The History of Jazz Guitar

The history of jazz guitar has been an integral part of the wide-ranging history of jazz. The early guitar players were the great blues singers who accompanied themselves on the guitar. By the 1930s, guitarists gained prominence in jazz and some were even featured performers, such as Carl Kress (1907-1965), who recorded in 1927 with Bix Beiderbecke. In Europe, Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), a Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist recorded with his Quintette du Hot Club de France. Beginning in 1939, Charlie Christian played with Big Band Swing bandleader Benny Goodman, and in the bebop era, Tal Farlow was notable for his virtuoso playing.

In the 1960s, guitarists tended to play in small groups, such as Jim Hall, who did his best work in duos with Bill Evans, Ron Carter and others. Wes Montgomery was a self-taught guitarist who used his right thumb rather than a plectrum (pick) to produce his unique sound in his late-1950s and 1960s hard bop recordings. Joe Pass pioneered solo guitar with chordal substitutions in his duos with Ella Fitzgerald. Grant Green's was known for his funky 1970s organ trio music. FusionLarry Coryell (1943- ), John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, and Allan Holdsworth guitarists such as combined the sound and energy of rock with jazz-style improvisation.

1900s to 1920s

The history of the guitar in jazz is rooted in the great blues singers who accompanied themselves on the acoustic guitar, such as Big Bill Broonzy and Huddy "Leadbelly" Ledbetter. The banjo, because of its loud volume, was an early stringed accompaniment instrument in jazz in New Orleans and Dixieland music. Banjoists such as Johnny St. Cyr (1890-1966) and Bud Scott (1890-1949) also played guitar in jazz bands of the 1910s-1920s.Early jazz guitarists included Eddie Lang (1902-1933), Nick Lucas (1897-1982)^[3], Lonnie Johnson (1889-1970) and Snoozer Quinn (1906-1952).

1930s

Even as late as the early 1930s sophisticated jazz orchestras such as the Duke Ellington band still used a banjo to provide a rhythmic pulse. During the 1930s, though, guitarists gained prominence in jazz and some were even featured performers. Carl Kress (1907-1965) and Dick McDonough (1904-1938) made an early guitar duo recording in 1934. Kress was featured with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1926 and recorded in 1927 with Bix Beiderbecke. He initially played banjo and four-string guitar, changing over to six-string guitar in the 1930s. Kress used an unorthodox tuning that he created for himself. He played in the 1950s on the Gary Moore television show and into the 1960s in a duo with George Barnes. McDonough led radio and performing bands and performed with many other musicians such as the Dorsey Brothers.

Other successful jazz guitarists of the period included George Van Eps (1913-1998) and Freddie Green (1911-1987), who played rhythm guitar in the Count Basie Orchestra for 50 years.^[7]George Van Eps (1913-1998) began recording as early as 1934 and taped his last records in 1996, along the way inventing the 7 string guitar in the 1950s

In Europe, Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), a Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist recorded with his Quintette du Hot Club de France with violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908 – 1997), a French jazz violinist. Reinhardt was an influential figure in jazz and among jazz guitarists as a soloist, accompanist and composer.^[9][10] The Quintette du Hot Club de France included Django Reinhardt's brother Joseph Reinhardt as well as several other Gypsy guitarists and non-Gypsy musicians. Because of international commerce, records featuring Django Reinhardt were heard in the United States and inspired many future famous jazz guitarists. Django's early style was influenced by the jazz of the time, including Louis Armstrong and was later influenced by bebopCharlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1946, Duke Ellington brought Django to the United States for a series of concerts. musicians such as Jazz guitar reached a watershed with the development of amplification using a magnetic pickup and amplifier. With its amplifier, an electric guitar could be as loud as horns, drums, and piano put together. This dramatically changed the way that the instrument could be used, because before amplification was available, the guitarist would just play chords, because single-not melodies would be unaudible. One of the very first jazz guitarists to experiment with the electric guitar was Eddie Durham (1906-1987) who was playing one as early as 1938.^[11] Durham showed the instrument to Charlie Christian (1916-1942) in 1937 and to Floyd Smith. On March 16, 1939 Smith recorded "Floyd's Guitar Blues," perhaps the first hit record featuring electric guitar. But it was Christian who was to become the central figure of the electric guitar revolution in jazz, playing with Benny Goodman after an audition on August 16, 1939. Christian was influenced by the records of Django Reinhardt, learning some of his solos note-for-note. Christian was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1940 and died at the Seaview Sanatorium in Staten Island in 1942.

