Les 4: Jazz als kunstvorm

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Les 4: Jazz als kunstvorm

BEBOP!

No more swing!

Swing-jazz is ontzettend populair, maar wordt uiteindelijk te groot om fatsoenlijk voort te bestaan. Daarnaast is er vanuit de zwarte gemeenschap behoefte om hun cultuur en de jazz te herdefiniëren. Door gedurfde experimenten ontstaat zo het genre Bebop.

Lange geïmproviseerde solo's

Geïnspireerd op bekende swingnummers

Hoger tempo* en compelere akkoordenwisselingen

Waar het tempo hoger lijkt, is de muziek eigenlijk langzamer geworden. Doordat er ruimte gecreëert wordt in de muziek, kunnen snelle en complexe solo's tussendoor worden gespeeld. 

Status verandert van massaal naar niche

Door de complexiteit wordt deze jazz minder geschikt voor een massaal publiek. Al snel krijgt Bebop de status van 'kunstmuziek'. 

Andere bezetting

De bezetting van Bebop is een stuk compacter dan de swingbands. De bezetting bestaat vaak uit piano, contrabas en drums. 

BEBOP!

Genres that grow too big eventually will fall. This was no different with Swing. Not only became it difficult to maintain such large, expensive orchestras, but more and more white people were copying the music. Though Jazz had always been less racially restricted than Blues, a number of black Jazz musicians felt a need to redefine black Jazz culture with a new, radical genre: Bebop. Their dissatisfaction is reflected in Bebop’s trademarks: frantic, chaotic and aggressive.

Bebop (or simply “Bop”) is one of the most revolutionary types of Jazz (and music). Why? Because it makes the music faster by making it slower. How? By stretching (thus slowing down) the tempo, a lot of silent gaps opened up between the beats. This free space could be filled in freely (improvised) with drum rolls, rhythmic breaks and superfast, harmonic melodies, usually in vibrato. Musicians also regularly imitate trumpet solos with their voice, leading to a new, fast singing technique called “scatting”. The word “bebop” itself comes from scatting, as it is as an often used onomatopoeia. The difference between Jazz from the past was so huge, that people eventually coined the term “Modern Jazz”, which later also included other experimental genres such as Hard Bop and Free Jazz.

Many wannabe Bebop musicians went downhill because they wrongly believed that heroin, which was very cheap during the forties, was an inherent part of Jazz culture. Their personal but also social problems (racism) illustrate the dark side of Bebop. This was no happy music, but the psychotic screams of struggling musicians, who didn’t care whether you loved or hated their music.

Around 1982, Bebop experiences a strong revival known as Neobop (or sometimes called Neo-Con (= conservative) Jazz). A lot of young Jazz scholars were not interested in the new possibilities of Fusion, and chose to concentrate on the old school (with influences from Free and Modal Jazz): straight, acoustic Jazz but rich and vibrant. A type of Jazz where they could show off their technical skills that would otherwise have been masked by the eclecticism of Fusion.

Kijkopdracht:

Vergelijk de Swingjazz met Bebop

Tempo

Let op het tempo van beide fragmenten.

Dynamiek

Is er een verschil in dynamiek?

Harmonie

Is er een verschil in harmonie? Is er een meer dissonant dan de ander?

Genres that grow too big eventually will fall. This was no different with Swing. Not only became it difficult to maintain such large, expensive orchestras, but more and more white people were copying the music. Though Jazz had always been less racially restricted than Blues, a number of black Jazz musicians felt a need to redefine black Jazz culture with a new, radical genre: Bebop. Their dissatisfaction is reflected in Bebop’s trademarks: frantic, chaotic and aggressive.

Bebop (or simply “Bop”) is one of the most revolutionary types of Jazz (and music). Why? Because it makes the music faster by making it slower. How? By stretching (thus slowing down) the tempo, a lot of silent gaps opened up between the beats. This free space could be filled in freely (improvised) with drum rolls, rhythmic breaks and superfast, harmonic melodies, usually in vibrato. Musicians also regularly imitate trumpet solos with their voice, leading to a new, fast singing technique called “scatting”. The word “bebop” itself comes from scatting, as it is as an often used onomatopoeia. The difference between Jazz from the past was so huge, that people eventually coined the term “Modern Jazz”, which later also included other experimental genres such as Hard Bop and Free Jazz.

Many wannabe Bebop musicians went downhill because they wrongly believed that heroin, which was very cheap during the forties, was an inherent part of Jazz culture. Their personal but also social problems (racism) illustrate the dark side of Bebop. This was no happy music, but the psychotic screams of struggling musicians, who didn’t care whether you loved or hated their music.

Around 1982, Bebop experiences a strong revival known as Neobop (or sometimes called Neo-Con (= conservative) Jazz). A lot of young Jazz scholars were not interested in the new possibilities of Fusion, and chose to concentrate on the old school (with influences from Free and Modal Jazz): straight, acoustic Jazz but rich and vibrant. A type of Jazz where they could show off their technical skills that would otherwise have been masked by the eclecticism of Fusion.

COOL JAZZ

Iets langzamer en 'cooler' mag wel

Na de Bebop ontstaat een rustigere en meer 'laid-back' vorm van jazz: de cool jazz.

Langzamer dan bebop

Eenvoudigere akkoorden

Ondanks de eenvoudigheid van de akkoorden en de solo's, zijn ze technisch zeer hoogstaand.

COOL JAZZ

FREE JAZZ

Complete bevrijding

Ornette Coleman breekt door zijn album Free Jazz (1960) volledig met harmonieën en vaste akkoordopvolgingen. Het is een collectieve improvisatie van muzikanten waarin volledige vrijheid geldt. 

In welke vormgevingsaspecten van de muziek hoor je terug dat Coleman streeft naar volledige vrijheid in de Jazz?

Abstract expressionisme

Schilderen van binnenuit

Na de horror van WOII vindt Pollock dat kunstenaars meer nodig hebben dan het schilderen van wat zichtbaar is. Hij pleit voor het maken van kunst vanuit jezelf.

Abstract expressionisme

Mark Rothko

Wil zijn publiek het schilderij inzuigen en gebruikt hiervoor talloze lagen transparante kleurvlakken. Het is typisch Amerikaans door de grootsheid en meeslependheid.

In welke aspecten komen Free jazz en het werk van Pollock overeen met elkaar?

Van wie zijn deze liedjes?

Van wie zijn deze liedjes?

Van wie zijn deze liedjes?