That Jazz - Monkey Max Music and File Download

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Part I: All That Jazz: A Tour of the Basics
Tickling the Ebonies and
Ivories: Keyboards
Pianists aren’t often the lead instruments in a jazz band, but they’re frequently
the glue that holds a group together. That’s because pianists, along
with guitarists, are the only players who can play all of a piece’s basic parts.
Pianists dating back to Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller were among jazz’s
first important innovators. Pianists, more than any other jazz instrumentalists,
also have a long history of making great solo albums.
Just ahead, I explain the piano’s versatile personality and introduce you to
some of the important players and innovations.
The piano’s many talents
The piano was born in the early 1700s as a successor to the harpsichord.
Unlike the plucked strings of the harpsichord, the piano made its debut with
its padded mallets striking the strings. This effect displays a warmer, less
harsh tone. The piano brought durability and increased volume, as well as
foot pedals to control tone and duration of notes. By the end of the 18th
century, pianos came in models ranging from compact uprights to 19-foot
concert grands, which were eventually used in jazz settings ranging from
clubs to concert halls.
In the years when jazz was invented, pianos were a part of many American
households, which is why a lot of ragtime and early jazz musicians were
pianists. Pianos, encompassing a musical range through 88 keys from bassoons
to piccolos, also became important instruments for composers such
as Duke Ellington.
Among jazz instruments, pianos and guitars (which I cover earlier in this
chapter) are the ones that allow a single performer to combine bass lines,
chords, and melodies, with all sorts of rhythmic variations. Pianos are
basically an orchestra in a box — a big, beautiful wooden box.
Several performers in jazz’s rich history have played the piano:
� Scott Joplin and Eubie Blake wrote and played ragtime during jazz’s
formative years. They kept one-two-one-two rhythms with left hand
bass notes and chords while their right hands carried the melody. They
helped infuse the jazz that followed with the “ragged” swinging rhythms
that formed its basis.