1940s

The 1940s saw jazz guitarists becoem firmly established as soloists in their own right as well as accompanists. Playing with Nat King Cole brought Oscar Moore (1916-1981) to prominence in jazz and popular music. Moore was a pioneer for the role of jazz guitar in the small jazz ensemble and played with Cole for nearlya decade. Moore also played with Lionel Hampton and Art Tatum. Bill DeArango (1921-2005) played guitar with musicians of the caliber of Coleman Hawkins and Dizzy Gillespie. Billy Bauer (1915-2005) was a member of Woody Herman's first Herd and also played with Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden. Bauer was at the forefront of bringing the guitar into bebop, playing with Lennie Tristano and later Lee Konitz.

1950s and 1960s

In the 1950s, Herb Ellis' accomplished technique and elegant lines reached a wide public through the recordings of Oscar Peterson's trio. During the same time period, Tal Farlow's bebop virtuoso playing did much to make up the ground between the guitar and the other "frontline" instruments such as saxophone and trumpet. Kenny Burrell (1931-) did recordings in the 1950s with Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane and led his own groups.Lenny Breau (1941-1984) performs using an ensemble improvisational playing, along with a more orchestral fingerstyle solo jazz guitar. He used many diverse elements of music, including closed voicings, flamencomodal jazz harmony,an intimate knowledge of inversions and tritone substitutions, and a great understanding of bebop. Charlie Byrd (1925-1999) did nylon-string guitar recordings with saxophone player Stan Getz which helped popularize Brazilian bossa nova and samba music in North America. style guitar, use of varied rhythms, fingered harmonics, Jim Hall is a masterful melodic player,composer, and arranger who did his best work in duos with Bill Evans, Ron Carter and others. Hall has a melody-based, motivic approach to improvisation. Wes Montgomery was a self-taught guitarist who used his right thumb rather than a plectrum (pick) to produce his unique sound in his late-1950s and 1960s hard bopJoe Pass pioneered solo guitar with chordal substitutions in his duos with Ella Fitzgerald. recordings. George Benson (1943-)'s success as a pop vocalist in the 1970s made him a household name, but he was an influential jazz guitarist in the 1960s, particularly with his organ trio recordings with organist Jack MacDuff. Grant Green's funky 1970s organ trio music makes him a favourite with 2000s-era lounge and club DJ's, but much of Green's best jazz work can be found in his 1960s output. The king of the descending blues lick, Grant Green's deceptively simple style was full of groove and tone, and it is hard to replicate. Fusion guitarist Larry Coryell (1943-) was among the first to combine the sound and energy of rock with jazz lines in the late 1960s.

1970s and 1980s

John McLaughlin pioneered jazz-rock fusion in the 1970s. John Abercrombie has recorded with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette and the Brecker Brothers. He also explores often the parameters of jazz fusion and post bop. Pat Metheny is a Missouri-based guitarist and leader of his own band, the Pat Metheny Group with Lyle Mays on piano. Allan Holdsworth is a fusion virtuoso noted for his fluid, chromatic, lines and for his distinctive legato guitar technique. Holdsworth's influence can be felt outside of jazz, in heavy rock players such as Edward Van Halen and Joe Satriani. Ted Greene, a solo guitar performer and music educator influenced LA guitarists including Steve Vai and Steve Lukather with his chord melody work. Mike Stern, who came to prominence with Miles Davis during the 1980s, has a unique take on fusing blues rock guitar with be-bop lines in extended improvisations. Bill Frisell introduced folk and bluegrass music into jazz, use of intervals rather than single lines, combining harmonics and fretted notes. John Scofield played and collaborated with performers such as Miles Davis, and Billy Cobham, and groups such as Medeski Martin & Wood. At ease in the bebop idiom, Scofield is also well versed in jazz fusion, funk, blues, and soul.

