Composer Profile - Activefolio

136 Chapter 11
sheet music and piano roll form. Commercial music was born. Ragtime was a musical
style born in the middle class and poorer neighborhoods of the central and eastern
United States, not the concert halls of Europe. Yet ragtime had its own type of musical
allure that was hard to ignore. Even composers such as Stravinsky and Debussy occasionally
used elements of ragtime and cakewalk rhythms in their own music.
But ragtime was not solely a pianistic form. Simultaneously with its growth as a
published genre, brass bands throughout the east, midwest, and south were playing
music in the style of cakewalks and rags. Many of the bands were composed of illiterate
musicians (both black and white) who would simply improvise the rhythms and melodies
that they heard in the music around them. These bands formed the immediate
predecessors of jazz music, a term that would be applied retroactively some years later.
Many people assume that jazz started in New Orleans, but that is not entirely true.
Everywhere that the brass bands worked, the beginnings of jazz were born. By the turn
of the twentieth century the improvised style of these bands, which would later be
termed “jass” (later spelled jazz), was fairly well established. In New Orleans, this music
flourished in the French Quarter (also known as Storyville at the turn of the century)
where prostitution was rampant, and clubs provided music all night. Some of the early
legends of jazz worked in these clubs and bands, including cornetists Buddy Bolden
(1868–1931) and Willie “Bunk” Johnson (1879–1949). As time progressed these bands
became more specialized and the jazz became more virtuosic. Perhaps the greatest of
the early jazz bands was led by Joe “King” Oliver. After playing and leading several
other bands, Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band made history in 1923 by being the first black
jazz group ever to make a series of records. Among the many well-known players in his
band was the great trumpeter Louis Armstrong (1901–1971). The term “Dixieland”
was applied at the time to bands from areas outside the South, particularly Chicago and
St. Louis. Soon, the term came to represent the entire genre.
Another highly celebrated jazz musician of this period was Ferdinand “Jelly Roll”
Morton (1885–1941). He set the standard for early jazz pianists, and ran several bands
throughout his career. Morton had a reputation as a self-promoter, and claimed that he
invented jazz in 1902. Nevertheless, he and others developed a pianistic style that would
carry jazz from its ragtime roots to the more advanced styles of boogie-woogie and
swing. Other instrumental soloists began to appear on recordings, and these players
established soloistic styles that had a lasting influence. In addition to Louis Armstrong,
trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, trombonist Jack Teagarden, and pianists James P. Johnson
and Thomas “Fats” Waller, each contributed to formulating a permanent jazz solo style.
Jazz bands sprang up throughout the United States and
the popularity of this new music spread across the Atlantic. Most
of these bands were segregated though musicians seemed to have
mutual respect for one another. After King Oliver’s band, the
orchestras (in this genre “orchestra” and “band” were used interchangeably)
of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899–
1974) and Paul Whiteman (1890–1967) each had a huge impact
on jazz as a commercial art form. Duke Ellington rapidly became
known as one of America’s most prolific composers. His
band was a vehicle for many of his compositions, but he also
composed for a variety of other genres including full orchestra.
Paul Whiteman, on the other hand, attempted to “make a lady
out of jazz” by commissioning sophisticated arrangements in an
Library of Congress: LC-USZ262-
123232
Ellington
attempt to make the music sound more refined. In 1924, Whiteman’s orchestra premiered
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the composer at the keyboard.