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Overview

African American music-including work songs, spirituals, the blues, and ragtime-are drenched in improvisation and syncopation, those ancient African pillars of music. Improvisation and syncopation therefore remain a constant presence in the creative genius of an oppressed people-an expression "born out of a million American negotiations"(Burns 2001). Jazz music, as we'll discover in this lesson, is next in this chain of connection.

Be ready to:

Outline the significance of Congo Square and Storyville to the African American community of New Orleans.

Trace the lineage of jazz, while connecting to earlier African American music genres.

Describe the unique demographics of New Orleans during the early to late nineteenth century.

List the socio-political events that contributed to the birth of jazz.

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Scat Singing

In addition to his unsurpassed solo performance on cornet and trumpet, Louis Armstrong also invented vocal improvisation, called scat singingImprovised jazz singing in which the voice is used in imitation of an instrument. There's a marvelous story of its origin during the recording of "Heebie Jeebies"♫ when Armstrong is said to have dropped the lyrics sheet. Rather than stop the session, the story goes, he simply continued to sing, making up syllables as he went. Whether or not that's how scat singing began, Armstrong's singing was nearly as influential as his horn playing. His timing and delivery served as a model, and he influenced every jazz singer who came after him.

"Hotter Than That" provides an excellent example of Armstrong's scat singing (0:44-2:13), in addition to his superb horn playing. Guitarist Lonnie Johnson joins the group, accompanying the singer, and then "trades licks" with Armstrong in some playful call-and-response (1:55-2:14). Let's listen to "Hotter Than That"♫.

Louis Armstrong

Heebie Jeebies

Say, I've got the Heebies
I mean the Jeebies
Talking about
The dance, the Heebie Jeebies
Do, because they're boys
Because it pleases me to be joy

Wynton Marsalis

Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It's conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfil what they feel the moment requires.