1990s and 2000s

Stanley Jordan is an American jazz/jazz fusion guitarist, best known for his development of the touch technique for playing guitar. John Pizzarelli is a jazz guitarist, singer, songwriter who scat sings in unison with his guitar line. Randy Napoleon composes, arranges, and performs in the tradition of Wes Montgomery. Reviewer Ken Dryden from the All Music Guide notes that "Napoleon consistently shows that he is in full command of his instrument without resorting to overindulgent solos like many young players".

The Others Modern Jazz

Fusion Jazz

Miles Davis helped the fusion of jazz and rock in the mid to late 1960's with albums such as Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson. His bands during this period featured Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Joe Zawinul on electric piano, Ron Carter and Dave Holland on bass, John McLaughlin on guitar, and Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Tony Williams formed a rock oriented band called Lifetime with John McLaughlin, who also formed his own high energy group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Through the 1970's Miles Davis continued to explore new directions in the use of electronics and the incorporation of funk and rock elements into his music, leading to albums such as Pangea and Agharta.

Other groups combined jazz and rock in a more popularly oriented manner, from the crossover Top 40 music of Spyro Gyra and Chuck Mangione to the somewhat more esoteric guitarist Pat Metheny. Other popular fusion bands include Weather Report, featuring Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, and bass players Jaco Pastorius and Miroslav Vitous; Return To Forever, featuring Chick Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke; The Crusaders, featuring saxophonist Wilton Felder and keyboardist Joe Sample; the Yellowjackets, featuring keyboardist Russell Ferrante; the Family of Mann with flutist Herbie Mann, and the Jeff Lorber Fusion, which originally featured Kenny G on saxophone. In recent years, several fusion bands have achieved much commercial success, including those of Pat Metheny and Kenny G.

New Age Jazz

While fusion seemed to dominate the jazz market in the 1970's and early 1980's, there were other developments as well. Some performers started borrowing from 20th century classical music as well as African and other forms of world music. These musicians include Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, saxophonists Anthony Braxton, David Murray, and Dewey Redman, clarinetist John Carter, pianists Carla Bley and Muhal Richard Abrams, the World Saxophone Quartet, featuring four saxophonists with no rhythm section, and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, featuring trumpet player Lester Bowie and woodwind player Roscoe Mitchell.

Some groups, such as Oregon, rejected the complexity and dissonance of modern jazz and played in a much simpler style, which has given rise to the current New Age music. Fine collections of "space" jazz and proto-ambient music include: Universe 3, Universe 4, Universe Sampler 92, and Universe Sampler 90 from the Hearts of Space radio program. On the other extreme are musicians like saxophonist John Zorn and guitarist Fred Frith, who engaged in a frenetic form of free improvisation sometimes called energy music. Somewhere in between was the long lived group formed by saxophonist George Adams, who was influenced by Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, and pianist Don Pullen, who was influenced by Cecil Taylor. This group drew heavily from blues music and well as the avant garde. Other important musicians during the 1970's and 1980's include pianists Abdullah Ibrahim, Paul Bley, Anthony Davis, and Keith Jarrett.

Not all developments in jazz occur in the United States. Many European musicians extended some of the free jazz ideas of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, and further dispensed with traditional forms. Others turned toward a more introspective music. Some of the more successful of the European improvisers include saxophonists Evan Parker, John Tchicai, John Surman, and Jan Garbarek, trumpet players Kenny Wheeler and Ian Carr, pianist John Taylor, guitarists Derek Bailey and Allan Holdsworth, bassist Eberhard Weber, drummer John Stevens, and arrangers Mike Westbrook, Franz Koglman, and Willem Breuker.

