Just Dance

Jazz influences much more than just lyrics, rhythms, and instruments. This lovely music influences one of the most entertaining spectacles of life: dance. After doing some research, I learned that...

"Prior to the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance—modern jazz dance—emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance. Every individual style of jazz dance has roots traceable to one of these two distinct origins."

After digging further, I have learned the differences of these dance types. Jazz dance started off as what is now known as tap dancing because it was simply tap dancing to jazz music. However, jazz dance then began to create its unique flavor as dances such as the the Cakewalk, Black Bottom, Charleston, Jitterbug, Boogie Woogie, swing and the related Lindy Hop. A video of the Charlston and how to dance it is shown below...


Then after the 1950s, the essence of Caribbean dance, transforming into the smooth style that it is noted for today. This style, known as "modern jazz" is a major component of musical theater. It is influenced by many other styles such as ballet, lyrical, and contemporary. An example of this is shown in the video below...



Personally, I enjoy the elements of modern jazz more. However, I love the unique characteristics of the dances from the past. I think it would be neat to return to the dances of the mid 1900s, simply because it was a way to connect to others and to learn do with others without taking classes. It would be really neat if our school dances had as many massive coordinated dances as there are in the past. And our chance to do so is now: Roncalli High School has a swing dance club that is bring swing back!

Too Good for Words

Up until this point, I haven't even touched the plethora jazz instrumentalists. Vocalists somehow always seem to receive more praise and fame; however, jazz music would be no where without the instrumentalists. Sure, the singers really make lyrics and emotions come alive, but their performances simply can't capture jazz like instrument players can. I believe that the ability to make various brass and wood contraptions somehow come together to blend is talented. Even more so, I think that the ability to make this blend create an aura of jazz is astounding. Hearing such music, such art, always makes me want to close my eyes and become part of the music. Unlike vocal jazz, listening to instrumental jazz allows one to create any story and FEEL the emotion and passion of the song.
Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, instrumental jazz is simply not an influential characteristic of today's jazz (although if any one knows of some really good artist, I would love to hear them!). Instead, to really experience instrumental jazz, one has to return to the jazz era of the past and tune into musicians of the time. It's important to look beyond the most well-known performers such as Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington but they are a good start. If you are looking to listen to jazz musicians, I would also suggest look for entire bands in addition to soloist in order to get the whole feeling.
In general, I would suggest exploring jazz instrumentalist due to there wide influence on jazz.

I'm with the Band

Some of the jazz musicians today have not lost the big band flavor that infused some of the jazz of the mid 1900s. These cool hits not only contain soul-capturing vocals but also pack a punch with a passionate and loud band. These groups of musicians are certainly not part of the background, if anything, they are the leading act with a vocalist to add some pizazz.

Some examples of this can be seen in Bing Crosby's "Now you Has Jazz Jazz Jazz" which you can listen to here
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There are many different instruments in these bands, each with unique and capturing characteristics. To learn about one of my favorite instruments and one of my favorite people, visit Christian Power's awe-inspiring blog about saxophones via the following address: http://sax-it-to-me.blogspot.com/

Theme Song?

One of the largest connections of jazz music is the context of the lyrics. Now almost all types of music discuss relationships in their lyrics; however, I feel that jazz music often pictures and describes only a few types of relationships: the finding of love, the simple and real courtship/love, songs of longing for the return of love and the depressing break-up. Some of my favorite examples of these catergories are: "When I Fall in Love" (Lettermen), "Little Room" (Norah Jones), "Write to Me from Naples" (Dean Martin), and "Between the Lines" (Sara Bareilles).

Almost all jazz songs are centered on a mellow aura containing the most important aspects of life: love. It's very easy to relate to jazz and to feel the passion through the artist. No matter the time or type of jazz almost all of the songs are focused on this key element.

Rewind and Replay

All jazz musicians are called to dive deep into their soul and bring raw emotion and truth to their music. Every song is unique and has the ability to independently represent the musician. Even the artists who sing covers process the talent to make it their own.

By listening to the original and Henry Connick Jr and Ella Fitzgerald version of the song: All of Me, the differences of each artist can be detected.





Sure, all artist can make a song their own, but jazz singers trade songs all the time and make each seem like an original.

Playing Dressup

In comparing the clothing of jazz artists, the similarities are simply abundant. Both male and females tend to dress in dark, classic looks of dresses, hats, scarves, suits, etc. The trend differences have had little effect on these musicians regardless of whether they bellow jazz from the mid 1900s or today.

This can be shown when comparing Micheal Buble and Mel Torme...





Or when you look at Sara Bareilles and Jerri Winters...