Transcript Jazz Music from the Soul

By
Marshall Jackson and Rob Beverly
Intro.
Jazz is a difficult topic to define. Formed in the early 1800s by black slaves in America, the
genre has evolved immensely over time. What started as “low-class” entertainment has
expanded into all territories of society, with different varieties for different people. Although
jazz has evolved, the instrumentation has roughly remained the same. In the rhythm section,
the bass keeps time and provides chord changes, the piano contributes to the chord changes
while keeping its own element of tonality, and the drums set the style for the entire piece while
keeping time. In the winds section, there are three main instruments: trumpets, trombones, and
saxophones. The trombones provide the bass voice of the tune, the lead trumpet is the “leader”
of the band with trumpets providing melody, and saxophones share melody with trumpets
while providing the metaphorical “icing” to the cake that is jazz.
Jazz Styles
Swing
 Latin
 Ballad
 Rock/Funk
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Swing
Swing is a style of jazz where the eighth
notes are “uneven”. In other words, the
first eighth note is essentially longer
than the first.
 Swing Jazz is the original form of jazz
created.
 Swing has many sub-genres including
Bebop, Blues and more.

Latin
Latin jazz is unlike swing because the
eighth notes are even.
 Latin jazz music makes use of triplets
and usually is at a faster tempo (on
average) than other forms of jazz.
 Latin music also has sub-genres. Ex.
Bossa.
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Ballad
Ballads are usually very slow jazz songs
that can have swung eighth notes or
can have straight eighth notes.
 Ballads are popular songs for dancing.
For example there many waltzes are
considered Ballads.
 Ballads make extensive use of
harmonies and ear pleasing chords.

Rock/Funk
Rock and Funk are similar styles that
are both straight eighth note styles.
 These styles are more modern styles of
jazz.
 Rock and Funk have heavier bass sound
than other forms of jazz.
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Jazz Theory
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Swing eighth notes- long-short, long-short.
^ = marcatto accent aka the Daht accent in
jazz. Accented and short.
·= staccato accent aka the Dit marking in
jazz. Short and separated
Melody = main line in a song
Harmonies = Chords and stuff
How To Go About
Composing
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Come up with some riffs
Decide on the style
Get an idea of a rhythmic figure to base the
song on.
Write it down! Also write some markings to
indicate how you want the music to be
played.
Play the song and admire your masterpiece!
Our Song
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Not finished right now!
Musicians include
The Zeph “Jay aRra”
Jackson
and