Neoclassicism is a return to the bebop and post bop roots of modern jazz. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his brother, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, have achieved much popular success playing music that is based on styles of the 1950's and 1960's. The best of this group of young musicians, including the Marsalises and their rhythm sections of Marcus Roberts on piano, Bob Hurst on bass, and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums, extend the art through new approaches to melodicism, harmony, rhythm, and form, rather than just recreating the music of past masters.

Neoclassic Jazz

An exciting development since the mid 1980's has been a collective of musicians that refers to its music as M-Base. The music is characterized by angular melodic lines played over complex funky beats with unusual rhythmic twists. This movement is led by saxophonists Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, and Gary Thomas, trumpet player Graham Haynes, trombonist Robin Eubanks, bass player Anthony Cox, and drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith.

Many other musicians are making strong music in the modern tradition. Among musicians already mentioned, there are Ornette Coleman, David Murray, Joe Henderson, Dewey Redman, Cecil Taylor, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette. Others include saxophonists Phil Woods, Frank Morgan, Bobby Watson, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Chico Freeman, Courtney Pine, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Bob Berg, and Jerry Bergonzi; clarinetists Don Byron and Eddie Daniels; trumpet players Tom Harrell, Marcus Belgrave, and Arturo Sanduval; trombonists Steve Turre and Ray Anderson; pianists Geri Allen, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Barron, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Eduard Simon, Renee Rosnes, and Marilyn Crispell; guitarists John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and Kevin Eubanks; vibraphonist Gary Burton; bassists Niels-Henning Oersted Pedersen and Lonnie Plaxico; and vocalists Bobby McFerrin and Cassandra Wilson.

Avant Garde & Free Jazz

During the decades of the 1950's and 1960's, some musicians took jazz in more exploratory directions. The terms Free Jazz and Avant Garde are often used to describe these approaches, in which traditional forms, harmony, melody, and rhythm were extended considerably or completely abandoned. Saxophonist Ornette Coleman and trumpet player Don Cherry were pioneers of this music through albums such as The Shape Of Jazz To Come and Free Jazz. The former album, as well as several more recorded with a quartet that also include either Scott LaFaro or Charlie Haden on bass and either Billy Higgins or Ed Blackwell on drums, still retains the basic feel of the traditional post bop small group ensemble, with alternating soloists over a walking bass line and swinging drum beat (this style is sometimes known as Freebop.) The album Free Jazz was a more cacophonous musical affair that featured collective improvisation.

Another major figure in the avant garde movement was pianist Cecil Taylor. His playing is very percussive, and includes dissonant clusters of notes and fast technical passages that do not appear to be based on any particular harmonies or rhythmic pulse.

John Coltrane, as was already previously mentioned, delved into the Avant Garde in the mid 1960's. Albums such as Ascension and Interstellar Space show Coltrane absorbing both Free Jazz and the works of Cecil Taylor. Later Coltrane musical groups featured his wife Alice on piano and Rashied Ali on drums, as well as Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone. John Coltrane also recorded an album called The Avant Garde with Don Cherry that is interesting for its parallels with The Shape Of Jazz To Come and other Ornette Coleman quartet recordings. Coltrane influenced many other musicians, including saxophonists Archie Shepp, Sam Rivers, and Albert Ayler.

Sun Ra is a somewhat enigmatic figure in the Avant Garde genre, claiming to be from the planet Saturn. He plays a variety of keyboard instruments with his big bands and solo work that range from the 1920's style swing to the wilder Free Jazz of John Coltrane and others.

From Hard Bop Turn to Modern Jazz

Hard Bop started in the 50's. It has been described as an extension of bebop and a backlash against cool jazz. This style downplayed the technically demanding melodies of bebop without compromising intensity, by maintaining the rhythmic drive of bebop and including blues and gospel music. Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers were the most well-known for this style of jazz. Art Blakey's early groups included pianist Horace Silver, trumpet player Clifford Brown, and saxophonist Lou Donaldson. Clifford Brown also co-led a group with Max Roach that is one of the great quintets in jazz history. Miles Davis also recorded several albums in the early 1950's. There were also groups that included organists, such as Jimmy Smith, with even more blues and gospel influence. Stanley Turrentine was a popular tenor saxophonist of this jazz style.

