Jazz
Its Evolution and Essence
Published on 22. February 2023
213 pages
978-1-80523-133-2 (ISBN)
Description
Classic collection of essays on jazz music and musicians by a French critic and music historian."e;First trained as a violinist, then as a composer, Andre Hodeir began writing about jazz in the 1940s. As editor-in-chief of the French magazine Jazz Hot, he was an early proponent of bebop and its practitioners, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.Downbeat called Hodeir's first compilation of jazz writings, Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence, "e;the best analytical book on jazz ever written,"e; and Martin Williams named it and Hodeir's second book, Toward Jazz, "e;two of the most important critical works ever written on the subject."e; While Hodeir's ideas sparked widespread debate, his study of jazz improvisation and his use of music theory shed new light on the intricacies of jazz composition and arrangement and helped launch a new era of jazz criticism."e;-UMICH.edu
More details
Content
- Intro
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
- PREFACE
- I-INTRODUCTION
- Chapter I-THE WORLD OF JAZZ
- 1-Diffusion and Universality of Jazz
- 2-Jazz As a Complement to Our Culture
- 3-The Jazz Fan
- 4-The Reign of Intolerance
- 5-Conceptions of Criticism
- Chapter II-THE EVOLUTION OF JAZZ AND THE IDEA OF CLASSICISM
- 1-First and Second Periods: New Orleans Jazz
- 2-The Modern Period
- 3-Musical Evolution and the Idea of Progress
- 4-The Classical Period
- 5-The New Orleans Revival
- 6-The Pre-Classical Period, 1927-1934
- 7-Jazz's Future Possibilities
- II-FROM THE "PRIMITIVES" TO THE "MODERNS"
- Chapter III-BLUES AND MILITARY MARCHES
- 1-Borrowings of Jazz from European Music
- 2-Jazz as a Derivative of African Music
- 3-The Necessity of Borrowing in Order to Evolve
- 4-Jazz Has Never Been a "Pure" Music
- Chapter IV-A GREAT CLASSICAL FIGURE AMONG THE OLDTIMERS (Concerning Eight Recordings of the Hot Five)
- 1-Their Place in the Evolution of Jazz
- 2-Their Rhythm
- 3-Their Ensemble Playing
- 4-Their Solos
- Chapter V-THE ROMANTIC IMAGINATION OF DICKIE WELLS
- 1-The Early Days of Dickie Wells
- 2-The Elements of His Style
- 3-Symmetry and Contrast
- Chapter VI-A MASTERPIECE: CONCERTO FOR COOTIE
- 1-Ups and Downs of the Concerto
- 2-Structure of Concerto for Cootie
- Plan of CONCERTO FOR COOTIE
- 3-Simplicity and Subtlety of the Harmony
- 4-The Orchestra at the Soloist's Service
- 5-Strong and Weak Points of the Performance
- 6-An Authentic Composition and the Interpreter's Part in It
- 7-A Bouquet of Sonorities
- 8-How the Piece Stands
- Chapter VII-CHARLIE PARKER AND THE BOP MOVEMENT
- 1-Minton's and the Development of the Bop Style
- 2-Melodic Conceptions
- 3-Rhythmic Conceptions
- 4-The Performer and the Band Leader
- Chapter VIII-MILES DAVIS AND THE COOL TENDENCY
- 1-A New Feeling
- 2-The Cool Sonority
- 3-The Phrase: Melody and Rhythm
- 4-The Miles Davis Band
- 5-Is Modern Jazz Opposed to the Four-Bar Unit?
- III-THE PROBLEM OF IMPROVISATION
- Chapter IX-MELODY IN JAZZ
- 1-Does Jazz Have a Special Harmonic Language?
- 2-The Melodic Phrase in Jazz
- 3-The Melodic-Harmonic Relationship: The Do-Mi-Sol-Do Technique
- 4-The Melodic-Harmonic Relationship: The Problems of Foreign Notes and of Enriching the Foundation
- 5-The Rhythmic Articulation of the Phase
- 6-The Instrument's Effect on the Phrase
- 7-The Essence of Melody: The Blues Scale
- 8-A Contribution in the Field of Melody
- Chapter X-MUSICAL THOUGHT
- 1-How the Improviser's Thought Works
- 2-Continuity of Thought
- 3-Collective Creation
- Chapter XI-NOTES ON THE PROBLEM OF CREATION
- IV-THE PROBLEM OF THE ESSENCE OF JAZZ
- Chapter XII-THE PHENOMENON OF SWING
- 1-The Infrastructure: Tempo and Accentuation
- 2-The Superstructure: Rhythmic Equilibrium of the Phrase
- 3-Getting the Notes in the Right Place
- 4-Relaxation
- 5-Vital Drive
- Chapter XVIII-THE EVOLUTION OF RHYTHMIC CONCEPTIONS
- 1-The New Orleans Two-Beat
- 2-The Four-Beat of Classical Jazz
- 3-The Modern Conceptions (Bop and Cool)
- Chapter XIV-THE HANDLING OF SOUND
- 1-Vibrato
- 2-Inflections
- 3-Other Elements
- 4-Getting Hot Is Not the Same Thing as Swinging
- Chapter XV-THE ESSENCE
- 1-What Is Not Essential
- 2-Historic Persistence of the Swing and Hot Phenomena
- 3-Must Jazz Be Divided into Compartments?
- 4-Toward a Change of Essence?
- V-JAZZ AND EUROPE
- Chapter XVI-THE INFLUENCE OF JAZZ ON EUROPEAN MUSIC
- 1-Jazz and Ravel, Stravinsky, and Milhaud
- 2-Melodic Borrowings
- 3-Rhythmic Influence
- 4-Incompatibility
- VI-CONTEMPORARY JAZZ
- Chapter XVII-SITUATION OF MODERN JAZZ AT THE DEATH OF PARKER
- 1-Fusion and Breaking Up
- 2-Personalities
- 3-Groups
- DISCOGRAPHY
