New Orleans jazz is an early era of jazz spanning 1890 to 1917, taking place in New Orleans, Louisiana, which is often considered the birthplace of jazz. The name “Dixieland” is interchangeable with New Orleans jazz.
One thing that made New Orleans special was that Congo Square (located in New Orleans) was among the only places where percussion was allowed for slaves in the US. In other places, slaveowners suspected that slaves used percussion instruments (i.e. drums) to communicate with other slaves over a distance, which turned out to be true.
Hallmarks
New Orleans jazz is marked by:
- texture
- densely polyphonic (as a result of collective improvization) & often contrapuntal
- Solos were not exclusive: different instrumentalists improvized whenever they saw fit.
- form
- 12-bar blues
- can be identified through phrasing (counting measures), harmony, and repetition of lyrics (1st, 2nd lines the same, third line different, rinse and repeat)
- sometimes march or rag time (e.g. strains in the form of AA BB CC DD …)
- 12-bar blues
- instrumentation
- a front line formed by
- violins or cornets (main melody)
- clarinets (countermelody)
- trombones (glissando)
- a rhythm section formed by
- guitar (mostly block chords), bass, or banjo
- drums
- piano
- Note: occasionally plays breaks (all of rhythm section stops temporarily)
- Note: softens when there’s a solo
- a front line formed by
- Improvization often refers to or paraphrases the original melody.
Musicians
- Buddy Bolden was the first jazz celebrity. He unfortunately did not record any music in fear of people stealing from him. As a result, when recording technology emerged, a white band was the first to record a jazz album.
- King Oliver: cornet player, band leader
- ”Snake Rag”
- instrumentation: cornet/trumpet, clarinet, banjo
- ABBACC form
- collective
- ”Snake Rag”
- Sidney Bechet: clarinet, soprano sax
- Louis Armstrong: trumpeter, bandleader