The period from the mid 1950's until the mid 1960's represents the peak of mainstream modern jazz. Miles Davis had four important groups during this time - the first featured John Coltrane ("Trane") on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and "Philly" Joe Jones on drums. This group is sometimes considered the single greatest jazz group. Most of their albums are available today, including the series of Workin' ..., Steamin' ..., Relaxin' ..., and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet. Miles perfected his muted ballad playing with this group, and the rhythm section was considered by many to be the hardest swinging in the business. The second important Davis group came with the addition of alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderly and the replacement of Garland with Bill Evans or Wynton Kelly and the replacement of Jones with Jimmy Cobb. The album Kind Of Blue from this group is high on most lists of favorite jazz albums. The primary style of this group is called modal, as it relies on songs written around simple scales or modes that often last for many measures each, contrary to the quickly changing complex harmonies of bebop styles. The third Davis group of the era was actually the Gil Evans orchestra. Miles recorded several classic albums with Gil, including Sketches Of Spain. The fourth important Miles group of this period included Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. The early recordings of this group, including Live At The Plugged Nickel, as well as the earlier My Funny Valentine, with George Coleman on saxophone instead of Wayne Shorter, mainly feature innovative versions of standards. Later recordings such as Miles Smiles and Nefertiti consist of originals, including many by Wayne Shorter, that largely transcend traditional harmonies. Herbie Hancock developed a new approach to harmonization that was based as much on sounds as on any conventional theoretical underpinning.

John Coltrane is another giant of this period. He recorded the album Giant Steps, which showed him to be one of the most technically gifted and harmonically advanced players around. After leaving Miles Davis, he formed a quartet with pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and a variety of bass players eventually settling on Jimmy Garrison. Coltrane's playing with this group showed him to be one of the most intensely emotional players around. Tyner is also a major voice on his instrument, featuring a very percussive attack. Elvin Jones is a master of rhythmic intensity. This group evolved constantly, from the relatively traditional post bop of My Favorite Things to the high energy modal of A Love Supreme to the wailing avant garde of Meditations and Ascension.

Charles Mingus was an influential leader - his small groups tended to be less structured than others, giving more freedom to the individual players. Mingus also directed larger ensembles in which most of the parts were written out. Mingus' compositions for smaller groups were often only rough sketches, and performances were sometimes literally composed or arranged on the bandstand, with Mingus calling out directions to the musicians. Alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist Eric Dolphy was a mainstay of Mingus' groups. His playing was often described as angular, meaning that the interval in his lines were often large leaps, as opposed to scalar lines, consist mostly of steps.

Thelonious Monk is widely regarded as one of the most important composers in jazz, as well as being a highly original pianist. His playing is more sparse than most of his contemporaries. Some of his albums include Brilliant Corners and Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane. Pianist Bill Evans was known as one of the most sensitive ballad players, and his trio albums, particularly Waltz For Debby, with Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums, are models of trio interplay. Wes Montgomery was one of the most influential of jazz guitarists. He often played in groups with an organist, and had a particularly soulful sound. He also popularized the technique of playing solos in octaves. His early albums include Full House. Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins rivaled Coltrane in popularity and recorded many albums under his own name, including Saxophone Colossus and The Bridge, which also featured Jim Hall on guitar. Sonny also recorded with Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and other giants.

Other noteworthy musicians of the era include saxophonists Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Charlie Rouse; trumpet players Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Woody Shaw, and Booker Little; trombonists J. J. Johnson and Curtis Fuller; clarinetist Jimmy Guiffre, pianists Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones, Bobby Timmons, Mal Waldron, Andrew Hill, Cedar Walton, Chick Corea, and Ahmad Jamal; organist Larry Young, guitarists Kenny Burrell and Joe Pass; guitarist and harmonica player Toots Thielemans; vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson; bassists Ray Brown, Percy Heath, Sam Jones, Buster Williams, Reggie Workman, Doug Watkins, and Red Mitchell; drummers Billy Higgins and Ben Riley; and vocalists Jon Hendricks, Eddie Jefferson, Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Abbey Lincoln, and Shirley Horn. Big bands such as those of Woody Herman and Stan Kenton also thrived.

