10
votes
Accepted
How to understand free jazz?
Some genres and styles (not exclusive to jazz) are based on very well stablished and known patterns and dynamics: specific cadences, progressions, scales, rhythms, instruments, etc.
Free jazz is a ...
- 4,312
8
votes
Accepted
Did the analogy "The Birds And The Bees" truly originate from the Cole Porter song 'Let's Do It"?
It seems that the phrase has multiple possible sources with none truly confirmed. I've listed the sources below:
"..poet Samuel Coleridge (1825): 'All nature seems at work ... The bees are stirring—...
- 381
8
votes
Accepted
On free Jazz and Ornette Coleman
I think if you look beyond taste/personal preference it's easy to see that Coleman was an extremely skilled musician. I think it's easy in this day and age to undervalue how much of a impact The Shape ...
- 311
8
votes
How to understand free jazz?
I would like to answer from a humble listener point of view, with absolutely no music theory background. For me free jazz is like an open window into musician's mind. It's his stream of consciousness ...
- 191
7
votes
What is the difference between Cool Jazz and Bebop?
Bebop has frequent chord changes, many notes in the melody, and brisk tempos.
Cool has less frequent chord changes, sparse melody, and moderate tempos.
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7
votes
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What kind of Hat is Jimmy Rushing using in this photo?
That's a pork pie hat. Standard issue headwear in 50s jazz. As per Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat"
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7
votes
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Was Miles Davis involved with free jazz?
I think what you're looking for is Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, which, aside from Davis, featured four young, untried musicians:
Ron Carter — bass
Tony Williams — drums
Herbie Hancock — piano
...
- 4,315
7
votes
Accepted
Are there any kinds of Jazz that use Sitars?
The history of the sitar in jazz, that is the fusion of the sounds of Indian classical music with Western jazz, dates back from the late-1950s or early-1960s when musicians trained in Indian classical ...
- 15.3k
6
votes
Accepted
What year was "Don't Play Me Cheap" by Louis Armstrong recorded, and what jazz style is it?
According to discogs, "Don't Play Me Cheap" by Louis Armstrong was recorded on April 26, 1933, and released a little under a year later, on April 4, 1934. Discogs also lists the song as being of the ...
- 4,315
6
votes
Accepted
Does Nina Simone play the piano on "I loves you Porgy" (studio version)?
Given that Nina Simone is the only credited pianist on the album on which "I Loves You Porgy" first appears, her debut album Little Girl Blue, it's highly likely that she was accompanying herself on ...
- 4,315
6
votes
Accepted
What recordings does there exist of Lester Young playing along with Dizzy Gillespie?
Lester Young / Charlie Parker / Dizzy Gillespie – Early Modern: 1946 Concert Recordings
Label:
Milestone Records – MSP 9035
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country:
US
Released:
1971
Genre:
Jazz
...
- 499
6
votes
On free Jazz and Ornette Coleman
Jazz is a challenging form of music by nature. It's technically demanding, it uses exotic chords and rhythms, it's dissonant and improvisational. Even when covering familiar material, it departs ...
- 15.3k
6
votes
Why do jazz guitar players rarely bend strings?
It may come down to tradition, combined with historic technical limitations.
Guitar strings used to be considerably thicker than they are now, making them considerably harder to bend - I think it was ...
- 7,665
6
votes
Accepted
Jazz style with examples?
Probably a couple of reasons why such lists don't abound is that:
Any such list is always going to be tremendously incomplete. In general you can't get a sound perspective on a style with just one or ...
- 1,732
6
votes
Accepted
What does "clean" mean at the end of the title of an instrumental jazz song on Amazon Music?
According to a discussion here, these are probably censored versions of the songs.
EDIT: Answer from the Amazon support :
The Clean version you see next to some of the Music titles means that the ...
- 7,311
6
votes
Accepted
Why is Kenny G so hated among jazz musicians? Are there objective reasons behind the hate?
Personally, I find Kenny G's music as pleasant as does the next person. But the hatred for him is neither solely because his music is bland, unchallenging, and largely outside traditional jazz idioms, ...
- 15.3k
5
votes
How to understand free jazz?
In some ways free jazz can be easier to understand than other jazz forms. You really don't need music theory since the central theme of the genre is to free the performers from exactly the conventions ...
- 921
5
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between Cool Jazz and Bebop?
See the "Overview" section of Wikipedia's "Cool jazz" article. Quoted here:
Broadly, "cool" refers to a number of post-war jazz styles employing a more subdued approach ...
- 585
5
votes
Accepted
What defines cool jazz as a jazz style/sub-genre?
Cool jazz is a style of jazz that arose as a sort of response to the growing popularity in bebop. Bebop featured fast-paced, syncopated, energetic music and frantic improvised solos. Cool jazz, in ...
- 166
5
votes
Accepted
about Soft Machine and Gong
Instead of searching specifically for literature concerning Soft Machine and Gong I suggest that you look into The Canterbury Scene instead.
The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury Sound) is a ...
- 3,204
5
votes
Accepted
Song identification help, Big band tune
One of my big bands has just found the charts for this - and it's a great number! Birdland.
- 421
4
votes
Accepted
Where can Pat Metheny's original "The Way Up" track be found?
After 5 months of searching, I have finally found both songs again!!!
It's a collection of 3 disks called The PMG Companion Vol 1 (1976 - 1980).
Disk 1, track 4:
There Will Never Be Another You (...
- 231
4
votes
What genre is the song "The Blues Done Come Back" by Count Basie Orchestra?
This song is swing music, a subdivision of jazz. Swing is also often referred to as "big-band music". Swing was at the height of its popularity in the 1930's and 40's. It was already declining in ...
- 1,636
4
votes
What is the jazz genre of the pianist Art Tatum?
Art Tatum is primarily known as a Jazz artist.
As bebop began to take control of jazz in the early 1950s, Tatum
continued playing variations of the stride piano style, mostly at
small clubs ...
- 499
4
votes
Accepted
What Jazz style is this song?
In my opinion this is more akin to bebop than swing. Tempo, improvisational style, and combo instrumentation are more in line with the bebop tradition (ala Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, early Miles ...
- 56
4
votes
Accepted
Since when/Why is the girl from ipanema the go to elevator music?
The Girl from Ipanema was popularized in the US in the 60's by the saxophonist Stan Getz as part of his Bossa Nova influenced Jazz approach.
Getz had a lyrical approach to playing the sax, ...
- 1,732
4
votes
What does "clean" mean at the end of the title of an instrumental jazz song on Amazon Music?
Hypothetically, and without doing a careful listen to the album...
It's not unusual for music recordings to pick up studio chatter or other unplanned voices. For example, the Kingsmen's classic ...
- 141
4
votes
Accepted
What is the jazz music used in the OptiCorner commercial on YouTube?
Floaters - Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9lMKLpmRUg
- 449
4
votes
Are there any kinds of Jazz that use Sitars?
Try out Purbayan Chatterjee. He's a sitar player that plays both traditional Indian music and Jazz. There are several videos of him online in various ensembles. His subgenre is called "Raga Jazz." You ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible