord progression as its repertory. The brief, continuously repeating patterns from the left hand give the style its identity. Its jazz flavor comes from rhythmically and melodically playful phrases improvised by the pianist's right hand. First popularized during the late 1920s, boogie-woogie experienced a strong revival during the late 1930s and early 1940s. This genre had considerable influence on accompaniment styles in the popular music called rhythm & blues, as well as the beginnings of rock & roll.