Blend of Jazz & Classic ( Cool Jazz )

Both jazz and classical music originated in simple dance forms and both have developed these forms into large sophisticated structures. Both musical streams have influenced each other greatly. Third stream represents a formal merger of classical music and jazz. The term was coined to describe music that channeled together jazz and classical elements. Third stream combines jazz and classical composition procedures. Some modern classical composition is melodically angular and harmonically dissonant. This atonal style first appeared when jazz bands turned to classically trained arrangers. Serial or 12 tone techniques invaded jazz compositions in the 1950's and 1960's. It used orchestral instruments such as cellos, oboes, bassoons and French horns and imitates classical music. Avant-garde assimilated the tonal qualities of classical composers such as Wagner, Debussy, Schoenberg and others. Cool jazz composers borrowed the large extended forms of the Baroque and Classical periods.

Although Miles Davis first appeared on the bebop recordings of Charlie Parker, his first important session as a leader was called The Birth Of The Cool. The cool jazz style has been described as a reaction against the fast tempos and the complex melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic ideas of bebop. These ideas were picked up by many west coast musicians, and this style is also called West Coast jazz. This music is generally more relaxed than bebop. Other musicians in this style include saxophonists Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan, and trumpet player Chet Baker. Stan Getz is also credited with the popularization of Brazilian styles such as the bossa nova and samba. These and a few other Latin American styles are sometimes collectively known as Latin jazz.

Many groups in the cool style do not use a piano, and instead rely on counterpoint and harmonization among the horns, usually saxophone and trumpet, to outline chord progressions. Pianist-led groups that developed from this school include those of Dave Brubeck (with Paul Desmond on saxophone), Lennie Tristano (with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh on saxophones), and the Modern Jazz Quartet or MJQ (featuring John Lewis on piano and Milt Jackson on vibraphone), which also infuses elements of classical music.
History of Jazz.

The Birth of Bebop Jazz

Bebop jazz is a musical style for virtuoso musicians. This style of jazz produced four changes: it required a greater understanding of jazz theory; complex instrumental melodies were introduced; complicated chords and rhythms were added to the rhythm section; and a cult of serious musicians evolved. The improvisational style shifted from adorning an original melody to organizing new patterns of quick, active, melodic lines. The musical pattern often ended abruptly with two notes, suggesting the word "be-bop". Musicians developed relationships between distended chords and esoteric scales. These notes are called melodic extensions and were added to chords by pianists to add harmonic color.

The birth of bebop jazz in the 1940's is considered the beginning of modern jazz. This style grew out of the small swing groups, but placed a much higher emphasis on technique and on complex harmonies, rather than on singable melodies. Alto saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker was the father of this movement, and trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie ("Diz") was his primary cohort. His quintet and other small group recordings that featured Dizzie and Bird formed the foundation of bebop and most modern jazz.

Much use was made of blues and popular songs of the day, including songs by George Gershwin and Cole Porter. The original compositions began to diverge from popular music for the first time. It was not intended to be dance music. The compositions usually featured fast tempos and difficult eighth note runs. Many of the standards are based on the chord progressions of other popular songs, such as "I Got Rhythm", "Cherokee", or "How High The Moon". The improvisations were based on scales implied by those chords, and the scales used included alterations such as the flatted fifth.

The development of this form of jazz led to new approaches to accompanying as well as soloing. Drummers began to rely less on the bass drum and more on the ride cymbal and hi-hat. Bass players became responsible for keeping the pulse by playing almost exclusively a walking bass line consisting mostly of quarter notes while outlining the chord progression. Pianists were able to use a lighter touch, and in particular their left hands were no longer forced to define the beat or to play roots of chords. In addition, the modern standard form became universal. Performers would play the melody to a piece (the head), often in unison, then take turns playing solos based on the chord progression of the piece, and finally play the head again. The technique of trading fours, in which soloists exchange four bar phrases with each other or with the drummer, also became common. The standard quartet and quintet formats (piano, bass, drums; saxophone and/or trumpet) have changed very little since the 1940's.

Notables include saxophonists Sonny Stitt and Lucky Thompson, trumpeters Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, and Miles Davis, pianists Bud Powell, Duke Jordan, Al Haig, and Thelonious Monk, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassists Oscar Pettiford, Tommy Potter, and Charles Mingus, and drummers Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, and Roy Haynes.

Big Band & Swing Jazz Musicians

Legendary Big Band Musicians

In the 1930's the nation was at war and there was economic depression. This is the generation when jazz (Big band) crossed the barrier and became "popular" music and was played in ballrooms. The Big band music became more structured as the emphasis was on ensemble playing. There were two types of big bands: the white bands that played refined arrangements and the black bands that emphasized improvisation.

The mid 30's was the swing era and saw Big bands as the popular music of the day. Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Willie Bryant, Bix Beiderbecke , Harry James, Les Brown, Stan Kenton and Count Basie led some of the more popular jazz bands. The styles of these musicians can be summarized by saying they concentrated primarily on playing melodically, on the swing feel, and on the development of an individual sound. The blues was an important element of this music. Most of these musicians recorded in small groups as well as with large ensembles. The small groups are included in the next section - Swing.

Legendary Swing Jazz Musicians

The mid 30's was the swing era and saw the Big Bands as the popular music of the day. There were also some important small group swing recordings during the 1930's and 1940's. These differed from earlier small groups because they featured very little collective improvisation. This music emphasized the individual soloist. Goodman, Ellington, and Basie recorded often in these small group settings. Major saxophonists of the era include Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Ben Webster. Trumpet players include Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Cootie Williams, and Charlie Shavers. Pianists include Ellington, Basie, Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, and Oscar Peterson; guitarists include Charlie Christian, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessell, and Django Reinhardt; vibraphonists include Lionel Hampton; bassists include Jimmy Blanton, and Slam Stewart; drummers include Jo Jones. Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald were important singers in this era.

Many of the players from this generation helped pave the way for bebop. These musicians included Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Christian, Jimmy Blanton, and Jo Jones.

Legendary Dixieland Jazz Musicians

Dixieland began in the 1880's in New Orleans. The large marching groups were made up of black jazz musicians and were often used for funeral processions and the large Mardi Gras celebration. The instrumentation of these bands were usually cornets, clarinets, trombones, tubas, banjos and drums. The beauty of Dixieland jazz lies in it's collective improvisation - three lead instruments improvising in a countrapuntal way. Usually one instrument plays the melody while the other two improvise in a melodically blended way, responding to each other, and creating this unique sound.

The earliest recordings are from the 1920's and early 30's. Trumpet player/vocalist Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong was the most important figure of this period. He played with the Hot Five and the Hot Seven. The style of these groups is referred to as New Orleans or Dixieland. It is characterized by collective improvisation - all performers simultaneously play improvised melodic lines. Louis is credited with the invention of scat - singing improvised nonsense syllables. Other notable performers include clarinetist Johnny Dodds, soprano saxophone player Sidney Bechet, trumpeter King Oliver, and trombonist Kid Ory.

Other styles popular during this period were piano jazz, including ragtime, Harlem stride, and boogie-woogie. These styles are distinct, but are characterized by rhythmic, percussive left hand lines and fast, full right hand lines. Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton were early ragtime pioneers of jazz history. Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson popularized the stride left hand pattern (bass note, chord, bass note, chord). Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis developed this into the faster moving left hand patterns of boogie-woogie. Earl "Fatha" Hines was a pianist who was known for his right hand, in which he did not often play full chords or arpeggios, playing instead "horn-like" melodic lines. Art Tatum is considered to be the greatest pianist and one of the most technically gifted. His harmonic insights paved the way for many after, and is sometimes considered a precursor of bebop.

The Big Bands are normally associated with a slightly later era, but there were several large bands playing during this period, including Fletcher Henderson. Bix Beiderbecke was a cornet soloist who played with several bands and was considered a legend in his time.